Towed To Dealer after 2 weeks 351 miles

[Collimare]

I am a good loyal GM customer who just wants his new car to be fully repaired. Whatever that takes period! It is GM's responsibility to have the resources in place with an effective method of diagnosing and repairing the car. First level the dealer, regional support and then factory. Mine is not the only one having this exact same problem. I have counted at least 4 so far and that is only what is getting reported to different forums. Which is by all accounts a small percentage. Statistically there are more out there I assure you.

Lets discuss my last $61,000 GM purchase:

2015.5 Chevrolet Silverado HD Crew Cab Diesel LTZ
VIN: 1GC1KWE89FF558385
Purchased 04-29-15
MSRP $61,395

I had owned it about 3 weeks when we got a slow steady rain for several days and the truck had been sitting since I was driving the 2013 Volt. When I did go to use it I was immediately taken back by a significant smell of musty dampness. I had a passenger side floor board full of water. Nearly two inches worth stretching to under the back seat. Short story it took two weeks in the shop to find the problem, they removed the windshield, all the interior above the windshield and applied missing caulking to body joints on the right front pillar to roof seam area.

6 months later I have large puddles of oil on my driveway. Short story it took a full week of a massive tear down and reassembly to put a new oil pan on the Duramax engine.

Everything has been fine since. Was I happy no! but it was fully repaired. I have made it clear that I expect the same. If that means GM ultimately has to do that on their own while I drive a replacement that is what it will be.

To me finding my new car dead is one thing. To have it towed to the dealer to only be told it is fully powered and working fine is another, especially when it is happening to others. Maybe it is just a bad component supplied to them by a vendor. Like the heater control sensor on my 2013 Volt which GM had to quietly replace a whole pile of them. Nonetheless they just need to find it. That is on them not me.

 

[BoltMaybe]

I had owned it about 3 weeks when we got a slow steady rain for several days and the truck had been sitting since I was driving the 2013 Volt. When I did go to use it I was immediately taken back by a significant smell of musty dampness. I had a passenger side floor board full of water. Nearly two inches worth stretching to under the back seat. Short story it took two weeks in the shop to find the problem, they removed the windshield, all the interior above the windshield and applied missing caulking to body joints on the right front pillar to roof seam area.

6 months later I have large puddles of oil on my driveway. Short story it took a full week of a massive tear down and reassembly to put a new oil pan on the Duramax engine.

Wow. I'm not sure I would have bought another Chevy product after that, but I assume they didn't charge and compensated you for what was clearly poor workmanship at the factory.

The car being in Service mode, which turns off 12v charging, and then draining the 12v battery sounds fairly viable to me. Check the end of this thread on ChevyBolt.org for the service codes. The car could have switched out of Service mode when things went completely dead, but I'm just not sure I how the 12v battery recovered enough to operate correctly.

 

[Collimare]

Wow. I'm not sure I would have bought another Chevy product after that, but I assume they didn't charge and compensated you for what was clearly poor workmanship at the factory.

Yes, the new truck had issues but it never failed to start, never left me stranded, I was never told to find a way home at my own expense, never told it is working fine after being towed to the dealer.

I never had the faintest fear that it would not get me to where I wanted to go each and every time........ This is where I draw the line.

 

[devbolt]

I had owned it about 3 weeks when we got a slow steady rain for several days and the truck had been sitting since I was driving the 2013 Volt. When I did go to use it I was immediately taken back by a significant smell of musty dampness. I had a passenger side floor board full of water. Nearly two inches worth stretching to under the back seat. Short story it took two weeks in the shop to find the problem, they removed the windshield, all the interior above the windshield and applied missing caulking to body joints on the right front pillar to roof seam area.

6 months later I have large puddles of oil on my driveway. Short story it took a full week of a massive tear down and reassembly to put a new oil pan on the Duramax engine.

Wow. I'm not sure I would have bought another Chevy product after that, but I assume they didn't charge and compensated you for what was clearly poor workmanship at the factory.

The car being in Service mode, which turns off 12v charging, and then draining the 12v battery sounds fairly viable to me. Check the end of this thread on ChevyBolt.org for the service codes. The car could have switched out of Service mode when things went completely dead, but I'm just not sure I how the 12v battery recovered enough to operate correctly.

I can easily think of how this happened:
12V Battery gets drained while in service mode.
Bolt automagically shuts down all systems once voltage falls below a certain threshold.
When all systems are shutdown, vampiric drain stops completely. It’s as if the 12V battery has been removed.
12V battery has enough time to to sit undisturbed so that voltage rises back above a certain threshold.
Once voltage rises enough, it’s as if the Bolt has been connected to a new 12V battery and basic operations start.
Part of basic operations is to check if 12V battery needs to be charged.
Bolt finds 12V battery needs to be charged, engages the HV battery and inverter and starts charging the battery up.
12V battery gets charged back up and all appears to be fine again.

 

[devbolt]

Wow. I'm not sure I would have bought another Chevy product after that, but I assume they didn't charge and compensated you for what was clearly poor workmanship at the factory.

Yes, the new truck had issues but it never failed to start, never left me stranded, I was never told to find a way home at my own expense, never told it is working fine after being towed to the dealer.

I never had the faintest fear that it would not get me to where I wanted to go each and every time........ This is where I draw the line.

You had three distinct events happen here: 12V battery died, crappy OnStar service, and a crappy tow/jump-start service. I suspect that if the tow/jump-start experience had turned out a different way, the crappy OnStar and dealer experience would be non-existent. Or at least severely reduced.

 

[BoltMaybe]

I never had the faintest fear that it would not get me to where I wanted to go each and every time........ This is where I draw the line.

Acknowledged. No one wants a product that doesn't work and then, when it does work, the manufacturer can't tell you how or why it started working again b/c they didn't 'fix' anything.

As I said, the issue noted the ChevyBolt.org thread seems like a possible root cause,

Apparently when the car was on the road the charging system was in "Ignition ON/Vehicle in Service Mode and therefore not charging the 12 V battery properly.
<some details snipped>
A few questions unanswered. Why didn't they find it last time? If it is a known software glitch, why isn't Chevrolet more proactive? But for the moment, I am relieved that this problem is behind me. Not shocked that it was software though.

If Service mode was the issue for you, your Bolt may not have had the same reason for being in that mode, but the symptoms were similar (as his consternation with Chevy).

The real problem is that EVs represent a new, disruptive model for dealerships. ICE cars are an ongoing revenue stream for dealers b/c of their high maintenance requirements. Not just oil changes but brakes, tires, and engine wear all require owners to visit the dealer regularly. EV's have very little maintenance, so little incentive for dealers to sell those cars b/c it is likely a one time profit. Since I did tires elsewhere, I only visited my EV dealer for the required annual battery maintenance...which was free (for me). This is probably why Tesla is trying to change how cars are sold.

 

[Collimare]

Good news I hope!! My service adviser called late today just to let me know it will be going into detail tomorrow to clean the seat and buff out the scratches on the hood. I can pick it up tomorrow.

The issue as he relayed it to me was they found a "draw" and replaced the MPCM2 module (I think, he was going fast) which is the main charging system control. I will know more tomorrow when I pick up the car and can read the lengthy report (as he put it).

 

[winterescape]

Good news I hope!! My service adviser called late today just to let me know it will be going into detail tomorrow to clean the seat and buff out the scratches on the hood. I can pick it up tomorrow.

The issue as he relayed it to me was they found a "draw" and replaced the MPCM2 module (I think, he was going fast) which is the main charging system control. I will know more tomorrow when I pick up the car and can read the lengthy report (as he put it).

That sounds very promising, I hope that everything is indeed resolved and this simply becomes an unfortunate incident in an otherwise enjoyable ownership experience...

 

[Collimare]

Here is the report. Does not explain how or why the car was found by the dealer to be working when it was dead and needed to be towed.

The image does not seem to work well. Not sure how to get it larger as it just gives me an error.