[Sean Nelson]

Careful with how you approach this. Most dealers will be hesitant to guarantee anything over the phone. They will likely want to diagnose it themselves before making any promises.

Yeah, there really isn't anything the dealer can do about it other than disconnect and reconnect the 12V battery to reset the latch - and you can do that just as easily on your own without the hassle of taking the car in.

The important thing that needs to happen is for GM to understand that this is a problem so they can fix it. And the existence of the TSB seems to indicate that this has happened. Perhaps a lot of calls to the concierge might prompt them to bump up the priority of the fix....? But at this point I suspect that dealer service visits wouldn't be very fruitful.

 

[Curt]

With the TSB number, you could also ask the dealership specifically if they will charge for the service.

That's a good idea. Googling PIC6452B takes me to RepairProcedures.com, which without a description, provides the following description including some diagnostic codes:

TSB PIC6452B - Bulletin / Preliminary Information / Plug-In Charging - May 30
Vehicle Unable to Charge - Charge Port Lock Actuator Engaged and Will Not Unlock - DTCs P3014 P302D

Maybe once it changes from Preliminary we'll hear more and it will become available to dealers.

 

[Wavelet81]

Help me out here. This clip only engages with dc fast chargers correct? I have never used one before? Every L2 charger I’ve used has never moved the silver clip into the down position.

 

[chradcliffe]

2019 Bolt -- this just happened to me for the second time. We let our charge dip down to 155km -- the time before this was the last time I can remember letting the charge dip below ~180km (but I can't be 100% sure that we didn't let it dip below that in between).

Contacting the dealership was a pretty big waste of time. They had no idea what I was talking about and there was nothing in their system (presumably because it's "preliminary" still). They're in the middle of winter-tire switching season here in Canada so I would have to wait until late next week before they could fit me in.

The last time I disconnected the battery, the horn started going off as I was trying to replace the negative terminal, so it doesn't make me very happy to have to do this again. Just as I was starting to forgive Chevy for the battery debacle

 

[Sean Nelson]

Help me out here. This clip only engages with dc fast chargers correct? I have never used one before? Every L2 charger I’ve used has never moved the silver clip into the down position.

Yes, that's what is supposed to happen.

But the J1772 handles used on L1/L2 chargers also have a latch on the plug itself that is designed so that you can't accidentally pull the plug out while charging unless you press down on the latch button, which stops the flow of current. It matches the profile of the latch on the CCS plug used on DC fast chargers. So if the car's latch lock is activated, it can lock a J1772 handle into the port just the same way that it locks a CCS handle.

So when the car's DCFC latch lock improperly engages, it can (a) prevent you from plugging a J1772 cord in, or (b) prevent you from pulling it out.

 

[micantony]

Well, my 2019 LT just locked the charge port on us as well!
I’ll be filling out that facebook sheet Jared requested.

we disconnected the negative terminal to reset it and have access again. Worked like a charm.

items of note: (some of these may have occurred due to disconnecting the 12v battery, not sure)

• the port locked after my wife had L2 charged today, she charged with no issues, then left for lunch, came back to plug back in and it had engaged and blocked her out.
• while she was gone, i had logged into the app for the first time in a while. (coincidence?)
• after disconnecting 12v and reset, noticed the vehicle had lost location based charging. it also could not reset our home location as it said GPS services were not available at this time.
• also after the reset, the car does not see the front two TPS sensors.

havent taken it for a drive yet and its in the garage, so the GPS thing may be because of that, but having it reset all that is weird. But might just be because of the 12v reset as we have never done that before to see what it does.

anyway, thats our story. GM better get their **** together on this.

 

[Wavelet81]

Yes, that's what is supposed to happen.

But the J1772 handles used on L1/L2 chargers also have a latch on the plug itself that is designed so that you can't accidentally pull the plug out while charging unless you press down on the latch button, which stops the flow of current. It matches the profile of the latch on the CCS plug used on DC fast chargers. So if the car's latch lock is activated, it can lock a J1772 handle into the port just the same way that it locks a CCS handle.

So when the car's DCFC latch lock improperly engages, it can (a) prevent you from plugging a J1772 cord in, or (b) prevent you from pulling it out.

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.

 

[msadrakula]

Does anyone have a picture of the pin that needs pushed in. In not sure I'm looking in the right spot. My charging port has not been locking correctly when I plug in the charger.

 

[MichBolt]

Well, my 2019 LT just locked the charge port on us as well!
I’ll be filling out that facebook sheet Jared requested.

we disconnected the negative terminal to reset it and have access again. Worked like a charm.

items of note: (some of these may have occurred due to disconnecting the 12v battery, not sure)

• the port locked after my wife had L2 charged today, she charged with no issues, then left for lunch, came back to plug back in and it had engaged and blocked her out.
• while she was gone, i had logged into the app for the first time in a while. (coincidence?)
• after disconnecting 12v and reset, noticed the vehicle had lost location based charging. it also could not reset our home location as it said GPS services were not available at this time.
• also after the reset, the car does not see the front two TPS sensors.

havent taken it for a drive yet and its in the garage, so the GPS thing may be because of that, but having it reset all that is weird. But might just be because of the 12v reset as we have never done that before to see what it does.

anyway, thats our story. GM better get their **** together on this.

Are you able to check the health of 12V battery? That could explain some of those issues.

 

[sqnewton]

...
I’m trying to find the circuit in the schematics to see if there is a way to manually unlatch it like the hatch (see my other post about opening the hatch when there is a bad hatch open switch).

Hi Eriamjh, any luck finding anything? I am interested. I am sure there must be a CAN bus code that can release that and I am building a CAN read/transmit device to communicate with the car. Will see if it works.

 

[Eriamjh1138]

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.
There are CAN commands to control the latch but I do not know them or have any other information. It’s described on the shop manual and part of the Sevice software to which the dealer has access.

Hi Eriamjh, any luck finding anything? I am interested. I am sure there must be a CAN bus code that can release that and I am building a CAN read/transmit device to communicate with the car. Will see if it works.

 

[Windowsrefugee]

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

Well, I have had a problem with connecting the Bolt to the charge cord 3 times now— the first time the charge cord would not unplug— and eventually it did. I have had 2 more recent instances where I could not get it to accept the cord due to the latching mechanism as shown in the photos. The first time, 3 months ago GM and Chevy said they had never heard of this issue. It resolved once they replaced my dying 12V battery until last week when I had the problem again. This time Chevy took it in, did some “reset” and I was out of there in 20 minutes. They said “it is a known issue” and GM has not yet identified the root cause or a permanent fix. Fortunately, I have not stuck in some remote place without the ability to charge the car…

 

[Anderdd]

Well, I have had a problem with connecting the Bolt to the charge cord 3 times now— the first time the charge cord would not unplug— and eventually it did. I have had 2 more recent instances where I could not get it to accept the cord due to the latching mechanism as shown in the photos. The first time, 3 months ago GM and Chevy said they had never heard of this issue. It resolved once they replaced my dying 12V battery until last week when I had the problem again. This time Chevy took it in, did some “reset” and I was out of there in 20 minutes. They said “it is a known issue” and GM has not yet identified the root cause or a permanent fix. Fortunately, I have not stuck in some remote place without the ability to charge the car…

Keep a wrench in the car and you won't be stranded.

 

[DavidOB1]

Well, I have had a problem with connecting the Bolt to the charge cord 3 times now— the first time the charge cord would not unplug— and eventually it did. I have had 2 more recent instances where I could not get it to accept the cord due to the latching mechanism as shown in the photos. The first time, 3 months ago GM and Chevy said they had never heard of this issue. It resolved once they replaced my dying 12V battery until last week when I had the problem again. This time Chevy took it in, did some “reset” and I was out of there in 20 minutes. They said “it is a known issue” and GM has not yet identified the root cause or a permanent fix. Fortunately, I have not stuck in some remote place without the ability to charge the car…

Get a 10mm wrench to disconnect the positive terminal of your 12V battery if this happens again. Wait 5 minutes, reconnect, and the latch should unlock, as it did for me today. This is the second time in six weeks the latch prevented charging, but this time I fixed it myself, saving a trip to the dealer.

 

[Windowsrefugee]

Get a 10mm wrench to disconnect the positive terminal of your 12V battery if this happens again. Wait 5 minutes, reconnect, and the latch should unlock, as it did for me today. This is the second time in six weeks the latch prevented charging, but this time I fixed it myself, saving a trip to the dealer.

Thanks. I thought about trying this, but I have a pretty good dealer and I wanted them to see it themselves. Perhaps if enough of us make a pest of ourselves, they will pester GM into correcting the problem 🙃. Excuse my ignorance and not being familiar with the car jargon, but what is a TSB? Is it a service update for dealers & repair shops? Can I find it somewhere?

 

[p7wang]

Get a 10mm wrench to disconnect the positive terminal of your 12V battery if this happens again. Wait 5 minutes, reconnect, and the latch should unlock, as it did for me today. This is the second time in six weeks the latch prevented charging, but this time I fixed it myself, saving a trip to the dealer.

Shouldn't there be a fuse that we can remove then reinsert to reset the latch?

 

[MichBolt]

...what is a TSB? Is it a service update for dealers & repair shops? Can I find it somewhere?

TSB stands for Technical Service Bulletin (we should probably add that to the Useful Vocabulary Terms and Abbreviations stickied thread in the New Members section.) it's a communication from GM to service technicians about known issues and, eventually, repair instructions.

The TSB number for the charging port locking issue is PIC6452B.

 

[Eriamjh1138]

Shouldn't there be a fuse that we can remove then reinsert to reset the latch?

If there is a fuse for the Powertrain Control Module 2, then that will likely have the same effect as pulling the negative battery cable.

 

[joxford]

Very glad I found this thread. I have a 2019 Bolt and just got the battery recall replacement a couple of weeks ago and now seem to be suffering from this problem when I never had an issue before. I'll try the 12v battery disconnect fix when I get home. For those who identified the part, does getting it replaced at a deal permanently fix the issue, or am I misunderstanding?

Also for those who had success with the battery disconnect fix, how long does the latch stay in the proper position before it gets stuck again?

 

[Eriamjh1138]

There is no part to replace to fix it. It is a software bug.