Power loss during driving

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iivanov

New member
Joined
Jun 11, 2018
Messages
4
Hi All

Last week I suddenly loss all power while driving in a very heavy traffic on an expressway. The worst thing was that i was going uphill and when I lost power, the car started going backwards if I don't break. It was freaking scary - a few cars almost hit me, and I had to call 911 so they sent a police to block the lane and bring a tow truck safely.
During this all time, the car was showing "Initializing... Waiting to shift" and won't turn off. Won't move either. Finally the tow truck driver was able to start it and move it.
We brought it to the Chevrolet dealership and tried to explain that there is a probability of a serious safety situation. They however said that there is nothing they can do and I need to pay for a replacing a "faulty low voltage resistor" - hefty $1200 repair. The car only had 25K miles on it and just got out of bumper to bumper warranty (it is leased but I extended my lease). When I asked "But this is a powertrain issue, the car does not run" they replied that this is not covered by power train warranty.

Any advise? I am considering to contact NHTSA and report this. Not sure how to deal with the Chevy service - they still insist that I pay for this.

Thank you, any suggestion is highly appreciated.

Ivan
 
iivanov said:
Hi All

Last week I suddenly loss all power while driving in a very heavy traffic on an expressway. The worst thing was that i was going uphill and when I lost power, the car started going backwards if I don't break. It was freaking scary - a few cars almost hit me, and I had to call 911 so they sent a police to block the lane and bring a tow truck safely.
During this all time, the car was showing "Initializing... Waiting to shift" and won't turn off. Won't move either. Finally the tow truck driver was able to start it and move it.
We brought it to the Chevrolet dealership and tried to explain that there is a probability of a serious safety situation. They however said that there is nothing they can do and I need to pay for a replacing a "faulty low voltage resistor" - hefty $1200 repair. The car only had 25K miles on it and just got out of bumper to bumper warranty (it is leased but I extended my lease). When I asked "But this is a powertrain issue, the car does not run" they replied that this is not covered by power train warranty.

Any advise? I am considering to contact NHTSA and report this. Not sure how to deal with the Chevy service - they still insist that I pay for this.

Thank you, any suggestion is highly appreciated.

Ivan
I think you dealer doesn't have a clue. There are others who have posted on this forum who have had the same problem. You might want to review the postings and then call Chevrolet Customer Assistance Center at 855-477-2754. Be sure to have someone check your 12 volt battery. If it starts going South, everything in the car may start going South too.

Please keep us posted.
 
Thanks,

The funny thing is that this morning I went to the dealership to pick up something I forgot in my car. I started the car and everything seemed fine - I even drove it a little within the parking lot. Not sure how this can happen with a burnt "low voltage resistor" which probably confirms it is probably the 12 volt battery.. Maybe I should go to a different place.

Ivan
 
iivanov said:
Thanks,

The funny thing is that this morning I went to the dealership to pick up something I forgot in my car. I started the car and everything seemed fine - I even drove it a little within the parking lot. Not sure how this can happen with a burnt "low voltage resistor" which probably confirms it is probably the 12 volt battery.. Maybe I should go to a different place.

Ivan

If the resistor is burnt, it should stay burnt!

The 12 volt battery in the Spark EV is an AGM battery and they can be temperamental. If you can find someone with an AGM 12 volt battery charger with a de-sulphate function, try charging your 12 volt battery overnight for about 12 hours and see if your problem happens again. With the car turned off, you can also use a good voltmeter to check the voltage across the 12 volt battery terminals. You should see about 13 or 14 volts depending on the level of charge in the battery. If it is near 12 volts or lower, try recharging the battery using an 12 volt AGM battery charger.

Note: I use a BatteryMinder model 2012-AGM battery charger.
 
Thanks for the reply,

I measured the battery and with the car turned off it shows approx. 12.3 V, which is I guess on the lower end. I did take the car to another auto place to just test with a car battery tester with a load and they said it was OK, but again, I am not sure.
Do you think I need to get a new AGM battery or just recharge this one? I guess decent battery charger will cost almost the same as the battery. Also I am not sure what model charger would be good - what kind of amperage?

The car is leased (extended lease, big mistake!) and I have to return it in 4 months or so.


Ivan
 
iivanov said:
Thanks for the reply,

I measured the battery and with the car turned off it shows approx. 12.3 V, which is I guess on the lower end. I did take the car to another auto place to just test with a car battery tester with a load and they said it was OK, but again, I am not sure.
Do you think I need to get a new AGM battery or just recharge this one? I guess decent battery charger will cost almost the same as the battery. Also I am not sure what model charger would be good - what kind of amperage?

The car is leased (extended lease, big mistake!) and I have to return it in 4 months or so.


Ivan
12.3 volts should be fine. I just measured my 2016 after running around for a while and it measured 12.3 volts. My 2014, which has been sitting all day read 12.4 volts. Late last year, just to be safe, I replaced the battery in my 2014. The battery cost about $175.00.

My suggestion would be to try and find someone who has a 12 volt AGM battery charger and charge your battery overnight. Hopefully, the charger has a desulfation mode built in. Then see if your problem happens again or not. The BatteryMinder 12 volt battery charger I have cost about $125.00 and I can charge the 12 volt battery through the OBDII port located by the hood release inside of the car. There are less expensive 12 volt AGM chargers.

As I mentioned earlier, AGM batteries can be temperamental.
 
iivanov said:
Thanks for the reply,

I measured the battery and with the car turned off it shows approx. 12.3 V, which is I guess on the lower end. I did take the car to another auto place to just test with a car battery tester with a load and they said it was OK, but again, I am not sure.
Do you think I need to get a new AGM battery or just recharge this one? I guess decent battery charger will cost almost the same as the battery. Also I am not sure what model charger would be good - what kind of amperage?

The car is leased (extended lease, big mistake!) and I have to return it in 4 months or so.


Ivan
12.3 volts should be fine. I just measured my 2016 after running around for a while and it measured 12.3 volts. My 2014, which has been sitting all day read 12.4 volts. Late last year, just to be safe, I replaced the battery in my 2014. The battery cost about $175.00.

My suggestion would be to first try and find someone who has a 12-volt AGM battery charger and charge your battery overnight. Hopefully, the charger has a desulfation mode built in. Then see if your problem happens again or not. The BatteryMinder 12-volt battery charger I have cost about $125.00 and I can charge the 12-volt battery through the OBDII port located by the hood release inside of the car. There are less expensive 12-volt AGM chargers available but you do need the desulfation mode.

As I mentioned earlier, AGM batteries can be temperamental.
 
12.3 volts should be fine. I just measured my 2016 after running around for a while and it measured 12.3 volts. My 2014, which has been sitting all day read 12.4 volts. Late last year, just to be safe, I replaced the battery in my 2014. The battery cost about $175.00.

My suggestion would be to first try and find someone who has a 12-volt AGM battery charger and charge your battery overnight. Hopefully, the charger has a desulfation mode built in. Then see if your problem happens again or not. The BatteryMinder 12-volt battery charger I have cost about $125.00 and I can charge the 12-volt battery through the OBDII port located by the hood release inside of the car. There are less expensive 12-volt AGM chargers available but you do need the desulfation mode.

As I mentioned earlier, AGM batteries can be temperamental.

Thanks a lot... Would you mind sharing which model of BatteryMinder do you use - there are several on Amazon and I am not sure which one would be appropriate? If you charge through the OBDII port, don't you need to still disconnect the battery?
Did you replace with the original ACDelco battery model or something else? I don't seem to find it aftermarket. ..

Sorry for the too many questions, I just never had to deal with this kind of stuff. Until last week my Spark was the most reliable car that I ever had (literally zero problems in 3 years), but now warranty is gone, so I guess ...
 
iivanov said:
12.3 volts should be fine. I just measured my 2016 after running around for a while and it measured 12.3 volts. My 2014, which has been sitting all day read 12.4 volts. Late last year, just to be safe, I replaced the battery in my 2014. The battery cost about $175.00.

My suggestion would be to first try and find someone who has a 12-volt AGM battery charger and charge your battery overnight. Hopefully, the charger has a desulfation mode built in. Then see if your problem happens again or not. The BatteryMinder 12-volt battery charger I have cost about $125.00 and I can charge the 12-volt battery through the OBDII port located by the hood release inside of the car. There are less expensive 12-volt AGM chargers available but you do need the desulfation mode.

As I mentioned earlier, AGM batteries can be temperamental.

Thanks a lot... Would you mind sharing which model of BatteryMinder do you use - there are several on Amazon and I am not sure which one would be appropriate? If you charge through the OBDII port, don't you need to still disconnect the battery?
Did you replace with the original ACDelco battery model or something else? I don't seem to find it aftermarket. ..

Sorry for the too many questions, I just never had to deal with this kind of stuff. Until last week my Spark was the most reliable car that I ever had (literally zero problems in 3 years), but now warranty is gone, so I guess ...

No problem with the questions. That is what this forum is for and I have found answers to many of my questions on this forum.

I ordered my charger directly from BatterMinders.com. The model number is 2012-AGM and it came with the standard cable for connecting to the battery posts. It also came with a plug-in cable adapter that allows charging through the OBD-2 port. This way you do not have to open the hood and mess with connections to your battery. The OBD-2 connection works great. Typically, once per month, I fully charge and desulfate the batteries in my 2 Spark EVs. I did not see the OBD2 connector as being available on Amazon but it is available at http://www.BatteryMinders.com/OBD2SAE.

I replaced my battery with an exact AC Delco replacement. However, I had to search the AC Delco website to find an auto parts store near me where I could purchase the battery. That store was about 20 miles from my home. The AC Delco part number is LN1AGM (88865429).

Added Note: I connected my AGM battery charger to each of my Spark EVs and the display, which shows four batteries at 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, showed both batteries were about 50% charged. According to an AGM battery charge table I found, The voltage I measured previously for both cars means the battery in each car was about 70% of full charge. 12.3V - 12.4V seems to be about where Chevy wants to keep the charge level. So, if after letting the battery sit for a minimum of 3 hours, you measure 12.0 volts or lower, you should consider recharging or replacing the battery.

Added Note 2: After fully charging both my 2014 Spark EV and 2016 Spark EV, my AGM BatteryMinder charger showed both were 100% charged. I measured the voltage across each battery and both read 12.4 volts.
 
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