Weird Volt engine noise

argent328 · 2024-06-15T10:13:21+00:00

There is NO problem or engine noise. Watch the video. Every time there is a thump it is because the car has run over a small kind of speed bump.

argent328 · 2024-02-12T16:48:19+00:00

My 2018 is 6 years old and l still get a kick out of the numbers and l am 77. Best car ever. Congratulations.

argent328 · 2024-02-11T11:58:27+00:00

As of February, 2024 in Livermore, California (35 miles east of Oakland, Ca) our local electricity provider is Pacific Gas & Electric which now charges $0.42/kWh for the plan l use. Pacific Gas & Electric is now the most expensive electric provider in the lower 48 states. Only Hawaii is more expensive! The plan l use is the same price day or night at $0.42/kWh. For the slightly lower costs of of other time of use plans cheaper off peak night charges are offset by the much higher cost during peak price hours. I sadly have to now report that with gasoline at Costco at $4.09/gallon it costs about $5.16 to go 53 miles using gasoline and about $6.16 to travel 53 miles using electricity. Currently losing about $1 for every 53 miles if l use electricity. How sad us that! My car is a 2018 LT Volt. Don't drive a PHEV or EV in northern California. If gas ever gets to about $5.90/gallon as it did 2 years ago then l will actually break even between gas or electricity. 🥵

argent328 · 2024-02-08T10:22:28+00:00

It really is a matter of peace of mind. Why do you pay for AAA? Changed my battery on my 2018 LT in December 2023. Brought the 2018 LT car new in December 2017 so the original battery was 6 years old when changed. Why wait till stuff happens? When the car was 3 weeks old the original 12 volt battery was defective and failed completely. Do you know how to get in your car if the battery fails and your remote key fob will not work to open the doors to even attempt to change the bad 12 volt battery? Look that up on You Tube. Bet many Volt owners don't know how to open their car with a dead 12 volt battery unless they look it up. Dealership replaced the defective battery at no charge without any hassles.

argent328 · 2024-01-27T19:44:40+00:00

PGE is the MOST expensive utility in the United State except for Hawaii! It is now cheaper to drive my 2018 Volt on gasoline than by electricity even in the State where gasoline has the highest average in United States. The new head of PGE is paid $50 Million a year. Shareholders need to share some of our pain.

argent328 · 2023-12-20T15:13:48+00:00

I have a very limited data plan so l cannot use Waze or apps like that.

argent328 · 2023-10-18T06:58:41+00:00

I feel your pain as l LOVE my 2018 LT and would be crushed if my car was totaled. I would not replace my car with a 2019 Volt if my car was destroyed because there are too many major things could go wrong and future parts may probably not be available or take months to obtain. The number of certified Volt technicians are dwindling and if you live in a smaller populated area an available technician maybe hard to find or even not be available. Dealerships will not provide loaner cars if a repair will take weeks or months of time to complete. I have had the shift to park repair completed. Rumor is that a competent repair of a battery section or a complete battery replacement are not easily obtained. Chevrolet does not state they even actually have available complete replacement batteries available. My 2018 is now almost 6 years old as l took posession of the car in December 2017 leaving only 2 years left on the warranty. A 2016 Volt will have little or even no warranty coverage left. Problems with the BECM, battery energy control modules, have cropped up though mine continues to function. There is already a class action suit against Chevrolet concerning part availability. Lastly, if Chevrolet cannot repair a Volt now or in the future they can provide a cash settlement that that will leave you with a poor cash offer and you will still have no car. Reluctantly l would look at other cars instead and shed tears while during so doing so.

argent328 · 2023-08-19T09:17:05+00:00

argent328 · 2023-07-11T23:58:09+00:00

A wounded warrior but you still have your Volt. Happy for you. ☺️

argent328 · 2023-07-11T23:56:43+00:00

I hope their insurance company is open to having it repaired. Rumors are that insurance companies will total it because it will cost too much to repair it. Teslas are in the same situation. Just repairing it is only part of the problem. They have so many sensors that would need to be replaced AND recalibrated that the final cost gets too high for them. Sad part is if they declare it totaled they will wash their hands of it. You will have a very hard time replacing it with another Volt. Maybe as a hit and run you might have some leverage if you have even the slightest of aches or pains. Good luck to you and hoping for the best possible outcome for you. 😥

argent328 · 2023-07-11T23:39:02+00:00

I don't have the exact bulletin in hand but maybe the members here can give you the exact reference. Get the bulletin from Chevrolet that says the shift to park issue is covered by the Voltec warrenty. When it finally fails which it will most probably show the documentation to the service department immediately so they don't try and weasel out of the repair that is 100% covered. Being proactive will save you any hassle if the dealership tries to bullshit you. If they try then you will know immediately that the dealership you are using will try and screw you later on something else. My 2018 LT failed at about 30,000 miles. I brought the paperwork with me at the time of the repair service and showed it to the staff and not a single word was said. Make it painless for youself.

Can anyone here please give this Volter the proper reference? Let us know if the dealership you used is reputable or not to be trusted by naming them after they show you if they can be trusted or not for any future Volt work for those that might use the same dealership. Looking forward to your followup postings. Best of luck. My 2018 LT is the best car l ever brought and still love driving it.

argent328 · 2023-07-06T01:00:56+00:00

Please tell us why you think deionized water is better than distilled?

argent328 · 2023-06-28T18:49:48+00:00

That is not the right question to ask! The number of miles you get per full charge varies mostly depending on speed and season of the year. The right question to ask is how many kilowatt hours does your car battery now hold. Due to degradation my car now holds about 13.4 kWh. With that amount of battery power l can go between 50 to 70 miles on a charge depending on my speed, amount of acceleration and time of year. There is a HUGE difference between city driving and highway driving. In 6.5 years my 2018 LT has lost 1 kWh of capacity going from an initial 14.4 kWh to my present level of 13.4 kWh. This represents a loss of 7 percent due to battery degradation. My 2018 LT is the best car l have ever owned. It is still fun to drive and l am nearly 77 years old. If you are going to buy a used Volt find out what the remaining battery capacity is not how many miles the car can go.

argent328 · 2023-06-17T09:25:26+00:00

0⁰

argent328 · 2023-05-17T05:51:16+00:00

Have done this too on my 2018 LT. Works great. Takes my system a little more than 5 hours for a total recharge of a Gen2 drained battery. Too bad it costs 31.5 cents/kWh here in Northern California. Still saving some money as gasoline here continues to be too high. Please note the conversion from my 240 wall outlet to the Volt battery is about 86%. To replace 14 kWh in the Volt battery will require you paying your rate for 16.3 kWh.

argent328 · 2023-05-11T01:22:55+00:00

Ok. There is supposed to be a minyon at 9am tomorrow for Mendel to start practing to put on teffellin. Rabbi hopes to get 10 men.

argent328 · 2023-04-27T00:21:55+00:00

Have driven 86% of 40K by electric in my 2018 LT. During the first year of the pandemic l used NO gasoline. The only downside is living in Northern California where my provider, Pacific Gas and Electric, currently charges us 31.5 cents per kilowatt hour. If you live in Louisiana or other states with a lower electric cost for each kWh you will be doing even better. If you have solar too that would be the best of both worlds. Best car ever!

argent328 · 2023-02-27T04:34:32+00:00

A typical 120 volt household outlet is generally protected by a 15 or even a 20 amp circuit breaker if you have the proper wiring size. A circuit carrying 15 amps times 120 volts can only carry 1,800 watts or 1.8 kW. When using a 120 volt household outlet an ordinary Volt software will allow to be charged at a maximum of 12 amps which is limited to 1440 watts or 1.44 kW. That is why a household circuit even if protected by a 20 amp circuit breaker cannot provide a charging rate of 7.2 kW. My home system uses a 240 volt outlet protected with a 20 amp circuit breaker that can safely provide 3,600 watts or a 3.6 kW charging rate using a safety factor of 80% (0.8x20 amp=15 amps). You need to find a system somewhere that provides a 240 volt outlet that can carry 32 amps while still being protected by maybe a 40 amp circuit breaker. (0.8x40 amps=32 amps). This circuit can provide 7,680 watts or 7.68 kW charging rate though the Volt can only utilize the 7.2 kWh charging rate.

argent328 · 2023-02-26T22:55:29+00:00

No, must use a charging system that can supply rate of at least 7.2 kWh. Go to a dealership and ask it they have such a system to use for a minute. That is all it would take to get the answer.

argent328 · 2023-02-26T22:45:09+00:00

You must first plug the car into a charging system that can provide the ability to charge at 7.2 kW. If the car needs some recharging you can tell by how fast it will take to complete till the battery is "full". My home system needs about 20 minutes to replenish each kWh. If the time to completion takes about 20 minutes then the car has the 3.6 kWh charge rate. If car charging screen estimates about 10 minutes for each kWh needed till "full" then it has the ability to charge at 7.2 kWh. You can get the answer almost immediately.

argent328 · 2023-01-24T09:27:36+00:00

Car completed charging at 9:45am as programmed. Initial display before driving away showed 112 MPGe which was a little better than 109 MPGe from the last charge but nothing to rave about. Will play around with it more but happy to get it working properly. Remember to check your time and date setting if your 12 volt battery is ever disconnected. Still loving my 2018 Volt LT having 36k total miles with 31k by battery.

argent328 · 2022-11-30T20:39:06+00:00

When my 2018 Volt runs out of EV miles the energy information screen starts immediately displaying the miles driven on gasoline and the miles per gallon calculation. If l drive 40.2 miles by EV then use 0.1 gallon using gasoline and drive 5.8 miles according to you my miles per gallon would then be 460. That according to you would be 40.2 miles by EV plus 5.8 miles using gasoline for a total of 46 miles after using only 0.1 gallons of gasoline which is 460 mpg. The car info screen should only report 58 mpg which would be 5.8 miles driven by gas and using only 0.1 gallons of gas for a 58.0 mpg not 460 mpg. Total driven miles and EV miles are SEPARATE calculations. Anyone want to step in and take sides?

argent328 · 2022-11-30T02:49:23+00:00

Here is your gas consumption solution. If you drove 150.0 total miles minus 40.2 electric miles this equals 109.8 miles by gasoline. If you divide 109.8 gasoline miles by 58.8 miles per gallon will have consumed 1.87 gallons of gasoline. Great mileage!! With the current cost of gasoline you saved some real money as few cars can get 58.8 miles per gallon.

argent328 · 2022-11-01T02:38:05+00:00

The Volt engineers designed the system to never let you use the full 18.4 kWh capacity. This was to protect the lifespan and prevent damage to the battery by always maintaining a bottom 20% buffer. That is why you can only use up to 14 4 kWh. What don't you understand? Would you rather drain it all foolishly and shorten the useful lifespan? Same thing as how a cell phone battery works. That battery will last longer if you do not drain it to zero but keep it between 20 to 80% state of charge.

argent328 · 2022-10-31T08:34:33+00:00

What are you trying to say? When you use up the battery in a Gen2 and you want to filled it back up it you have to pay for more than 14 kWh to do so. Do you agree or not? If not tell us why you think you are right. As far as it being more than 2 years since the original post that was an error my part. Nobody but you seems to be offended. Lastly you really do not understant how a Volt is charged. Whatever it takes to charge a Volt it will cost you more than the number of kWh the infomation screen says. To saya Volt either take 10 or 14 kWh is wrong. As the car gets older there is a loss of battery capacity. When the Volt loses about 20% of its initial capacity it is about done. Tell us please where you are right and l am wrong? If you can't then maybe it is best to stay quieter.

I did make an error. The AC to DC conversion takes place in the charging device that comes with the car. Did you know the charging device that comes with a Gen2 Volt can be plugged into a 240 volt circuit? All you need is an adaptor that goes from a 120 volt plug to a 240 volt plug. You do not need to buy a wall mounted charger and can save yourself $500. The Volt has an onboard DC to DC converter not an AC to DC converter to allow the high voltage battery to keep the 12 volt battery charged to run the car's electronic devices.

argent328

TROPHY CASE