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Loss of propulsion system

6K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  bizmodel 
#1 ·
Propulsion system died while driving

Yesterday while driving on a very windy back road that had a speed limit of 35mph my Volt died. There was a fairly loud band that seemed to come from under the shift lever. I think that is when the propulsion system shut down. I managed to coast two thirds of the way off the road, put the car in park and tried a restart. It did start with the check engine light on. OnStar told me I had a error code that said there was a problem with my propulsion system, and I should take the car into the dealer within seven days.
My question is this, if I was traveling at 70 mph and the propulsion system quit could I shift into neutral and restart the car?
 
#2 ·
I don't know enough about your failure to know if it'd work.

In general, yes. If you turn the car off while driving (double press on the power button,) you can switch to neutral and restart the car while it's still moving.

Whether that would restore operation would depends on what caused the car to stop in the first place...
 
#3 · (Edited)
Actually, Probably Not. Most of the systems need to see a cycle into and out of Park by the "shift" lever to reset. Good luck trying that without coming to a stop first..

And as an aside - my 2013 will Not restart and continue onward without going in/out of park if I "kill" it by hitting the power button twice while driving. I've tried it, just to see what happens and to be ready if I should do it by mistake. You can wake the Displays back up without the park sequence, but it won't "go"..
 
#6 ·
Maybe you aren't doing it correctly, Rons2013?

2013 Owners Manual, 9-18

Restarting Procedure
If the vehicle must be restarted
while it is still moving, move the shift
lever to N (Neutral) and press the
POWER O button twice without
pressing the brake pedal. The
propulsion system will not restart in
any other position.
 
#4 ·
After reading the discussion about accidently turni8ng it off, I did some testing (MY 2013) on a wide open local road. It actually took me a couple tries to successfully turn it off with the double hit. (You have to pause long enough between the hits.) The first time I turned it off, it took me two tries to turn it back on. The second time I was able to restart on the first try. Neither time required a full stop and 'Park'.

Of course, in the circumstances of the OP, the 'Park' cycle may be required to deal with the event that caused the error.
 
#5 ·
We were driving on a very windy back road that has a speed limit of 35 mph. I heard a loud clump that seemed to come from below the shift lever. I think that was caused by the complete loss of power. I was able to cost partially off the road, put the car in park and tried to restart it. It did start with the check engine light on. I called OnStar they ran diagnostics and said I had a propulsion system problem and should take it to the dealer within the next 7 days.
My question is if this happened at 70 mph could you shift into neutral and restart the Volt?
 
#9 ·
make a small label and put it by the onstar call button.
"ASK for the ERROR CODE"

or as my Aggie roommate said way too many times.
"I can't help you with out a soil sample" :)

some question to the forum may require the year of the Volt to answer.

do try a volt re-start in a save area- First time I did a test at NIGHT I had to manual turn back on the headlights.
 
#10 ·
Maybe you aren't doing it correctly, Rons2013?

2013 Owners Manual, 9-18

Restarting Procedure
If the vehicle must be restarted
while it is still moving, move the shift
lever to N (Neutral) and press the
POWER O button twice without
pressing the brake pedal. The
propulsion system will not restart in
any other position.
Well, RTFM would apply, right. Actually I was Probably trying to make it restart by pressing the power button Once, not Twice. Guess I need to experiment with this again and figure it out. Might be handy to know, someday..
 
#11 ·
I got my Volt back. There were two error codes Code POAC4, and POA89. The tech thinks possible low fuel or delay in start of gas engine. The low fuel warning light was on, however, I drove the car another 20 miles before buying gas. The dealer was not able to duplicate the problem. The tech was instructed by TAC to reflash PCM with latest software.
I have a call into my Volt rep. to see if he knew what updates to the software were included in the latest version. The dealer did not know.
 
#12 ·
I got my Volt back. There were two error codes Code POAC4, and POA89. The tech thinks possible low fuel
That sounds odd to me as several have shown you can drive the car with NO gas. Having gas in the tank would not cause a low propulsion scenario unless there was an issue elsewhere. Again, an "empty" battery and no fuel is different, but even then the car can be driven (about 5 miles I think) before shutting down.
 
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