[cwerdna]

Just had the J1772 locked out for the fourth time, disconnecting the 12VDC negative cable did the trick, thanks very much for that idea ! The first three times I took it to the dealer, they downloaded a software patch and told me it was not a permanent fix and they claimed the problem was only with 2019 Bolts which had a battery replacement. I keep asking the dealer, but no fix from GM yet. Spent an hour on the phone with GM today, finally reached someone who would generate a customer complaint, I should hear back within a week, will report back if anything helpful occurs.

See the PDFs at charging port will not accept charging cable.

Besides receiving a VERY nice check in exchange for my '19, I guess I'm happy that my Bolt got bought back. Mine had DC FCi inlet so having to disconnect the 12 volt as a workaround for this prob would be pretty annoying. I never had my pack replaced and never had this problem in the 3 years I owned '19 Bolt.

And, there are still Bolt bans at some places here in CA.

 

[Curt]

[...] I took it to the dealer, they downloaded a software patch and told me it was not a permanent fix and they claimed the problem was only with 2019 Bolts which had a battery replacement.

It's heartening to see that some dealers already have an accurate picture of the problem (as evidenced by knowing exactly which vehicles are affected).

 

[jkoravos]

I had this happen Sunday. 2019 Premier. Traction battery replaced two months ago. I never had the 80% charge limit installed. I figured it was something stupid and, alas, I found this thread proving out my assumptions. I disconnected the battery to reset the latch and threw a spare 10mm hex driver in my glovebox. I have a feeling we're going to be waiting a long while for this fix. Wonderful. Tesla would have this fixed in 24hrs.

 

[jkoravos]

My guess is that inadvertent pulses are being sent to the lock and the displacement slowly increases over time until the latch impedes the lock and prevents insertion.

Seems likely since most people report that they had this issue either 1-2 months after getting the 80% charge limit update or 1-2 months after traction battery replacement. It appears they did something in the 80% limit firmware that got carried over to the post battery-replacement firmware.

 

[stangbat]

I've been periodically looking for the little pin creeping out. Before it gets too far out to cause problems I push it back with a flat blade screwdriver. I've done it twice since I had my battery replaced in April. Haven't had to remove the negative battery cable.

 

[Sean Nelson]

I've been periodically looking for the little pin creeping out. Before it gets too far out to cause problems I push it back with a flat blade screwdriver. I've done it twice since I had my battery replaced in April. Haven't had to remove the negative battery cable.

If I had a 2019 I'd add that step to my monthly check of tires, lights and fluids.

 

[bestconcreteblock]

I've been periodically looking for the little pin creeping out. Before it gets too far out to cause problems I push it back with a flat blade screwdriver. I've done it twice since I had my battery replaced in April. Haven't had to remove the negative battery cable.

+1 on this. Did this last night. Takes two seconds. Don't have to reset all my location and departure charging settings.

 

[RNR]

I had this issue last night, when I went to charge it wouldn't accept the charger. Luckily I had 50+ miles so I drove to the dealership this morning. They were fully aware of the problem and had a 3 min temp fix for it (not disconnecting battery as all my settings are intact). He said no permanent solution identified by GM yet and to just not let it get so low where I can't drive it in because some people have had to get their car towed in.

The chevy rep didn't write up a report or anything, just sent me on my way. Now I can charge again but worried about this happening while on a longer mile drip and not being able to charge. First we can't drive long distances because of the battery and now we're locked out of charging the battery. Love the car, but this is super frustrating.

 

[MichBolt]

I had this issue last night, when I went to charge it wouldn't accept the charger. Luckily I had 50+ miles so I drove to the dealership this morning. They were fully aware of the problem and had a 3 min temp fix for it (not disconnecting battery as all my settings are intact). He said no permanent solution identified by GM yet and to just not let it get so low where I can't drive it in because some people have had to get their car towed in.

The chevy rep didn't write up a report or anything, just sent me on my way. Now I can charge again but worried about this happening while on a longer mile drip and not being able to charge. First we can't drive long distances because of the battery and now we're locked out of charging the battery. Love the car, but this is super frustrating.

Yes, very frustrating. It would be worth carrying around a 10mm socket wrench so you can temporarily disconnect the negative (black) terminal of the 12V battery if it does happen again. That would be even faster than taking it to the dealership, until there is a permanent fix from GM.

 

[bww129]

Here’s an interesting datapoint… I’ve been watching the pins position and it seems to gradually move into the “locked” position.

There no no other connectors between the latch driver and the latch. It’s a double half-bridge circuit that drives the latch in the latch or unlatch directions.

I am still seeing my lock pin "creep" from the unlocked position to the locked position. It's not related to state of charge. It will gradually get harder and harder to insert the plug over time (this is what I observed months ago leading up to being locked out).

You are right. The gradual movement is an indication that a shorter, noisy, inadvertent pulse is being sent to the solenoid instead of a deliberate longer 1 second activation signal.

Was not able to connect either the level 1 or level 2 charge plugs to the port today. Searched and found this thread which jogged my memory that it had indeed been more difficult to connect charge plugs over the last month or so. Our 2019 Bolt's battery was also swapped a few months ago.

NHTortoise and Eriamjh, your observations are 100% correct. I pushed slowly the pin back and heard the distinct spinning sound of a geared brushed motor. That motor is driven by the H-bridge (double half bridge). Whatever is controlling the H-bridge must be pulsing it ever so slightly infrequently. Those pulses add up to the "pin creep" pointed out by NHTortoise. It seems GM has introduced some inadvertent software bug into whatever routine that checks or drives the charge port latch motor, and that is causing all this grief. The short term fix would be to disconnect the motor (maybe put a resistive load in it's place) so that it can't move the pin anymore. I think the schematic posted by Eriamjh also showed that the charge door switch and something else was on the same connector, so it might be possible to just disconnect the connector without and crazy errors or faults.

 

[CZroe]

My brother just picked up his new Bolt EV a few days ago and the very first time he tried to charge he plugged in and the car would just say “Charging Unavailable.” He played with that piece, which seems to flop around freely, and it suddenly worked. When I first tried to charge I experienced nearly the exact same thing. It was a totally different station but the car gave the same error. I played around with the plug to see what he was trying to tell me about it and saw it intermittently working but by the time I discovered the latch thing and flipped it the ChargePoint station itself was reading “Unavailable.” Oops! The car must’ve confused it. I re-authorized and switched to the other plug which worked fine after I manipulated the latch with my finger. The next station I tried was the same deal.

Not sure why the car would refuse to charge with it in the wrong position but I think his was DOA... well, BROKEN On Arrival.

 

[bww129]

To follow up the wiring information Eriamjh posted a while back, the connector has the following on it:
1 Lock actuator position sensor 5V (positive power for the position sensor)
2 Lock actuator position sensor low reference (ground for the position sensor)
3 Lock actuator position sensor signal (voltage output from the position sensor)
4 Charge port door switch signal (signal high or low for when the port door is open or closed)
5 Charge port paddle temperature sensor signal (most likely the signal/upper side of a thermistor)
6 Charge port paddle temperature sensor low reference (ground side of a thermistor/sensor)
7 Charge port valve motor close control (the digital input to the H-bridge that drives the motor to retract the pin and open the latch)
8 Charge port valve motor open control (the digital input to the H-bridge that drives the motor to extend the pin and close the latch)
* could have those last two swapped depending on how they defined "motor open/close"

If you just disconnected the connector you would likely get some errors/fault codes that might prevent the car from DC fast charging since it would sense that the latch mechanism is disconnected, AND it would probably think that the charge port door is open, BUT that shouldn't stop the car from level 2 charging, right? Not sure how it would handle the missing thermistor for temperature sensing.

Note that I'm not suggesting anyone try this to their car, just throwing it out there for discussion.

 

[sunraydatasolutions]

We just had our port lock again after just a couple of charges. While the negative post is fairly easy to get to and I can keep a 10mm socket in the glovebox, it's a giant PITA and risks a short if I am clumsy. While we wait for GM to figure this out (or maybe they know but dont want to replace thousands of charge ports), I am going to install a simple battery disconnect like the RVers use. A quick knob turn back and forth and I am good to go.

Something like this: Amazon.com: Top Post Battery Master Disconnect Switch : Automotive

 

[NortonCommando]

To follow up the wiring information Eriamjh posted a while back, the connector has the following on it:
...
5 Charge port paddle temperature sensor signal (most likely the signal/upper side of a thermistor)
6 Charge port paddle temperature sensor low reference (ground side of a thermistor/sensor)
....

Wow,, the charge port has a temp sensor and we still see heat damaged charge ports?
The heat comes from the EVSE handle side, but still.... (don't know what is meant by 'paddle'.)

Come on gm, this is now 'Two Opportunities for Improvement'.
I feel sorry for those that have the lock out problem and the 'smoked' charge port problem.
Both should not be happening if gm was on top of these issues....

 

[Eriamjh1138]

Wow,, the charge port has a temp sensor and we still see heat damaged charge ports?
The heat comes from the EVSE handle side, but still.... (don't know what is meant by 'paddle'.)

Any charge port heat sensor is a general sensor for the overall port status.

Damaged and melted pins cannot be detected as there would have to be a temp sensor on every pin.

Melting is usually caused by debris or damaged or substandard J1772 plugs. Inspect yours regularly and always check the end of any third party plug especially DCFC.

 

[Trumpeter]

Some positive data - for now? ;-) My 2019 Bolt LT has not (yet?) displayed this problem. Charged exclusively at home (with a Mustart EVSE, no less), never DCFC, battery replaced in March of this year, 80% limiting software installed before. Varied types of charging - immediate, destination time, in hot weather always plugged in for battery conditioning, otherwise plugging only for charging. Charging mostly to 80% but occasionally to 100%. I guess I'll be waiting for the other shoe to drop... ;-) (I'll post my Mustart EVSE experience in a different, related area).

 

[NortonCommando]

1.....Damaged and melted pins cannot be detected as there would have to be a temp sensor on every pin.

2.Melting is usually caused by debris or damaged or substandard J1772 plugs. Inspect yours regularly and always check the end of any third party plug especially DCFC.

1. Well then why have a temp sensor in the car's charge port in the first place? It must go somewhere...
This sensor could/should be placed close to the AC power pins.
Any heat rise should be closely monitored. At some point charging should be stopped and an alert sent to the app.
Haven't seen an issue with the bigazz DC pins.

2. How would one 'inspect the EVSE charge handle? A visual inspection will not show possible problems.
We've been over this. The charge handle has the sockets. The car port has the pins.
All connector sockets have a "Pin Grip" spec that is measurable.
Loose pin grip can cause resistance and heat.
A crappy crimp connection where the wires meets the sockets can cause heat.
IF we could come up with a loose connector pin the same diameter as the charge port pins we could measure Pin Grip.
But the bad crimp on the inside of the handle is not 'inspect-able'.
Unplugging the charge handle after using it for a few hours and pointing an IR temp sensor down each socket would be a good test! (I should do that this very evening! )

 

[BarbCCFL]

I keep wondering why is this only happening to 2019s? Presumably, all Bolts have the same software running. If the software is different, or each year has its own lines of code, then it should be fairly straightforward to isolate the code controlling the actuator for the 2019s. Or, is the actuator for the 2019s different from every other year? Is there a way to get the vendor list?

 

[Eriamjh1138]

2017-2018 are likely the same.
There were changes to 2019 for setting charge level and who knows what so they’re not the same. It doesn’t matter anyway because GM has to fix it, not us.

 

[Sean Nelson]

...While the negative post is fairly easy to get to and I can keep a 10mm socket in the glovebox, it's a giant PITA and risks a short if I am clumsy...

A short seems unlikely because the positive battery terminal is protected by a shroud, and the negative terminal can't touch anything while still being connected to the battery - and even if it could the thing it touches would be at the same potential as the negative battery terminal anyway.

2017-2018 are likely the same.

I know for sure that the infotainment software version is different between the first 3 model years (2017,18,19) and I'd be very surprised if that weren't also true for the rest of the car's systems as well.