Minor Complaints/Issues. Anyone else?

[shifttrans]

Hi all! First post here! Just bought a white ES and really love the car. I bought it a few weeks ago with 29 miles on it and it had about a half charge so I doubt it was charged more than a couple times. It was manufactured in Nov 2011. I'd like to share a few issues and possible problems that others can see if they have similar experiences.

First, the plastic cover for the aux battery has no nut or washer holding it down. I'm trying to get one from the dealer but could someone post a photo of what is holding it down? Is it a wing nut? Washer? Thanks!

Second, when I took the cover off and looked under the positive battery terminal I found significant corrosion! Anyone else have this? Yes, minor but I would have never expected it for such a new car. I will need to put an anti-corrosion felt washer there or something before it gets too bad. Any issues with removing the batter for a while? Will I lose any settings or remote pairing to include the control remote with the fancy antenna?

Third, I noticed a small metal part next to my left headlight assembly already rusting. Minor but it's hardly been in the elements and I'm sure it will get much worse unless I take it off and treat it with some paint or something. The right one has no corrosion. Strange. Anyone else?

Lastly, When I was messing with my rear window washer sprayer, it was loose and easily pulled out. Because the seal was not tight, I'm sure some water got in over the year or so. I pushed the sprayer in and engaged the clip on the sides and it was then on tight. I would check that on your cars.

Again, overall I'm loving the car and enjoy how efficient it is. Laters! -John

 

[alohart]

Congratulations on your purchase! I bought my SE from Cutter at the end of December before the big discount But Cutter did discount the price by about $3,000, and because my SE was an early import, its price was based on the original lower MSRP, so my net price was pretty good. But it did sit on Cutter's lot baking in the sun for over a year which isn't ideal. We don't know how Cutter maintained the traction battery pack during that time. Hopefully, they kept it at a low charge level, but I'm not confident that they did.

The battery cover on my SE is held down by what looks like a cheap plastic nut-like thing. When I tried to remove it, it just spun on the rod's threads, so maybe it doesn't have its own threads but just pushes down over the rod somehow gripping the rod's threads. I was investigating how to remove the battery when we will put our car in storage while we are at our apartment in Sweden. But the thought of wrestling the battery out of the narrow hood opening made my herniated lumbar disc quiver, so I decided that I would merely disconnect the negative terminal and recharge the battery in place should that be necessary.

I didn't look at the condition of my battery's positive terminal. Mine could be corroded as well, so I will look. When this battery dies, I will probably replace it with a small absorbent glass mat (AGM) battery. These don't contain liquid sulfuric acid electrolyte and they don't outgas corrosive fumes like a flooded cell battery, so the corrosion that you have found should not occur.

Honolulu has salty, humid air that corrodes unprotected steel. One wonders why the corroded part on your car wasn't protected. I think I will miss the aluminum chassis of the car we shipped from Honolulu to our apartment in Sweden.

 

[shifttrans]

Thanks for the reply Art. If I see your white and blue SE, I'll be sure to honk my horn and wave (although we avoid honking here in Hawaii) :lol: I almost bought the one last white and blue SE but I went with the cheaper, simpler model.

I just came back from Cutter and they said the metal nut that is holding the battery down under the plastic cover, should actually be above the plastic cover. I don't think that's right because it will make it that much harder just to check the battery fluid levels. The plastic nut makes sense because I bet it broke when they tried to take it off. If you or anyone else could validate that the metal nut should be under the cover and that the plastic nut is on top with a photo, I could show it to them.

They actually want to replace my battery because he said it shouldn't be leaking acid like that so I will be getting a new aux battery.

Not sure what they will do about the rusted part!

Later! -John

 

[siai47]

The earlier reply to your post is correct---there is a plastic "nut" that holds the cover in place. It can be pushed on to lock it down, however it should be removed by turning it off like a normal nut by hand. If you try a wrench on it, just the weight of the wrench might prevent it from following the threads to remove it. The actual nut that goes on the battery hold down bracket is in the proper place on your car. I also noticed on my car (which had been sitting for a year before purchase) corrosion on the positive battery terminal. Whomever manufactures the battery must not be doing a good job of sealing the terminal. I cleaned mine up and put some anti-corrosion grease on the terminal and am going to forget about it. You will loose your radio presets, clock settings, resetable odometer settings and any stored codes in the cars computers when you remove the terminal(s) to clean them. It won't affect the remotes. I would take the battery completely out and wash it with a baking soda solution (to neturalize the acid) and rinse it well before coating the terminals with some sort of anti-corrosion grease. The positive terminal wires were a little short on my car and removing the one wire clip on the white wire (compress the back pins on the clip with pliers) made the whole thing easier. You got a little corrosion on your car---at least it wasn't infested with spiders like mine was!

 

[PV1]

I noticed the metal clips on the headlights are rusting on mine :shock: . They look easy to remove if you can find the proper driver for those screws holding them on. I'd sand them down and spray paint them.

I have the plastic nut holding the cover down on the battery, no corrosion on the terminals, and my rear sprayer is on tight.

Was under your hood that dusty when you bought it? Mine had 146 miles on it when I bought it and under the hood was nearly spotless.

 

[JoeS]

shifttrans, sorry to hear the dealer prep was not performed well. Sounds as though the car sat there for over a year... the good news is that with 29 miles on it and half charge, I suspect it had simply NEVER been recharged. Just sitting at 50% SOC for a long time was probably ok and certainly much better for the battery pack than 100% SOC. Not to worry, you have 8 years...

Glad to hear they will give you a new 12v battery, as I bet this old one had gone dead on them, which is why the plastic nut went missing when they recharged it ... sloppy of the dealer not to have pulled the battery and cleaned up the terminals before delivery.

As for the rusted part, not a good omen but it really is a minor concern at this point. If the dealer doesn't replace it maybe you can simply take it out and wire-brush and prime/coat it? I'd be inclined to go over the car meticulously to see if there are any other rusting pieces. Perhaps a good fresh-water wash of everything is in order?

In any case, glad to have you onboard the Forum and wish you all the best with your great little car! Be sure to connect with alohart, as he'll give you lots of great pointers.

 

[Llecentaur]

Zing spray is an excellent rust treatment.

 

[shifttrans]

Thanks for the replies and info. I will make sure I pass on to the Service manager that it is a plastic nut that holds down the cover. I agree that they must have broken the plastic nut when they had to recharge the battery.

I wonder why the screw on that corroded metal has such a strange security head. I definitely don't have the right driver for that. But yes, I'm (and the wife is) grateful we don't have spiders!

Not sure why the cover was so dusty. The rest of the area is pretty clean. I think I will preempt any corrosion on the new battery with some anti-corrosion grease.

Thanks again! -John

 

[Applewins]

Great post.
I'll say my MeIV has been flawless to date with just turning 10,000 miles (leased a demo with 3200 existing miles). Another observation, now that we are into summer, is battery performance is much better and the air conditioning works really well with battery consumption being minimal, unlike the heater that consumes power quite readily.

 

[MLucas]

Great post.
I'll say my MeIV has been flawless to date with just turning 10,000 miles (leased a demo with 3200 existing miles). Another observation, now that we are into summer, is battery performance is much better and the air conditioning works really well with battery consumption being minimal, unlike the heater that consumes power quite readily.

I'm finding the same results with the A/C, its not nearly as power hungry as the heater is. On weekends, I use the A/C all the time.

 

[MLucas]

Third, I noticed a small metal part next to my left headlight assembly already rusting. Minor but it's hardly been in the elements and I'm sure it will get much worse unless I take it off and treat it with some paint or something. The right one has no corrosion. Strange. Anyone else?

Being in the rust belt, I figured I should go and check my headlight brackets and found no rust at all. Possibly because of the salt air your top parts are more susceptible to corrosion. I sprayed both brackets with WD-40 to minimize any corrosion. I found some corrosion in the Quick Charge port, may want to check there as well.

 

[RobbW]

Only complaint so far on my four-day-old iMiEV is the right front speaker rattles/buzzes when playing music or listening to people talk on the radio. Dropped it off at the dealer tonight to get rear parking sensors installed. They said they would look at the speaker and take care of it.

 

[siai47]

Good luck with your speaker problem! I've tried about everything to stop the same thing you are going through. I have had the doors apart, applied dynamat to the door skins, speaker area, and to the interior panel itself to no avail. I've put insulation between the door panel and the door. The speaker is putting so much energy into the door, everything is vibrating. If you listen you will find things like the outside door handles and moldings are vibrating. If you remove the interior panels, the problem basically stops. It is most noticable when listening to radio station announcers who use a bass amplified mike---they really buzz the panels. I have two I-MiEV's and both react the same. The only thing the dynamat has done is tighten up the bass somewhat and delivered more energy into the door panels! This is the biggest complaint I have about this car to date so I guess it is sort of minor.

 

[RobbW]

It is most noticable when listening to radio station announcers who use a bass amplified mike---they really buzz the panels.

Yes, this is when I notice it most, too. I listen to talk radio on the way into work in the morning. The deep bass voices buzz the speaker so much it sounds like the panels are going to shake right off. Other times, my daughters like me to play their pop music. Even though we don't really crank the volume up, songs with really deep bass make it rattle, too. It's only the right front speaker, though. Whatever they did to make the other speakers work properly, I wish they would do it to that one, too. Are the door panels just not tightened up enough? When I press my hand against the door it stops rattling.

 

[JoeS]

No rattling or booming from my higher-power SE sound system at all. I have the bass set to one notch up.

 

[RobbW]

I should have the same high-power system as yours in my SE. I guess I was just one of the unlucky ones to to get a less-than-optimal speaker performance.

 

[Don]

Good luck with your speaker problem! I've tried about everything to stop the same thing you are going through. I have had the doors apart, applied dynamat to the door skins, speaker area, and to the interior panel itself to no avail. I've put insulation between the door panel and the door. The speaker is putting so much energy into the door, everything is vibrating.

The very first thing to 'try' before you spend a dime is . . . . have the dealership replace the offending speaker - This doesn't happen in 99% of cars and I think when you get the speaker replaced, it won't happen in yours either

Playing digital music as loud as I can stand in my SE with the upgraded stereo, nothing rattles in any of the 4 doors

Don

 

[RobbW]

My i is at the dealer today having backup sensors installed. I explained the issue with the speaker, and they said they would take a look. I hope that means they'll actually fix rather than giving the dealership standard, "We couldn't replicate the problem."

Don, when you say the upgraded stereo in your SE, you mean the 360-watt sound system the SE comes with not an upgraded aftermarket system, right?

 

[aarond12]

My ES has a rattling front-passenger speaker, too. I'm not going to take it in, however. I can just pop off the door panel, make sure the screws are tight, add some plastic shims if necessary, and put it back together. The i-MiEV has been, by far, the easiest-to-fix car I've ever owned.

 

[RobbW]

Oh, I have no problem tinkering around and fixing things myself. I would not have brought my i back to the dealership just for the speaker noise alone. I had to bring it back in to get the parking sensors installed anyway. So, I asked them to take care of the speaker while they are at it, as well as cleaning some stains off the roofliner in the rear seats that my wife and I didn't notice when we first took delivery. It was our daughter who noticed it and asked if the i was a used car because it was dirty.