Dead Sparky

[xylhim]

Yesterday while charging I noticed the smell of burning electronics in the cabin. It charged normally and ran fine, so I didn't think much of it. Next morning I go to start it and get nothing: no sounds, lights or anything from the LCD screens. I didn't happen to have jumper cables for the 12v battery, so I had to call a towing service. When the guy pulls up, I made the fatal mistake of telling him my Spark is an EV, and then refuses to jump it due to liabilty. Great, so I go and get my own jumper cables and jump the 12v battery and it turns on, but as soon as I disconnect from the booster battery it shuts off. I get it towed to the local chevy dealer and they're looking at it. It's either got to be a faulty 12v battery or faulty dc to dc converter, but I'll know more shortly.

TL;DR. If you suspect your 12v battery is bad and don't have jumper cables, make sure your towing service will actually do the jump!

 

[nozferatu]

The burning electronics smell is a bit worrying but I get a whiff of that when I turn on the heater....it's not a burning smell as much as it's just warm electronics smell.

I'd venture to say it's the 12V battery. Let's hope future EV's don't have to depend on an additional battery to power the electronics and startup.

 

[iletric]

I made the fatal mistake of telling him my Spark is an EV, and then refuses to jump it due to liabilty.

You really think a tow truck driver would not have noticed it was an EV once he (or she) opened the hood? :lol:

Anyway, sorry to hear about your troubles. Thank heavens for bumper to bumper warranty...

 

[FutureFolly]

Someone else did a thread about how their Spark died because of the cheap 12V batteries bought.

The smoldering smell isn't a good sign, but it's probably the electric heater core. They get hot enough to smolder dust. The fire wall should make it almost impossible to smell burning from inside the engine compartment.

 

[xylhim]

So it isn't the battery, they installed a new one and that new one couldn't hold a charge. This makes me think it's something to do with the Dc inverter. I just read that the Fiat500e's have been recalled for this issue. I think I read that Bosch makes the component, I wonder if this faulty unit is also in the Spark.

Edit: Car was picked up, but the people who worked on it had already left for the day. The report simply stated that the 12V battery was replaced and nothing else. I have no idea what they really did but I'm going to call and figure out the situation. I'm kind of uneasy about them originally telling me it wasn't the 12V battery, but then reporting that was the only problem on the service document.

Edit 2: Apparently the negative clamp on the 12v battery could no longer be fastened securely and needed to be replaced. This still doesn't really explain that burning electrical smell, so I remain skeptical, and hope it doesn't happen again!

 

[nmikmik]

a. Sorry to hear the Sparky is not behaving...
b. The fact that they could not securely reconnect the 12V battery hints at the possibility that negative was not tightly installed to begin with and that would perfectly explain the burning smell, at least to a certain extend. Those connections are capable of producing extreme heat when there is not good contact between the post and the clamp.
How many miles have you got on your Sparky?
I suspect it was the pre-delivery procedure was not followed, hence the loose clamp on the battery. They just won't admit that to you and probably themselves
Good luck!

 

[nozferatu]

So it isn't the battery, they installed a new one and that new one couldn't hold a charge. This makes me think it's something to do with the Dc inverter. I just read that the Fiat500e's have been recalled for this issue. I think I read that Bosch makes the component, I wonder if this faulty unit is also in the Spark.

Edit: Car was picked up, but the people who worked on it had already left for the day. The report simply stated that the 12V battery was replaced and nothing else. I have no idea what they really did but I'm going to call and figure out the situation. I'm kind of uneasy about them originally telling me it wasn't the 12V battery, but then reporting that was the only problem on the service document.

Edit 2: Apparently the negative clamp on the 12v battery could no longer be fastened securely and needed to be replaced. This still doesn't really explain that burning electrical smell, so I remain skeptical, and hope it doesn't happen again!

I'm in awe of how useless and stupid the dealers really are...truly.

 

[StevesWeb]

I suspect it was the pre-delivery procedure was not followed, hence the loose clamp on the battery. They just won't admit that to you and probably themselves

Sure sounds plausible to me.

 

[xylhim]

a. Sorry to hear the Sparky is not behaving...
b. The fact that they could not securely reconnect the 12V battery hints at the possibility that negative was not tightly installed to begin with and that would perfectly explain the burning smell, at least to a certain extend. Those connections are capable of producing extreme heat when there is not good contact between the post and the clamp.
How many miles have you got on your Sparky?
I suspect it was the pre-delivery procedure was not followed, hence the loose clamp on the battery. They just won't admit that to you and probably themselves
Good luck!

I have 2500 miles on it as of today. I suppose it's possible that that pre-delivery inspection was not followed. However, the GM Voltec team contacted me regarding the situation (it took legwork by them to clarify what went on at the dealer) and they told me an incident like this hadn't happened to thier knowledge with another Volt or Spark. Although I guess with such a low sample size of cars, each of us Spark owners may come across unexcpected "surprises".

 

[nmikmik]

Oh well...

Pardon my ignorance, but I really have no incentive to trust whatever "team" is representing the dealer/manufacturer.
The fact it never (according to them) happened to anyone else does not preclude the possibility of pre-delivery inspection catching one or two occurrences prior to your "surprise"
Just for a good measure, I'd be monitoring the temperature of the replaced clamp on the battery.

I know, the "free" maintenance became a big selling point thanks to BMW atc., but I really wish they'd offer a price reduction as an option instead. You can probably tell I have "trust issues"