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2011 Volt Brake Problems - Service Brake Assist - Service Stabilitrak

51K views 48 replies 27 participants last post by  pimenm 
#1 ·
I have a 2011 Volt with 131K miles on it.

Within the last 4 months I've had the brakes completely go out on me 4 times at random. Each time I received either a Service StabiliTrak or Service Brake Assist message.

It usually happens when driving relatively slow (under 30mph) and I had to shift to L to slow down... Happened on Clear days on dry pavement without rain or snow.

It also happened while driving and not braking. When I turned off car and turned back on... The messages were gone and the brakes worked again.

It's been at the Dealer now for a week and they are telling me that the messages are not producing codes for them to even see that this happened and are having a hard time duplicating.

I'm curious if anyone else is having this same problem? I've attached a picture of the message the last time it happened on Feb 12th, 2016.

Vehicle Car Multimedia City car
 
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#31 ·
I just picked my car up from the dealer for a warrantied axle replacement (click sound issue when gas and breaking). As I was driving home from the dealer, I got a brake assist and stabilitrak message. Looks like I am going to go back to the dealer bright and early tomorrow. I am hoping its something when they were replacing my axle, has anyone else had to replace anything so far?
 
#32 ·
I have exactly the same issue. I took my car in for clicking noise when accelerating and braking, and they replaced axle nuts and cleaned something to correct the issue.
A few week later, a service brake assist and stabilitrak messages came on. The messages were turned off when the car was restarted and drove for a few seconds. A week later, the messages came on again and off again. However, I contacted Onstar when the messages were on and pulled the following codes:
C1225 An issue has been detected in the Traction Control System.
C0035 An issue has been detected in the Traction Control System.

I am thinking technician did something related to this issue when he replaced the axle nuts.
I am taking my car in next week. Did you take your car in? What did the dealer say?
Does anyone know what seems to be wrong here?
 
#33 ·
I had the issue noted in this thread also - brought the car in - originally quoted 3200 CAD plus diag - no guarantee of a fix - but negotiated BPMV replacement down to about 2500 so I went for it - part was replaced but DOA. warranty replacement on that was installed a week later and everything appeared to be fine. Worked well for a few weeks, but now I'm getting all the warnings again - though my brakes appear to still be functioning as normal. Stabilitrak, service brake assist, T/C off. I'm a bit hesitant to take it to the dealer as they told me the next course of action was to replace the control module connected to the BPMV - though none are currently available in Canada - who knows how long it could be out of commission.

Vehicle also has an emissions code that has been on the car for a couple years, but is not related to the brake system issues.

Volt is 2011 with almost 290,000 km on it. How much money do you sink in a car with that kind of milage... car is in great shape otherwise, and perfectly fits our needs for commuting on all electric (used to use the range extender a lot before I got my Bolt).
 
#42 ·
Same thing here, Service Brake Assist, Service StabilTrak, ABS light on. Dealer quoted me 4800.00 to fix, ouch! They are not sure if its the Brake pressure Modulator Vlave or the Electracal Brake Control Module. They did get a code of 1121. They recomended changing both, of course. You'd think with modern tehcnology they could pinpoint the issue. I've found the parts on line and they were 500.00 and 300.00 cheaper. Thats 700 markup, wow. As I read, they are not hard to change, however the bleeding proceedure appears to need specialised equipment. I might just change out the parts and get the stealer to bleed the system.
 
#43 ·
Hi, I'm having the same issues, Black 2013 with 310,000km. Love the volt, best car I've owned, no major repairs except driver side wheel speed sensor replaced 2 years ago/brakes/tires/cv boot. Drive side CV boot was recently replaced, Stabilitrac, ABS and parking brake light came on intermittently and of for a couple months, then it goes away next restart. The past week, the dash lights are now permanent. It will clear with OBD tool but comes back after the next start. My 12V AGM battery was 4.5 years old and after charging it, the lights went away but reappeared after a grocery stop. I replaced the AGM battery yesterday thinking it would fix the problem but still the same. My scan tool came up with DTC C1121 -Left Front Hydraulic Circuit Leak Detected. Anyone have any insight on how to fix the issue? From reading all the posts it looks like it could be Master Cylinder, brake pressure modulator valve-BPMV or the EBCM Electronic Brake Control Module. Does anyone know the real fix or culprit? Looks like this is going to cost me an arm and a leg.

Thanks,
Mark
 
#45 ·
Thanks Mike. Quick update, the dash lights are back to intermittently going on an off for the past 2 days. Will keep you guys posted. I have been using Low gear to help with braking. With the stabilitrack lights on, the brake is working but you need to press hard for it to work.
 
#46 · (Edited)
Coincidence in timing? My ABS/T-C/Stabili-trac alerts came up yesterday afternoon. No problems on Sunday. Monday AM I moved the Volt aside to get another car out of the garage, no issue. Monday afternoon I started the Volt to put it back, three alerts. The assist pump had run through it's cycle, but I had no servo assist. I drove the car around the block and returned, still with no 'power' on the power brakes. Regen, both D and L, worked as they had.
I shut down, then re-started. All alerts were cancelled, power assist on the brakes was back.
I haven't scanned (generic hand-held) yet for any stored codes.
 
#48 ·
I scanned Wed. morning at first power-up (generic scanner resides in her Audi and was not available for my Volt on Tues. evening). No stored codes.
That generic scanner is not Volt specific and might not have capability to read all the modules to identify all the stored codes, if any.
No issue on Wed. during errands.
 
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