Manually Opening the Hatch and Replacing a Dead Battery on a Gen 1 Chevy Volt
Вставка
- Опубліковано 11 вер 2024
- The Chevy Volt has two batteries - a massive battery pack that drives the motors and propels the car, and a regular 12v battery that starts the gas engine, runs the lights and radio and opens the various doors, windows and hatch.
When the big battery fails you can still move the vehicle on the gas motor.. when the little battery dies you can't do much of anything (at least easily).
This video talks about how to access the car, manually open the hatch, and access the battery on a Chevy Volt with a completely dead 12-volt battery.
Excellent tip on how to open the hatch. Tearing down a parts Volt and nice to be able to open the hatch without having to add power.
Glad it helped!
Found this really helpful today, as our 2014 Volt had just stopped, nothing would come on, doors wouldn't unlock. We did manage to read some codes before that occurred, and they suggested our battery might be dead (which was pretty much confirmed when the other stuff happened, though we also knew it could have been the big battery that just bit it). Yours was nice and complete with how to get the seats down and ESPECIALLY how to open the trunk from inside. Also, in case anyone was wondering (from watching other videos on this issue), I did not lose (much) electronics memory (i.e. radios stations). It reset the cruise control, but I didn't notice anything else (though, other than radio and phone settings, I don't really know what to look for). Vehicle is home and charging with a brand new 12v battery!
Glad it hit the mark for you!
Oh thank you so much. There's so many single points of failure on this car, I closed the boot after taking the battery out. You had me worried at first; I thought you were going to jump the battery from under the bonnet to open the boot😂
Glad it helped!!
My jump points up front never worked for me for some reason - I tried that as a way of getting in before doing the research and making that video after that failed miserably
@@AskDIYDad I have a '13 and the jump points don't work either. Real fun to watch me try to open the back hatch lol. I replaced my factory 12v late last year but the new one keeps discharging, and when it's at 100%, it still won't fully start the car. AutoZone says the battery tests OK so they won't replace it. The car makes for a lovely driveway decoration at least :(
@@michelleamanti2277 That sucks! It sounds like you have a parasitic load somewhere - maybe an accessory that keeps getting left on? It's very odd that it can't start the car at full charge.. unfortunately that's beyond my experience troubleshooting this car.
There's a really good owner's community on Facebook for this car and a few pretty solid forums that might be able to point you in the right direction
Thanks so much for the video. My 2012 Volt died while in an EV charging station at “the mall”. Now I have to wait until the cars clear out and I can find someone to jump the battery. Bad timing
That sucks! But I’m glad this helped at least get you access!
Great info, thank you! Hope i never need to use it!
Where can i buy the perfect tool to open the hatch? Mine is having fob detection issues. Sure when i press unlock or lock on the fob it does that, but won't open hatch anymore, edit, it is five sixteenths square
Seems like a bit of a design flaw to put the battery in the trunk and not have a mechanical way of opening it from the outside, like with the key to open the driver door
I don’t disagree! But at least there’s a way..
There's so many design flaws on this car. Like not having a manual gas cap door.
Another Tuber says it is a five sixteenths square socket about 9 buckos online
"Under the hood remote battery terminal" is the one that is not working for you, today I tried to give a jump to my friend's car and that under the hood terminal now read 0 volts , there must be a fuse somewhere but so far I have not found it, did you look into that yet? cause that terminal is very useful, mine is a 2017 but same configuration. Except rear battery is much more accessible in the 2016 up. thanks
I haven’t had time to look into it yet - if you find a solution please let me know!
@Ask DIY Dad thanks I shure will update if I find out.
@@christianstclaire5706 wonder if you ever found the location of a fuse?
I was thinking walmart sells a 12v cigarette plug adaptor that basically comes as a pig tail (red and black wires unocnnected). someone could just wire in another 12v source into one of the 2 cigarette plug adaptors and then the doors and stuff should open for u. i bet in a pinch you could do something simmilar with a 9v battery and a double AA lol
@@vevenaneathna No, I used logic to try to find it but no success , So I thought of just running a line from the battery to the front but then, I went on a trip & left my car in long term parking which makes me nervous, what if after 10 days in that parking , I find a dead battery which is a total pain in the next, so I decided to lift the floor mat and hooked a jumper cable and left it in back seat for easy access just in case, should the battery be dead , a simple 16 gauge 2 strands line can get the main battery to initiate the 12 volt in the back and start the car, I really do not understand what GM Engineers were thinking about , ach
take care
That under-the-hood terminals is just to jump the Volt, but not the other way around because it has a fuse like 80 amps! Just use it to start up the Volt works great for that.
Merci pour info j ai une 2013. Volt je vais faire test de batterie .par sécurité.
So can u come do mine lol u no how to do it better then me 😂
You can do it! Just go slow
Nice video but you as a Volt owner should know that the Volt is not a Hybrid. It always runs on electricity, either from the battery or from the generator. Most Volt owners try to inform people of that fact.
That’s actually not 100% correct. There’s a planetary with three motors - when you’re in gas mode the gas engine creates electricity for the electric drive motor and DOES engage directly to the planetary that connects to the CVT transmission to drive the wheels.
There are a bunch of articles and deep engineering writeups online about it. GM’s lead designer for the Volt admitted in an interview years ago that the car isn’t “exactly” what they lead people to believe in early marketing documents
@@AskDIYDad Your car, like mine. 2012, only has two motors not three. It also does not have a CVT, it has a single geared connection to the drive wheels from the rotor of the primary drive motor. When in extended range mode it couples to the secondary motor for electricity. If the power demand exceeds the available electric supply the secondary motor rotor is coupled to the primary motor stator (not the rotor) by clutch and can provide impetus to the primary drive motor rotor but only by magnetics. (no solid connection) .
@@dennisu11 That is contrary to what I've been told by the technicians at the dealership that maintained this car for the entire time I owned it - but I appreciate your perspective.
@@AskDIYDad your techs are out to lunch. I would suggest you change dealers as fast as possible if they tell you stupid stuff like that.
It is a Hybrid it is what is called a series hybrid. I remember because back in the 90s we were inventing them. The volt just has a bigger battery than most and an all electric mode which is un common. The distinction in this case only matters as far as Govt regulations and subsides.
The gen2 ( not sure about gen 1) volt has a mode has a parallel mode when the car is on the highway and not accelerating and at a low state of charge where the engine drives the wheels mechanically. We did this on a concept car back in the 90s we called it series/ split parallel but it is al semantics.