Unable to drive home due to "Service Engine Soon"

[WopOnTour]

Well I got a call tonight telling me that the light did go off after another drive. He mentioned a possible reason for the light was that the engine was made to run for a long period of time, but I'm not sure how that makes sense. I think it was just my sales guy trying to translate what the service tech told him. I'll find out tomorrow when I attempt Volt Pickup: part 2.

Good news! In any case I would make sure you request a copy of the warranty repair order for the MIL (Malfunction Indicator Lamp) being ON, with the noted Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) clearly identified in case you run into any issue in the future.
If you post your DTC here we can discuss further.
Other than this little hiccup, ENJOY YOUR VOLT!
WOT

[mizzou]

My Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) went on yesterday driving to the gym. Reading the manual (pages 5-20 and 5-21) if the light is on steady possible causes could be the fuel cap (have not added fuel to the car since I purchased it 3 weeks ago, so that is not likely). The other possibilities mentioned are the electrical system is wet (we have had snow and melting snow in NJ). The last possibility mentioned is poor fuel quality (again have not added any fuel since I bought the car).

[Stilgar99]

My Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) went on yesterday driving to the gym. Reading the manual (pages 5-20 and 5-21) if the light is on steady possible causes could be the fuel cap (have not added fuel to the car since I purchased it 3 weeks ago, so that is not likely). The other possibilities mentioned are the electrical system is wet (we have had snow and melting snow in NJ). The last possibility mentioned is poor fuel quality (again have not added any fuel since I bought the car).

I think others have syggested that you can call OnStar and ask them what error codes are present on the car. That should help troubleshoot...

Stilgar

[Clintonfitz]

I think others have syggested that you can call OnStar and ask them what error codes are present on the car. That should help troubleshoot...

Stilgar

I agree with Stilgar. You should definantly call OnStar

[igotzzoom]

Not to indulge in a bit of gratuitous schadenfreude, but I'm glad I'm holding off for a bit on getting mine. Although generally minor, I'd rather not have to deal with these niggling bugs out of the gate. Hopefully by the time I'm ready to bite the bullet, most of these issues will be worked out.

[mizzou]

Called OnStar like several people suggested. Turns out it was my charging door not functioning properly, which I already knew because it was frozen solid with ice. They said nothing urgent, just have dealer look at it whenever you can. Should be fine as soon as it gets above freezing around here.

[WopOnTour]

The info in the owners manual is somewhat useless when it comes to dealing with a Service Engine Soon/ Check Engine/Malfunction Indicator Lamp. Sure, it you can check to make sure that your fuel/charge doors and fuel cap is tight. I also suggest to make sure your engine oil dipstick is fully seated (this can set off various airflow rationality DTCs) But the fact remains that there are over 2500 DTCs that can be potentially set on the Volt, so "throwing darts" as we say in the biz just dont work.(I eventually plan to put a post in the FAQs listing ALL of the Volt DTCs)

That being said whenever you get any sort of warning light, or Drivers Information Center (DIC) "Service xxx System" message the first thing you should do is carefully and safely pull over to the side of the roadway and press the Onstar button. Dont shut off your car UNLESS the DIC or Onstar instruct you to do so.(it might not restart if you do so) Whenever a warning lamp or message is present on your Volt there WILL be an associated Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) Onstar will be able to poll the failed DTCs and determine the best course of action.

This can vary greatly with the fault, but only the most serious requiring the vehicle being shut down and towed. But the fault may not be that severe or require urgent action.Onstar generally wont arbitrarily just CLEAR the DTCs becuase this will potentially wipe other valuable "snaphot" data that was recorded when the fault occured (and designed to be used by a dealership Volt technician)

In some cases when a Check Engine light is displayed you could be relegated to a "reduced power" mode where propulsion might be a fraction of normal, and in some cases ICE may start up even if you have battery capacity remaining.

In many cases Onstar might ask you to turn your Volt OFF, wait 2 minutes and restart. If the detected fault is no longer present this might result in a cancellation of any fail-safe behavior (e.g. reduced power mode, ICE run etc) however the check engine light will very likely remain ON. This is because unless the fault codes are cleared electronically it will take 3 consecutive "passes" on 3 consecutive trip/drive cycles to extinguish the lamp.(part of OBDII requirements)

So essentially if the vehicle behavior remains "normal" with no additional fault detected, it will still require 2 additional IGN OFF-IGN ON-DRIVE cycles before the lamp could turn OFF. So if after shutting down and restarting, your Volt appears to be operating correctly (other than the check engine light) I suggest you do a series of road tests (shutting down for 2-5 minutes in between to see if the lamp will go out on its own. In any case you should still visit your dealer as soon as you can as the DTCs will only remain stored in memory for ~50 additional drive cycles (should it not be detected again that is)
after that they will automatically be cleared.

Certainly it is worrisome that you have experienced this CEL problem so early in your Volt ownerhip, but not so unusual given the vast number of things that can trigger them. Hopefully early adopters of this car will remain patient as some of these minor growing pains are shaken down.
In a way these advanced diagnsotics combined with live asistance from Onstar look to make the most technically advanced vehicle on road today one of the quickest and easiest to reach root cause diagnosis in the least amount of owner inconvenience.

HTH
WopOnTour

[honoreitiscom]

Turns out it was my charging door not functioning properly, which I already knew because it was frozen solid with ice.

Same thing happened to me yesterday after a car wash, the charge door did not pop open when I pushed the button. I whacked it a little with my hand to loosen it up then it opened. I never got a "Service Engine Soon" though.

[WopOnTour]

Called OnStar like several people suggested. Turns out it was my charging door not functioning properly, which I already knew because it was frozen solid with ice. They said nothing urgent, just have dealer look at it whenever you can. Should be fine as soon as it gets above freezing around here.

I suspect you likely had a DTC P0CD2-00
There is a position sensor on the charge port door hinge that detects when it's open and closed. So if you press the charge door button and it doesnt OPEN this DTC can set. If the door doesnt close properly this sensor is also what brings up the "Close Charge Door" warning on the DIC. Once the ice is removed and the door cycled a few times the fault will no longer be present and the check engine light should go out after a few drive cycles (see my post above) Glad to hear this issue was relatively minor but highlights how the diagnostics of this car litterally have all bases covered.


WopOnTour

[BAZINGA]

So my camera crew and I arrived at my dealership today and started the purchase process on what was to be my new Silver Ice beauty. After some shuffling around, the general manager came over to me, introduced himself, and let me know that I would not be driving home that day in an emission-less vehicle. "Why for?" says I. "Well," He tells me, "the SES -Service Engine Soon light was on and we couldn't get it to turn off. We have top men working on it right now." He was quite apologetic and friendly, and I graciously continued my purchase of the car that, even before arrival to my door, was already back in the shop.

http://flic.kr/p/92Cx3k

I was, however, able to snag a few photos of the car in the shop hooked up to their Multiple Diagnostic Interface unit. I'm wondering if anyone else had any other snags in picking up their precious? Or was my condition a rarity? I hope it is. They seemed to think it was a software glitch of some kind. I hope so, as that should be easier to fix than a broken engine. But we'll see. Yesterday was my Christmas Eve, and I guess tonight gets to be too.

I just stumbled upon this, did you ever take delivery of your Volt mentioned in this tread?