[GJETSON]

It is possible you have an internal leak in the battery. There is a drain plug on it that will tell all when pulled. Pain to get to, it is on the bottom, the protective panel will have to come off to get to it.

This is the first I have heard of a battery tray drain plug. It does not appear in any discussion, or video I am aware of. A coolant loop vacuum test should be performed if a leak is suspected.

OK. I think I see a drain plug at the front center in this shot. I would guess, if there is enough coolant on the bottom of the battery tray to run out that drain, it would have thrown isolation codes galore.

 

[GJETSON]

Hopefully no DCFC'ing.

It's probably just some tech cutting corners and not performing the 'vac-fill' procedure during the pack replacement, if that happened....

"I decided to try out a local EA station, mostly just to get familiar with it. I did that on Thursday. It charged... really slow, even considering the SoC but I didn't think anything of it at the time. It couldn't get past 15 kW after 20 minutes and it was about 45 degrees out."

"This isn't a battery replacement, this is a 2023 with a build date of a month ago and an odometer of 70 miles"

 

[GJETSON]

Yeah I mean.... since it drove fine and only had the problem after trying to DCFC on a cold day, my theory is that there was just air bubbles in there (improper vac-fill?). So that was probably the first time the car tried to actively manage the battery's temperature in this mild pacific northwest winter. Doing so would "burp" the air into the tank.

Well that's my theory anyway. I'll find out soon....

That would be my theory too. The disturbing thing is, I was all over the service manager at the dealership who replaced our battery, with just this scenario, and couldn't understand how they wouldn't follow the procedure in the service manual. But how the heck do they mess up this step at the factory?!.

 

[GJETSON]

I'm inclined to wait until i have more info to confront the purchasing dealer since I'm getting it serviced at a much closer one anyway (5 miles vs 60 miles). But the codes weren't thrown until well after that 60 miles drive home so I don't think the dealer would have found this with a test drive? I know they didn't try to DCFC it because they only have a L2 charger there (which I did see them use on this car).

Yes. If this was messed up at the factory, the coolant could very easily have been at the correct fill line level, and drop below the hose after a DC charge. Ask me how I know.

 

[GJETSON]

Just doing the coolant refill service procedure in a shop can take quite a while. It's going to take several times to build back up a vacuum after each time some coolant is pushed in. Then, running the coolant pump. I would wager it probably takes at least an hour (or more) in a shop environment.

Starts at 27:30 in. The whole system is 7.1 liters in volume. The video is probably edited a bit, but It doesn't appear it took anything like an hour.

 

[GJETSON]

So where is the full line? In the middle of the tank below what looks like a book?

The fill/full line is directly above the hose. It has two vertical arrows pointing at it. There is only one line.

 

[GJETSON]

So how does the bubble surface, the Bolt has to be shaken, not sitrred?

According to the service manual, the coolant circulating pump is run for five minutes. If they ran the coolant heater too, that would certainly help drive out air.

 

[GJETSON]

Yea, if someone goes and brings the vehicle in the shop and gets it ready for you.

Otherwise. . . sure, it's just 5 minutes.

Obviously, breaks, dealing with other service issues, etc. increase the total time. GM pays for the actual work time, which is to their benefit. This is what happens in an adversarial situation.

 

[GJETSON]

So I don’t know if that coolant reservoir movement is normal. Like I said again it’s just a very slight movement at the top feel level that you could see a little swing..

Yup. The battery heater is on, and the pump is circulating the coolant. If you put your hand on the hose coming out the bottom, you will feel the vibration coming from the pump, about a foot down that hose. If you really reach, you can touch the pump.

 

[GJETSON]

This is a 2023 with a build date of last month, it never had a pack replaced.

Yeah. That is terrible QC. According to Professor Kelly, the clamps are glued to the hose to make assembly easier. I suppose the line worker just assumed it would be there.

 

[GJETSON]

Dealer called back this afternoon and said everything is all good, I'll go to pick up tomorrow morning and probably head right to a DCFC to test it again, but with the hood open this time! Really hope I can put all this behind me and just have a car.

View attachment 52269

I have not tried that, but just a heads up. There are things the Bolt will not do with the hood up. DC charging might be one of them. I would at least wait to open it until it is charging. It will definitely let you AC charge with the hood up, but you can't do a cabin precondition that way.