[Pam]

Hi Boltemort,

Good and bad news... our 2019 pre-recall-fix is having the same issue. It seems to have started since the software update that limited charging for safety.

Bad news, no one seems to know anything about it or if there is a fix or if it is a hardware or software failure.
Good news, I have a workaround that works, but is rather a PITA.

You are right that the issue isn't the latch itself, but the locking pin behind the latch. The pin should lock the latch in place during charging to prevent inadvertent disconnects, but for some reason it decides randomly every couple of days to lock when there is nothing plugged in, thus preventing the cable from being fully seated.

We've tried every possible easy solution under the sun to get it to unlock, but we've found only one PITA solution that works... pulling the 12v, waiting a minute or two, and reconnecting it. Fixes it every time, and is a complete and total pain... good reason to make sure you have a 10mm in your car at all times.

Good luck!

JWH

I cannot plug the charging cable into the charge port of my (post-recall-fix, 2019, LT DCFC) Bolt.

The problem is the metal "latch" at the top of the charger (see photos) is stuck in position, and physically blocks the top plastic prong on the charge cable. The charge cord cannot get far enough in to click into place. The latch itself seems to be locked in place by a metal prong coming in from the top left.

I think this is meant to be the mechanism that locks the charger in place when the car is charging, but now it is locking the charger out of the port.

I don't know what happened. One day it worked, the next day it didn't.

(I tried lots of different charging cables, and it's definitely a problem with the car's port not the charging cable. I only tried L2 chargers, but I assume no kind of charging cable would work. I turned it on and off a few times and nothing changed. I tried prodding it with a plastic stick and that didn't do anything.)

Ideas/suggestions?

View attachment 39784 View attachment 39785 View attachment 39786

This did the trick for now, will take it in to Chev to get a full fix.

 

[fen dweller]

Good and bad news... our 2019 pre-recall-fix is having the same issue. It seems to have started since the software update that limited charging for safety.

We've tried every possible easy solution under the sun to get it to unlock, but we've found only one PITA solution that works... pulling the 12v, waiting a minute or two, and reconnecting it. Fixes it every time, and is a complete and total pain... good reason to make sure you have a 10mm in your car at all times.

Good luck!

JWH

Many, many thanks and a zillion karma points for the tip! As others have found, the dealer said that the entire charging port would have to be replaced, and it's on back-order, and they didn't have a loaner car. Got home with not too many miles to spare, checked this forum, and found your solution which worked a treat! Trying now to get my service rep on the line to pass this along. Cheers!

 

[Bolt out of the Blue]

Thanks for all posts in this thread. Greatly appreciated.

Battery disconnect did not work in my case. Tried thrice with reasonably long disconnect times.

Used a flat-bladed screwdriver to force the pin back. (Had to push very hard. Nothing broke!)

Background info:

• Problem occurred four months after propulsion battery replacement.
• Have never used Level 3 charging.
• Tested the 12 Volt battery - it's good.

Have downloaded the Technical Bulletin (post#184). Will watch for pin creep... and await a solution by Chevrolet engineers.

Keeping in reserve the idea of grinding off the plastic latch on my charger.

 

[Steve13669]

I think it would be helpful to display a appropriate released up position photo. An appropriate position locked photo.

I’ve seen lots of photos on this forum but they never looked like my car when the charging port has failed. I sometimes have to re-insert my L2 charger to get the tab to pop up and allow the car to charge. There seems to be a fine line in the clip position but I’ve never seen mine block the level two tab. However, sometimes it simply won’t charge until I lift it up a certain way to allow the L2 button to pop back up.

There seems to me to be a fine line between you having to wiggle it to connect and being truely blocked by the tab. I could take a picture of my charging port right now and compare it to the instance when I nor the Chevy bolt dealer couldn’t get the car to charge and I would have a difficult time distinguishing a position change in the clip position being called the source of the problem.My car has never been connected to a dc fast charger unless the dealer has one and connected without my knowledge.

happened to me Saturday. I didn’t think to take pictures, but it looked different after I unhooked the battery. That clip appeared to be up, and loose.

 

[doornumber3]

Thank you to all posters - disconnecting the 12-volt saved me a service visit. Details:

2019 Premiere
High-voltage battery pack replaced this March under recall program
Since then, my L2 home charger has been more difficult to insert, but this morning, it would not insert at all. I unlocked the car with the remote - no effect. I tried the 120-volt charger that came with the car - would not insert, either. Upon inspection, the silver latch was in the down position.

After a bit of effort, I found this thread showing the latch in the down position, same as the photo from OP. I disconnected the 12-v battery, leaving the batter disconnected for some time (maybe 10-mins - got distracted). Came back to reconnect, heard a whir, checked the charge port to find the silver latch in the up position. Charging normally right now. Had to reset the time as that setting was on Manual, for some reason - not sure what else will be needed.

Thanks again. Excellent advice - I'll carry the 10mm in the glove box now...

 

[doornumber3]

Maybe this has already been posted in the thread, but FWIW, here are pictures of the Down and Up position:

Pic below: Latch is incorrectly Down - charger cannot be inserted

Pic below: Latch is Up - charger can be inserted normally

 

[Harrwell]

I've heard a motor drive that latch when I've done a DCFC. Hope you can figure it out. Don't remember hearing about this happening. Did a quick google search where someone got the cord stuck and they were told to whack the side of the fender.

 

[Harrwell]

Doornumber3, This is amazingly helpful, especially the photos. I sprayed some WD-40 where the stopper piece was located that is supposed to slide back so the top metal latch can disengage. After a couple of minutes, I slipped a small screwdriver behind the latch and tapped the stopper. It popped back, the latch opened, I plugged in my L2 charger and it latched without further incident. Hopefully it will unplug just as easily once charged. I'll contact the dealer tomorrow.

 

[PatrickandEVe]

This did the trick for now, will take it in to Chev to get a full fix.

12v disconnect/reconnect worked for me. Appreciate the great information and photos. A big, big thank you

 

[PatrickandEVe]

12v disconnect/reconnect worked for me. Appreciate the great information and photos. A big, big thank you

 

[hardykh]

Hi Boltemort,

Good and bad news... our 2019 pre-recall-fix is having the same issue. It seems to have started since the software update that limited charging for safety.

Bad news, no one seems to know anything about it or if there is a fix or if it is a hardware or software failure.
Good news, I have a workaround that works, but is rather a PITA.

You are right that the issue isn't the latch itself, but the locking pin behind the latch. The pin should lock the latch in place during charging to prevent inadvertent disconnects, but for some reason it decides randomly every couple of days to lock when there is nothing plugged in, thus preventing the cable from being fully seated.

We've tried every possible easy solution under the sun to get it to unlock, but we've found only one PITA solution that works... pulling the 12v, waiting a minute or two, and reconnecting it. Fixes it every time, and is a complete and total pain... good reason to make sure you have a 10mm in your car at all times.

Good luck!

JWH

Worked like a champ, herd the little bugger unlatch as soon as I disconnected the Negative pole on the battery. Charges just fine now! Still going to take it into the service folks and see if they have a better solution.

 

[doornumber3]

Thank you to all posters - disconnecting the 12-volt saved me a service visit. Details:

2019 Premiere
High-voltage battery pack replaced this March under recall program
Since then, my L2 home charger has been more difficult to insert, but this morning, it would not insert at all. I unlocked the car with the remote - no effect. I tried the 120-volt charger that came with the car - would not insert, either. Upon inspection, the silver latch was in the down position.

After a bit of effort, I found this thread showing the latch in the down position, same as the photo from OP. I disconnected the 12-v battery, leaving the batter disconnected for some time (maybe 10-mins - got distracted). Came back to reconnect, heard a whir, checked the charge port to find the silver latch in the up position. Charging normally right now. Had to reset the time as that setting was on Manual, for some reason - not sure what else will be needed.

Thanks again. Excellent advice - I'll carry the 10mm in the glove box now...

FWIW, when I told my 23-yo computer engineer daughter this story, she just smiled and said, "Cold boot cures many ills!" LOL! Future cars are going to have to have a Shutdown/Restart function - and it **** well better be secure.

 

[cacaponkayaker]

We are having the same trouble with our Bolt. Took it into the dealer and they told us about the Chevy bulletin: 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV Wireless Charger and Cradle Technical Service Bulletins
It says they know about the problem and are working on a permanent fix.

 

[Sean Nelson]

Worked like a champ, herd the little bugger unlatch as soon as I disconnected the Negative pole on the battery. Charges just fine now! Still going to take it into the service folks and see if they have a better solution.

EDIT - I've changed my opinion on this - see this post.
'NUTHER EDIT - or maybe not?

I wouldn't bother - at this point the dealers don't know what's going on any more than the folks in this forum - and some of them not even that much. A trip to the dealer is just another opportunity for them to misdiagnose and charge you money for something that won't solve the underlying problem, which is almost certainly some weird software bug.

Instead, monitor this forum and wait for news of a real fix (likely to be a firmware update). With luck some helpful forum member will post the GM TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) information that you can take to your dealer to make sure they fix it properly instead of giving you bogus information like "the charge port needs to be replaced".

 

[Taeriel]

Adding my 2019 Bolt to the list of cars experiencing this bug. My high voltage battery was replaced back in Jan, but didn't start having this charger problem until May.

As someone described a little earlier, my experience was an incremental development of the issue. The last 1-2 weeks I had been noticing that the charger was a little harder to insert and pull out than it should have been. Then this evening I simply could not insert it. I will try the battery disconnect and hope that is successful as it has been for most others.

It's a bit frustrating that GM has know about this since sometime in March but haven't found a solution yet.

 

[Pod]

It'd be nice to find some commonalities in usage among people reporting this.

 

[Taeriel]

It'd be nice to find some commonalities in usage among people reporting this.

Well, like others, mine is a 2019 which (presumably) must have had a software update when the high voltage battery was replaced. I have never used pre-conditioning (don't need it here). I hadn't used DC fast charging recently; maybe only once, if at all, since the battery replacement. I am currently at over 50% charge. Typically I range between maybe 35-80%. I was down to 25% the other day but had been noticing the emerging difficulty with plugging in and out prior to that so I don't believe I have a correlation to a low or high charge level.

 

[cwerdna]

We are having the same trouble with our Bolt. Took it into the dealer and they told us about the Chevy bulletin: 2019 Chevrolet Bolt EV Wireless Charger and Cradle Technical Service Bulletins
It says they know about the problem and are working on a permanent fix.

FWIW, PIC6452B is at https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2022/MC-10210350-9999.pdf.

Can be found under 2019 CHEVROLET BOLT EV 5 HB FWD | NHTSA

March 30, 2022 MANUFACTURER COMMUNICATION NUMBER: PIC6452B
Components: ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, EQUIPMENT

NHTSA ID Number: 10210350

Manufacturer Communication Number: PIC6452B

Summary

This Preliminary information communicates to the dealer if a vehicle comes in for an unable to plug the charge cord in or unable to unplug the charge cord due to DC fast charger (level 3) lock actuator has been applied unintentional. we inform that at this time engineering is in need of more information and outline questions for what when and how the vehicle was charge prior to the noticed condition. we then advise of the current path to take and not to order any parts at this time.

 

[annh]

Just wanted to mention that I really appreciate this thread, as I experienced this the other month and it was a horrible experience to not understand why I couldn't charge. (2019 post-recall)
This is a critical defect that must be fixed.
When this happens on the road and you don't know what's wrong, you're absolutely stuck and it's unacceptable.

 

[Eriamjh1138]

Everyone 2019 should keep a 10mm or 3/8” combo wrench in their Bolt for this issue.