Good for you for getting the extended warranty. These type of repairs can get costly.

 

My 2017 Bolt gave me a reduced power notice with a service soon MIL indication. I pull off the road and stopped at which point it gave a notice of not ready to engage Drive. I turned it off and back on but it was not functioning still.

Did you disconnect and reconnect the 12-volt negative battery cable as part of the off/on test?

jack vines

 

And did you turn it off and walk away for 10 minutes?

 

Might consider replacing the 12V battery.

 

If the problem is in the electric drive system (and that's what this sounds like), and a reboot as previously suggested doesn't snap it out of it, you won't need the extended warranty yet for another 56,000 miles or 2 years.

 

..... you won't need the extended warranty yet for another 56,000 miles or 2 years.

Let's hope he gets his Bolt back on the road & traveling another 56,000 miles & much more.

 

My 17 threw Service Soon. Worked normally with a louder than normal whine. They tracked it to the inverter, so it was EV warranty (still in effect) not powertrain (ended in 2022). No hardware failure, so they cancelled their order for a new inverter and uploaded new firmware. Works now.

If it's the actual drive unit (i.e. mechanical parts) it might be greyer.

 

Yup... likely the 12V battery. My 2017 is still on its original battery, but I do plug it in to a charger/desulfator once every few months. My father's 2017 Bolt had its 12V battery fail at around 1 year old. Anyway... if you haven't replaced your 12V battery yet (or recently), then it is probably the cause of your problems.

 

It’s been at the dealer for two weeks now. They tell me it needs a new wire harness. The wire harness’s are on a National back order and can’t give me a timeframe for the repair.

 

New wire harness? Was it chewed by rodents?

 

And at this point I don’t know what is going to happen!

 

These electrical problems just ain't cool!
But, I still want a Chevy Bolt. If I can afford a Bolt, I'll still keep the wonderful Hyundai Elantra & Accent ICE vehicles, tho.

 

I heard from the dealer yesterday, they have been negotiating with the extended warranty people because they think it should only take 3 Hours to replace the wire harness. The harness is $ 1,100 and the labor overage will be about $ 1,700. I hope this is the answer to the problem.

 

Problem is there are great trans techs, great body techs and so forth. Getting dealers with great electrical techs is still missing.

 

My good & honest mechanic of 26 years, gives me independence from car dealers. NICE!

 

It would be interesting to be able to connect a good 12V battery and see if the problems go away. Having specialized in VW diesels in a past life, I can tell you that a lot of people's dealership experience went something like this: A $75 solenoid was bad. Dealership says the car needs a new turbocharger at $2,500. Dealership replaces turbocharger. Dealership contacts customer and says that turbocharger is replaced, but vehicle also needs $75 solenoid. Customer picks up car and pays for turbocharger and solenoid. Perfectly good turbocharger gets returned for core value.

 

And just to be clear, I'm not saying the dealerships were knowingly ripping off customers. They legitimately didn't know how to diagnose the problem. The "book" says to replace the $2,500 turbocharger. If that doesn't fix it, then replace the $75 solenoid. And if that doesn't fix it, replace $5 worth of vacuum hose.

In theory, that's how it should work. In practice, the turbochargers never failed. The solenoid was most likely to fail, and the vacuum hose was next on he list. This is the difference between a specialist and the wrench monkeys at the dealership.

 

Which is why I always go with the cheap and easy solution(s) first, regardless of the order on the "possible solution likelihood" list.

 

From what I am told this is a GM diagnosis because the shop had not seen these codes before. But GM has, but I’m suspicious. If this doesn’t work I may have to give up on it. I can tell you I would not buy another EV.

 

. I can tell you I would not buy another EV.

John, sorry for the hassle you've been through and one could understand why you might choose an ICE next, but odds are you'll be back in an EV eventually.

jack vines

 

My Bolt is working again. They replaced the main wire harness and the car is code free now. I should have more details when I receive the itemized bill next week. About half the cost was covered by my extended warranty. I guess they had to replace my front hubs too but that was totally covered by the extended warranty. So overall the extended warranty was useful.

 

Still seems sketchy to me, but if it’s working now, then I guess that’s good news. Did they do anything other than the wiring harness to help solve the problem you were having?

 

I don’t get the car back until next week. I hope the invoice has some additional information. They also had ABS codes because of bad sensors in the wheel hubs. I understand your skepticism, but I’m not qualified to repair this vehicle. It does make sense to me if a wire harness is under tension it could disrupt the connections. I just hope it operates normally for a while.

 

A good and honest technician that has 26 years of experience is incapable of working on a Bolt EV unless they've been to the GM tech center and has access to some very sophisticated information and technology.

 

This was the final bill, this harness issue has a repair bulletin so it must have happened to other Bolts. Part of this was a recall and the other was a front hub issue. The wire harness was the major problem.

 

For the record I checked my 12 volt battery yesterday and it was 13.4 volts, this morning it’s 13.7 and it’s 15 degrees out. I think my battery is fine.

 

Good point by @bisco. Those numbers look more like what I'd expect with the car on or maybe plugged in, not the resting voltage. The car trickle charges the 12V when it's plugged in. That part of the reason for recommending people always be plugged in. So what you're actually measuring is the output of the DC/DC converter.

 

are you checking it with the car off?

 

It was off for both measurements. But it was 15 degrees so it was changing.

 

In the owners manual it says to plug it in below 30 and above 90.

 

It was off for both measurements. But it was 15 degrees so it was changing.

There you go. You didn't measure the battery. You measured the DC/DC converter output. Unplug the car and let it set a few hours. Then measure the 12V.

In the owners manual it says to plug it in below 30 and above 90.

I keep mine plugged in when it's below 60 and above 60. If it's home, it's plugged in.

 

I keep mine plugged in when it's below 60 and above 60. If it's home, it's plugged in.

Always Be Charging.

Those who hope, without nearly enough hard data, to game battery life by holding SOC between 20% - 60%, well go for it. Those of us in the frozen-ass-end-of-nowhere, we're charging to Hilltop Reserve every time it's home and preconditioning battery and cabin before every departure.

jack vines

 

I finally got around to testing my battery Voltage off and unplugged. It is 12.85 volts. I don’t think that’s bad for a 12 volt battery.

 

that's excellent, is it original?

 

To tell the truth I didn’t know the Bolt 12 volt battery was charging when the traction battery was charging. But this is the original battery, it is driven daily and is always plugged in when it it cold. On my ICE cars I have alway float charged them when it is cold. My first F 150 battery lasted 20 years.

 

my 2005 dakota battery lasted 18 years. they are beefy, and there wasn't much (if any) draw when off.
but my prius batteries only lasted about 6 years. a lot of electronics.