Recently, I noticed that money 2014 ELR's internal combustion engine kicks in before the battery is fully drained (one time it happened with 8 miles of battery left. Two other times it happened with 4 miles of battery left). I was wondering if anyone knew what was causing this and whether it is indicative of a bigger problem.
ICE kicks in before battery is exhausted
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Sadly this is becoming a common ELR issue - several threads here on this. No known solution, and dealers are not helpful.
Sorry to hear you now have this issue also. Get ready for a lot of frustration unfortunately - hope someone can determine root cause and remedy.
Sorry to hear you now have this issue also. Get ready for a lot of frustration unfortunately - hope someone can determine root cause and remedy.
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Is it cold where you drive the car?
Mine does that when the weather drops and the car needs to maintain internal heat.
Mine does that when the weather drops and the car needs to maintain internal heat.
That's different and normal. The issue here is specific, where the car is in EV mode, greater than 32 degrees (F), yet the ICE prematurely decides to kick on near the bottom of the still available battery state of charge - instead of at 0 EV miles remaining.
When this first starting coming up on the ELRs, this scenario did not seem to be affecting the Volts. Seemed ELR specific. Have you seen any posts on the Volt forums with this issue?
2016 ELR blk on blk w/ the perf. package 2016 gmc 2500hd denali w/ plow package
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my car has done this.but heres what I did,,when the engine starts,,hit mode button to put it in hold,,then hit mode again and it goes back to ev mode .my car stays in ev to depletion.lets see if others get this to work.
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That's the only time I've seen the engine kick on in the normal tour mode.
I wanted to reply to this thread to my car to the list.... last week the ICE came on with 4 miles left on a charge.
Ironically, I had JUST read a thread with this issue a few weeks ago, but didn't follow too closely because my car didn't have this symptom. But here we are. I joined the forum back in 2018 a few months after purchasing my 2014 ELR, but it's been remarkable reliable. I've been lurking on the forum every now and again but never had anything to add. A few weeks ago, I was trying to research why I was getting progressively fewer miles per charge (right now, I'm right around 9kWhs, down from 11+ when I first got the car).
I just read up on this premature ICE issue and it looks like there's been no real solution for anyone. Does anyone know of good battery replacement options right now? I've searched and it doesn't look like we have many options, which I find hard to believe. Are our only options to just gamble on a refurbished HV battery for $5,000? I LOVE this car, but I'm not prepared to take that gamble. I hate to let the car go.... someone please tell me we have good options I've missed. I planned to keep this car for a very long time!
Ironically, I had JUST read a thread with this issue a few weeks ago, but didn't follow too closely because my car didn't have this symptom. But here we are. I joined the forum back in 2018 a few months after purchasing my 2014 ELR, but it's been remarkable reliable. I've been lurking on the forum every now and again but never had anything to add. A few weeks ago, I was trying to research why I was getting progressively fewer miles per charge (right now, I'm right around 9kWhs, down from 11+ when I first got the car).
I just read up on this premature ICE issue and it looks like there's been no real solution for anyone. Does anyone know of good battery replacement options right now? I've searched and it doesn't look like we have many options, which I find hard to believe. Are our only options to just gamble on a refurbished HV battery for $5,000? I LOVE this car, but I'm not prepared to take that gamble. I hate to let the car go.... someone please tell me we have good options I've missed. I planned to keep this car for a very long time!
Very sorry to hear you have been added to the list. Agree there has been no conclusive remedy. I've been following this closely also (don't have the issue - yet), and a few things...
- One person said this went away with a 12V battery reset. That is always the first thing to try with these complex electronic driven machines. I'm skeptical that person had the exact problem, but it is easy to try.
- Awhile back, one person said they finally got the dealer to capture the fault. This was done with some special data logging equipment. At the end, the determined the battery pack needed to be replaced. They never posted back if this solved the problem.
- Another individual has been fighting this for awhile, and just had a total propulsion failure. Needs one of the battery modules replaced (there are four battery sub-sections in the ELR). We don't have follow-up if that fixes this (and parts shortages, etc).
Anyway, that's what I've been able to distill of this problem that first started showing up over a year ago. There are now several people who have posted on this forum with this issue. Although the Volt uses a similar powertrain (and way more of those on the road), I have been unable to find reports of similar issues with it. So this somehow seems ELR specific - and 2014 and 2016 model year (though lesser at this point).
If you decide to go down the rabbit hole of attempting to get this diagnosed and fixed, please keep us updated. I think everyone's fear is if this an early warning to a battery problem. And most of our cars are either close to being out of the Voltec warranty period - or expired.
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