Spark EV charging issue - any ideas?

[d15b7]

hey fellas. I've not had a single issue with my 2015 Spark EV in 38-1/2 months and 32,300 miles of ownership! but yesterday I had an issue with charging it and I'm out of ideas (final idea is tow it to the dealership). here's what happened: I had used it all day and arrived back home around 4pm with 38 miles of range left. I then took it out in the evening and drove another 30 miles leaving about 8 miles range (blinking orange one bar). I plugged it into the Bosch EVSE that I've been using for 3 yrs and the orange light lit up (indicating that it would do a late night deferred charge being fully charged by 6am, just as I've had it programmed for 3 yrs). I woke up this morning and went to hop in it and it hadn't charged. the charge indicator light on the dashboard was not lit at all (usually would be green light). instead it was just black. i then tried the following:

1. unplugged and replugged the EVSE. as soon as I saw the orange light come on I unplugged it and replugged it again (that tells it to charge immediately if it is programmed for deferred/late night charge). this has always worked whenever I plug it in during the day and want it to charge immediately and not wait til late night. orange light came on for about 4 secs and then nothing. just black no light and no charging.
2. I unplugged EVSE and started car (starts right up but indicating 8 miles range and blinking one orange bar). I turned off the deferred charging programming in Settings and have it on immediate charge. shut car down and plugged in EVSE and same result - orange light for 4 secs and then nothing.
3. decided maybe the Bosch EVSE might have died? took out the 110v onboard charger, plugged it in, and same exact result. orange light 4 secs then nothing.
4. unplugged onboard unit and put back in trunk. disconnected 12v battery negative terminal waited 1 min connected it back up. started car up. shut car down. plugged in EVSE. same result - 4 sec orange light and no charge. that's how i left it.

no warnings on dashboard display (other than 'low battery charge battery' that it always gives when under 10 mi range). no codes displayed. just won't charge up!

any other ideas before I break down and have it towed to dealer? it's too far to make it (about 13 miles) so I'll have to have it towed. I want to exhaust every simple possibility before I take it to them (have to turn it in in 2 weeks end of lease anyway!). any other ideas? this has been one of the best cars I've ever had, and I'm betting its something very simple.

thanks!

 

[JPL]

How much is the voltage in the 12V battery?

 

[SparkE]

If you don't have a voltmeter, just plug in a regular (auto-turnoff!) 12V battery charger (even a trickle charger) for 'a while' (?30 min? ?an hour?). If the 12V continues to charge (doesn't show 'full' by stopping the charge) then leave it plugged in for 'a while longer' and then try to charge the main battery with the EVSE. If the EVSE starts to charge the propulsion battery, take the charger off the 12V battery, as the 12V battery will be charged from the car while the main battery is being charged (or you are driving). Once you have charged the main battery, hook the 12V battery back up with the 12V battery charger until it is full. Oh, and if it is a flooded lead-acid battery, you should check the water level and add *distilled* water to the fill line if low (it shouldn't be a classic flooded lead-acid - Spark EVs shipped with maintenance-free AGM lead-acid batteries).

Then, go to 'AutoZone' (or some other parts store that does free 12V battery testing) and have your 12V battery load tested.

 

[d15b7]

first report back to you guys. battery is at 12.23 v according to my multimeter. I have a Schumacher intelligent battery charger which I just hooked up (has setting for AGM battery charging). 12.23 is low, so I'll charge it for 3 hrs or so and see if it comes up to 12.5-12.8 (which I consider 'healthy' for a normal car battery). after its charged up I'll try to charge the main pack.

i'm not holding out a lot of hope that this works, as the car 'starts' and drives fine. it just won't charge the main propulsion battery pack. but I have heard that the car does really weird things when the 12v battery starts to get on the low side, so I'll give this a try first! I'll let you know what happens!

 

[TheLondonBroiler]

I don't think it's the 12v battery, but checking the voltage is above ~12.3v is, as mentioned, where you should start.

To me, it sounds like the onboard charger might have bit the dust.

In my opinion, you've troubleshot it well. If it were me, so long as the warranty is valid, it would be on the way to the dealer.

 

[d15b7]

ok so it wasn't the 12v battery. i put a full charge on it (charger was green, and when disconnected it was showing 13.1 v). same result - orange light for 4 secs and then no light at all and no charging. i think it might be the on board charger too. going to try to take it to the dealership tomorrow morning unless someone has any other good ideas to try?

 

[TheLondonBroiler]

Silly question, did you disconnect the 12v battery, wait 15 min, touch the negative and positive connectors together for 5 seconds, then reconnect the battery? This ensures all capacitors should be drained, and should reset computers and such (a hard reset if you will).

 

[d15b7]

yes, I did disconnect 12v battery, wait 20 mins, and touch pos to neg. (I had disconnected and reconnected 12v battery yesterday, but I just did that again this morning and no change). I'm going to tow it to the dealer today

 

[Chris101]

Please let us know what happens. Is this a powertrain warranty issue or what?

 

[d15b7]

Please let us know what happens. Is this a powertrain warranty issue or what?

I will I promise. I dropped it off at the dealership on wed; they said that they'd look at it this week. IDK what type of issue it is (I'd guess probably that it is the onboard charging module). as soon as I know, I'll let you know too. I have to turn it in off lease in 9 days so there is a decent chance that I'll just sign the papers over to the dealership and leave it there depending on how long it takes for them to get whatever parts are needed

 

[d15b7]

dealer called -- it was the onboard charger module. they have it on order but don't expect to have it back in time for me to take the car back (lease turn in is in 6 days). dealer was super nice and apologetic but if they can't get the part, then they can't get the part! I'll really miss my Spark EV; if I could wrangle a deal I'd buy it instead of turning it back in, but they don't seem to want to deal so I'll be turning it in next week.

 

[MrDRMorgan]

dealer called -- it was the onboard charger module. they have it on order but don't expect to have it back in time for me to take the car back (lease turn in is in 6 days). dealer was super nice and apologetic but if they can't get the part, then they can't get the part! I'll really miss my Spark EV; if I could wrangle a deal I'd buy it instead of turning it back in, but they don't seem to want to deal so I'll be turning it in next week.

It took 6 weeks for the dealer to get the module they had to order for my 2015 spark EV.