2011 Chevy Volt

Odo: 95,788

Hello all,

My 2011 volt recently had a breakdown. I wanted to see if anyone had some thoughts on what I should do. Here are all the details.



Driving about 70ish on the highway on battery power. When the battery drained to zero it tried to switch over to gas but the engine never started, and we were without power. Around this time the engine light came on. We coasted to the side of the road and still had power steering and power braking. The mileage tracker says we went .8 miles on gas and no gas was used. We came to a complete stop and tried restarting the car several times and various warnings to service the systems of the car (traction control, ABS, Security) At some point the red battery warning icon came on. We were never able to get the engine to start so we called a tow truck. We waited for about an hour for a tow truck that seemed it was not coming anytime soon and then left the car there. The tow truck came about 4 hours after the break down and reported that the battery of the car was completely dead. The tow truck drive gave the car some juice to start it and put it in neutral to tow it to our house.

The Battery in the volt was the original AC Delco AGM battery which was no 9 years old. I assumed this was the problem and purchased a similar Duralast AGM battery and replaced the old battery. The car now powers up but won’t switch to

gas and won’t take a charge when I plug it in to the wall charger. The orange light comes on and just stays orange. The engine light is still on but that is the only warning. It currently is stuck in the driveway.



I have an OBD2 scanner that I plugged in to see the codes. There were a lot. I recorded the codes and cleared them to see what was just caused by the battery dying. Some stuck around they are attached


Current behavior
Won’t switch to gas
Won’t charge the hybrid battery

engine light on

several error codes

computer slower than normal to come on. says "Initializing, wait to shift" on dashboard screen (takes about 30 seconds, usually less than 5 seconds)

Center console screen and radio come on immediately

Power steering is out

Power breaks are out

Tire pressure sensor is reads -- for all tires

center console charge status reads "Power Off"

all the windows go up and down

Hybrid battery should be pretty empty as we drove it to zero

There is software recall that needs to be complete for my 2011 volt

GM Program #: N172130461

Program Description:

Certain 2011 model year Chevrolet Volt vehicles equipped with a high voltage battery, may have a condition where it could gradually lose the ability to maintain voltage. If battery concerns are not addressed, over time the vehicle could enter a reduced propulsion mode while driving, or lose propulsion, or it may not start.

Repair Description:

Dealers are to update the Hybrid Powertrain Control Module 2 (HPCM2). This software update is intended to increase the amount of warning time provided.

That about covers it. Any thoughts or solutions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Andrew

 

have the recall performed and ask if this will address your concern.

 

Andrew:

Can you give us an update on what you did? My dealer said a new battery is needed and a 14k cost!