A/C sticker shock

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Evie

Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2018
Messages
9
5 months in to owning and loving my little "Evie" I got the dreaded RBS, exclamation point warning lights on the dash.

Car towed to dealer.

Dealer says its an internal A/C issue, looking at over $3500 to replace the A/C compressor.

Any suggestions?

Anybody need a parts car?
 
Sure, I'm wanting a black parts car- I see you're in Chicago?
BUT, I'm suspicious of that diagnosis. A failed air conditioning compressor shouldn't be a no-run condition. Please post as many details as you can, such as did it actually shut down or is driveable, but with warning lights, and whether it will recharge with J1772 or CHAdeMO.
 
Driving to work last week I felt the power cut off, go pedal went to the floor, i was poking along, loss of braking, warning lights went on RBS, !, turtle and just a RED battery, ready light turned off. Cycled the key a few times and it got me the 3 miles to work.

While running an errand the same sequence happened again, and again, and again.

Limped it home, barely made it up the slight hill into the garage.

Checked the FORUM, replaced the 12V battery.

Turn the key, READY light, YAY its fixed....7 seconds later same series of warning lights.

Also car would not take a charge from home charger.

Next morning went out to car, it went into READY mode, i was able to drive it up and back a bit, put it on charger and went about my morning routine'

4 hours later, unplugged her, READY mode just fine, within a 1/2 mile same sequence of events.

Limped it home and called AAA for a free tow.
 
Evie said:
...
Next morning went out to car, it went into READY mode, i was able to drive it up and back a bit, put it on charger and went about my morning routine'

4 hours later, unplugged her, READY mode just fine, within a 1/2 mile same sequence of events.

Did you measure/charge the new 12 volt battery before installation to make sure it was a good one?

Did you ever get a chance to charge up the pack to full (16 bars)?

Was the fuel gauge indicating full after letting it connect on the charger until it cut off on it's own? If it was showing less than 16 bars then there could be a bad cell in the pack.
 
I am frustrated as heck over this situation, and my wife is ready to kill me over my "wise" purchase.

when I charged the car that morning it was for only about 4 hours, went from 17 to 30 on the guessometer.

upon further review, there were times when it went into default mode and the ready light stayed on, and other times the 12v battery light came on.

dealer ran all the diagnostics and all that showed up was the AC compressor fault. I'll get a full list tomorrow.

if i only charge the car on 120V home charger and the battery is passively cooled can it be safely run/charged?
would disconnecting the A/C have any effect on the heater?
i live on the southern tip of lake michigan so heat is a necessity, i can always open the windows for a breeze.
Bear in mind I only drive @12 miles per day.
 
i think another member just disconnected the big orange HV wires to the A/C and was able to operate just fine. Level 3 Chademo charging uses the AC, so that would not be possible, but regular 120 or 240vac (lvl 1,2) should work just fine.

Seems like the dealer didn't want to disconnect it, but you could charge the car at the dealers, then take it home and diy.

Somebody who did this should chime in and set me straight if i got this wrong.
 
I think I shorted out the dealership.

I asked if
A) the A/C compressor could be disconnected
B) if they could do it
That was 5 hours ago and haven't heard back from them yet.
 
I'd sure like to know what goes wrong with these compressors.

I don't know what disconnecting it would do, but I do know that the A/C is totally separate from the heater, so being without A/C shouldn't affect heat. Without the compressor, DC quick charging may be possible, though it'll likely fault if the battery is warm and the car calls for cooling. The battery fan always runs when charging at a high rate below 60% charge. I don't believe the car does any active battery cooling while driving.
 
I'm not sure about a non-working compressor. But when I had a faulty A/C fan motor, the cooling would stop after some seconds of starting a QC. But I still managed to make two Chademo chargers until I reached home, without the A/C running. Things got quite hot in the battery, but otherwise charged fine.
 
Per the service rep- it is a closed loop electrical system and you cant just unplug it.

In my head...and that's a dangerous place...much like a wall outlet, or even your electric dryer outlet there is power going to the outlet at all times, that's why the make little safety plugs for outlets so kids wont stick a fork in them.

And speaking of a fork, stick a fork in me, I am done, with the iMiev.

Best of luck to all of you, and thanks for letting me be a part of your community.
 
Evie said:
when I charged the car that morning it was for only about 4 hours, went from 17 to 30 on the guessometer.

Is the problem also with (or only with) the traction battery? When we first bought our iMiev, it only charged to 32. Prior to buying it, the dealer checked the traction battery and replaced it with a new traction battery as a condition of our purchase.

Any thoughts?
 
@evie,

Sorry to hear you want to give up, here is a diagram showing the AC electrical stuff. Connector G20 could easily be disconnected and left off, it would be as you said just like an electrical outlet in your house--just put some tape over the end if anyone is worried about the little kids.

One other thing, almost too obvious, but there is a 50A fuse inline to the AC from the pack--surely they checked to see if the fuse was blown? It can be accessed for change with the car on a lift.

If the AC plug were to be disconnected and the car would run, then it would be a big selling point in your favor.

My guess is that there are capacitors within the AC inverter that have failed or are leaky. Not something a wrench mechanic could repair, but an electrical technician could easily replace. i'll try to find a used one and take it apart to trace a schematic.

i agree that it could be a battery pack issue and would be a warranty replacement. Surely they tried charging the pack with a Level 1 EVSE to see if it went to the full 16 bars on the fuel gauge? If not they should. If it charges up to full, then that is another selling point in your favor. If it doesn't charge up, then they owe you a new pack under warranty.

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kiev said:
One other thing, almost too obvious, but there is a 50A fuse inline to the AC from the pack--surely they checked to see if the fuse was blown? It can be accessed for change with the car on a lift.

Just a question regarding the fuse so that I might better understand the operation.

What would be the difference of disconnecting the AC or removing the 50A fuse or having a blown 50A fuse?
 
@ imiev (in reverse)

If the fuse is missing or blown, then no HV would be present outside of the pack on the (+) wire of the G20 connector that runs to the A/C compressor/inverter.

If the G20 is just disconnected from the inverter but the fuse was present and intact, then HV would be present outside the pack in the (+) socket of the G20 connector whenever the Main (+) Contactor was energized, i.e. during charging and when in READY.
 
kiev said:
@ imiev (in reverse)

If the fuse is missing or blown, then no HV would be present outside of the pack on the (+) wire of the G20 connector that runs to the A/C compressor/inverter.

If the G20 is just disconnected from the inverter but the fuse was present and intact, then HV would be present outside the pack in the (+) socket of the G20 connector whenever the Main (+) Contactor was energized, i.e. during charging and when in READY.

@veik :)

Thanks!

Your information made it easier for me to interpret the schematic that you had posted.
 
Did you ever get this fixed? Or sell the car?

Im in Canada too. Just got my '12 with 30,000km on it. (Have only put on ~100km so far)

After reading about charger failures and other issues, I am considering finding a parts car sooner than later, "just in case"


Granted it will cost me $1500 to have it shipped from Ontario to Alberta :/
 
Gorfllub said:
After reading about charger failures and other issues, I am considering finding a parts car sooner than later, "just in case"
We did exactly that, 4 years ago - Picked up a like new '12 Premium with 3,900 miles on it for $8,700 when it came off lease. Just in case anything should go wrong with the one we bought brand new in May of '12. Since then, we've been driving both of them and of course, there have been no failures. You know, anything you have a 'spare' for never seems to break down - Murphy's Law

Don
 
I would be super happy to buy a spare and have no problems!

Not so happy to not buy a spare and run into trouble.

In Canada, I'm out west. These are few and far between out here. Lots out east, but that comes with a major shipping bill. Probably less expensive to find one from the USA.
 
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