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Post battery install issues

4K views 25 replies 14 participants last post by  captivabolt 
#1 ·
We have a 2018 Bolt that recently had the batteries swapped. When the car got home it started giving warnings about the high voltage coolant issue. I popped the hood and noticed one of the coolant tanks was empty. I called the dealership and they said it was normal it might be a bubble. The car began refusing to shift and would say "conditions not available to shift". The dealership sent a flatbed and filled the coolant. Now the car is hit or miss on codes and ability to shift. We took it back to the dealer and they say we need a new HVAC heater to the tune of $2300. The car just turned 40K miles and I think something happened when they swapped the main batteries. Any assistance or advice is appreciated.
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#2 ·
What codes are you still getting?

The heater shouldn't cause it to refuse to shift. It sounds to me like they didn't follow the proper procedure when refilling the coolant after the battery replacement, or you would never have been low on coolant.
Random codes and all sorts of misbehavior are often caused by a weak or low 12V battery as well.
You might want to call the EV concierge about this before paying them for anything.
 
#5 ·
What codes are you still getting?

The heater shouldn't cause it to refuse to shift. It sounds to me like they didn't follow the proper procedure when refilling the coolant after the battery replacement, or you would never have been low on coolant.
Random codes and all sorts of misbehavior are often caused by a weak or low 12V battery as well.
You might want to call the EV concierge about this before paying them for anything.
U1525. Thank you guys for the feedback.
 
#4 ·
We have a 2018 Bolt that recently had the batteries swapped. When the car got home it started giving warnings about the high voltage coolant issue. I popped the hood and noticed one of the coolant tanks was empty. I called the dealership and they said it was normal it might be a bubble. The car began refusing to shift and would say "conditions not available to shift". The dealership sent a flatbed and filled the coolant. Now the car is hit or miss on codes and ability to shift. We took it back to the dealer and they say we need a new HVAC heater to the tune of $2300. The car just turned 40K miles and I think something happened when they swapped the main batteries. Any assistance or advice is appreciated.
An empty coolant container sounds a lot like a critical mistake during the replacement procedure.
Having a chat with the GM EV concierge might be a good idea.
 
#13 · (Edited)
. they want me to take it to a different dealer, and probably pay for another test to confirm it's busted.... they can't do anything about it.
"They can't do anything" about incompetent dealership repairs?
gm paid them to do the Battery Recall.
Why can't they force this dealership to do the right thing without putting the burden on you to 'shop around' for a possible competent dealer?
That's not helping at all,,,, and that's their main purpose.
 
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#14 ·
They said they leave issues like this up to the dealers. I have the invoices and photos like I have posted but they can't do anything. They gave me the number for a different dealership and recommended I call them before taking it in so we can talk price. This is killing me because the car was PERFECT before the swap.
 
#15 ·
Agree with others, several users have reported techs not vacuuming the coolant lines after battery swap, so the lines are full of air bubbles. This leads to improper cooling and an underfull reservoir and throwing codes.

One wonders if the dealer just vacuumed the coolant lines, topped off the coolant and cleared the codes if you would be 'OK'? Not an expensive or hard job.
 
#16 ·
After reader the message from the dealer, if you read carefully; it may be a cable not connected or loose. Specially the part that said that it reads -40, that could be the default reading when the sensor is not connected. I would look under the car if possible and check all cable connections. At least if anything paying $100 for diagnostics is better than $2300.
 
#22 ·
Reposting this because I think it needs repeating. Something is up with the sensor. Either it isn't plugged in or it got damaged. And yes, dealers do this ALL THE TIME. No, they won't not do the work (which would be too easy to prove if they skipped out on it), but they will replace a perfectly good part though and line their pockets with approx. $2000.
 
#18 ·
Sounds like you dropped it off for batt replacement and at the time you dropped it off, you had no codes and the HVAC heater was fine. They do work on it and now it's throwing codes and needs a new HVAC heater after they are done. Let's get real: they broke it and they need to fix their f-up!

That should be a good faith thing in every case. You didn't ask for the batt to have to be replaced: that was a recall. They perform the recall and return the car with 2 or 3 things busted that weren't busted before they started the work. By definition, they should be responsible for fixing them! Dealers shouldn't be allowed to do recall work and return the car broken and then claim you have to pay for what they broke!

Mike
 
#24 ·
Good Grief,

How can the gm Mothership be so unhelpful in situations like this?

"Some of our licensed dealerships are incompetent pirates. Sorry, there's nothing we can do about it."

Unacceptable.
 
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#25 ·
It looks to me like it's more of a general communication problem between several modules. I'm highly skeptical that there is anything wrong with the heater module.

If it hasn't already been tested I would say it's still worth confirming that the 12V battery isn't weak as that can cause all sorts of problems and it could have been run down while they worked on it.

Hopefully you can get it to a dealer that knows what they are doing and they are able to show that the first one messed things up.

Best of luck. So sorry you're having to go through this.
 
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