After stopping in the left lane to make a left turn, then once the light was green, my car all of a sudden locked up on me when I tried driving forward. I couldn't move my steering wheel anymore and it felt like the brakes/emergency brake activated on their own. I already had the service soon light come up a couple days ago, and I wasn't going to my dealer until tomorrow. Could have the battery caused my 2014 chevy spark to lock up all of a sudden if it needs service? Additionally, sometimes when I shut my car door it honks as if I pressed the lock button on my car key. I have a feeling something is wrong with the battery (not the smaller one) because the last time I fast charged it, it wouldn't charge all the way for some reason. If anyone asks, it has 75k miles on it so far.
Anyone had a 2014 Chevy Spark lock up?
- Thread starter BustosMan
- Start date
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I don't know if it could be something this simple, and you might already know this, but for the honking upon door closing, it might be this. If you leave the key fob in the car when you close the door after shutting down, the car will honk to remind you that you left the key in the car.
MrDRMorgan
Well-known member
BustosMan said:
Suggestion: The 12 volt DC car battery used in the Spark EV may be the culprit. This is an AGM battery and it needs be periodically charged using a charger with a desulfating option. I bought my 2014 Spark EV as a used vehicle with only 1500 miles on the ODO. I read about some Spark EV drivers wondering about the 12 volt battery so I replaced mine and began to periodically charge it for 24 hours using a charger with a desulfating option. So far I have not had any problems. I do the same for my 2016 Spark EV which I also purchased as a very low mileage used vehicle. Note: I charge the 12 volt battery through the OBD2 port under the dash.
Infinion
Well-known member
It's strange because the 1500W Auxiliary Power Module should be providing 14V to the automotive systems continuously while in use. If BustosMan exceeds the ~110A on the 12V DC system and the AGM voltage sags below the voltage needed to keep the contactors energized (or the BCM/ECU calls it quits before the contactors move for safety) then the car could go into a "not ready to drive" state.
Was there anything that could be drinking 12V power that you know of? Aftermarket stuff?
I had a scary experience a while ago where an anomalous dead short persisted after starting a Spark from service mode at about 50% SoC. The terminals were at least 80ºC from current likely exceeding 100A. The car failed to start and everything including the instrument cluster was dim. I made a post about it.
I like MrDRMorgan's suggestion. If the AGM can be reconditioned or replaced if its capacity has degraded too much, that should ensure you don't have any problems in the future. It's always good to have a voltage tester around to periodically see what voltage it's sitting at too.
The Spark should be maintaining the AGM for at least a month, maybe two after you last drove or plugged it in. After that point the AGM will begin self-discharge.
If you have a dash cam and leave that running in parking mode and sufficiently drain the AGM, then the APM might not charge the AGM back up in time if your trips are generally pretty short. AGM charges faster than flooded lead-acid safely up to around 0.2C compared to the older technology at 1/20C, So it's a question of if your net energy usage is negative, where you're draining more energy than you're typically putting back into the AGM pack.
Was there anything that could be drinking 12V power that you know of? Aftermarket stuff?
I had a scary experience a while ago where an anomalous dead short persisted after starting a Spark from service mode at about 50% SoC. The terminals were at least 80ºC from current likely exceeding 100A. The car failed to start and everything including the instrument cluster was dim. I made a post about it.
I like MrDRMorgan's suggestion. If the AGM can be reconditioned or replaced if its capacity has degraded too much, that should ensure you don't have any problems in the future. It's always good to have a voltage tester around to periodically see what voltage it's sitting at too.
The Spark should be maintaining the AGM for at least a month, maybe two after you last drove or plugged it in. After that point the AGM will begin self-discharge.
If you have a dash cam and leave that running in parking mode and sufficiently drain the AGM, then the APM might not charge the AGM back up in time if your trips are generally pretty short. AGM charges faster than flooded lead-acid safely up to around 0.2C compared to the older technology at 1/20C, So it's a question of if your net energy usage is negative, where you're draining more energy than you're typically putting back into the AGM pack.
Ok here’s an update. It turns out after seeing a mechanic from a used dealer I bought it from, he said that it turned off on me, even though everything else worked like the A/C. Kinda weird considering I couldn’t drive anymore. After getting it in for battery warranty repair at a Chevy dealership, it took a while until a GM engineer showed up to tell them that the internal wiring harness shorted in the transmission. The vehicle codes they also got told them that there were transmission overheating problems. So apparently since the wiring harness was messed up, the battery range made sense to be lower than normal. I didn’t get an explanation if that was the root cause of my car randomly not being able to drive anymore.
MisturChips
Active member
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2021
- Messages
- 28
Did they happen to send you any photos of the 'bad spot'? I wonder if it suffered abrasion of some sort...
