2012 SE Won't Arm

[veimi]

Two months ago, I charged the car and put a few kilometers on it, but haven't driven it since. It still has 16 bars.

When I went to start it, it wouldn't arm and the battery indicator light came on.

Lights, radio, everything powered from 12V still worked OK. I didn't measure battery voltage initially but put 4A for about an hour into the 12V battery and the battery voltage measured 13.6 V.

Still won't arm and battery indicator is still on even by going directly to the arm position.

Threads on the subject suggest that the obvious solution is a new 12V battery, but others still had a problem after replacing the 12V battery.

Some threads mention the immobilizer.

I even tried arming it with my 4A battery charger connected, but no luck.

I also connected the main battery charger to see if that might re-initialize something, but again, no luck

It has been parked outside all winter and today it is 32 degrees F outside.

Any alternative suggestions would be appreciated.

UPDATE: I went out to give it another try and after about 10 tries it finally entered Ready mode.

I drove it around for a few kilometers and returned home. One observation that I hadn't really noticed before. When going directly to Ready mode the key must be held in the Arm position for a longer time than if the Arm position is chosen after being in the Accessory position.

Everything now seems OK. Although the temperature has warmed up to 54 degrees F, I am beginning to wonder how much of my difficulties had arisen from not holding the key in the Arm position for a long enough time.

 

[JoeS]

veimi, sounds as though you finally woke up your i-MiEV successfully. Whew!

Lessons learned:

1. When storing the car, always keep a float charger (NOT old-fashioned unregulated trickle charger) attached to the 12v battery, especially in cold weather.

2. Storing the car at 100% charge is not recommended, although doing so in the very cold weather you experienced probably did no harm. It would be murderous in hot weather. IIRC, manufacturers ship the cars with the traction pack in the 25%-40% SoC range. We have threads elsewhere on this forum on this topic.

Now that Spring is here, hope you get to enjoy your i-MiEV again!

 

[veimi]

Now that Spring is here, hope you get to enjoy your i-MiEV again!

Fingers crossed, but I don't anticipate any problems.

I had already read many if not all of your battery posts and have gained a wealth of information.

Perplexing me is the fact that I have to hold the key in the Arm position for what I perceive to be a longer period of time than previously. Maybe my imagination, but I will keep my eye on it.

 

[wmcbrine]

Why do you refer to it as the "Arm" position? I find this confusing.

 

[veimi]

Why do you refer to it as the "Arm" position? I find this confusing.

From technical experiences elsewhere in my life, I would call the first position of the key, Accessory and the temporary second position Arm.

For an internal combustion car, I would call the two positions, Accessory and Start. In an IC car, the temporary second position starts the car. In an electric car, I am not starting it, I am Arming it and in this thread the term was used to indicate that the car wouldn't go into Ready mode.

I could have used the title "2012 SE Won't Go Into Ready Mode", but this would have meant using more keystrokes on a tiny computer screen to convey what I consider to be the same meaning.

I am now curious what you would call the two positions so I don't confuse you.

 

[PV1]

Generally, the key positions are referenced (even printed on the ignition ring) as:

1. Lock (off)
2. Accessory
3. On
4. Start (temporary or momentary position, the one that needs the held at to achieve READY).

 

[veimi]

Thanks. I'll try and use these terms in the future.

Saying that my 2012 SE won't "Start" seems quite ambiguous to me.

 

[veimi]

I went out to "Start" my car the other day and it again wouldn't "Start".

I finally figured out why.

My car is parked on a hill. I noticed that when I put the gear shift lever into the Park (P) position, the gear position indicator light on the dashboard did not indicate that the car was in the Park position, even though the gear shift lever was. All other gear positions were properly indicated.

I was able to get the Park indicator to light by taking my foot off the brake and letting the car roll backwards down the driveway a few inches until the transmission grabbed at which time the Park indicator light came on and I was able to "Start" the car.

Tomorrow I will investigate to see if the Park indicator light comes on consistently when the car is on level ground and the shift lever is put into the Park position.

 

[PV1]

I've noticed mine will do that occasionally (not fully engage Park). Usually, simply pushing the shifter to the right is enough to drop it in fully.

When mine does this and my foot is off the brake, the pedestrian warning sound will be active.

 

[veimi]

Thanks for the reply.

I just took mine out on the street and discovered that from time to time when the gear shift lever has been shifted from the Reverse to the Park position, the Reverse indicator would remain on even though the gear shift lever was fully to the right in the Park position.

If the foot brake was released in this condition, the car would move backward slightly with a crunching of gears as the transmission appeared to engage the Park position. The Reverse indicator light would extinguish, but the Park indicator light would not come on.

In a situation where the gear shift was at the extreme right in the Park position, but the Reverse light was still on, pushing the gear shift hard forward would remove the Reverse indicator light and pushing it hard in the forward direction again would turn the Park indicator light on so that the car could be "Started".

I was hoping that anyone else who might have experienced this problem was aware of the possibility of a mechanical adjustment fix to the gearshift mechanism which would eliminate the problem.

I just came up with an abstract thought. The car has been parked all winter on an incline with the front end higher than the rear and held without the parking brake (in the Park position).

I am now wondering if long term mechanical forces while in the Park position have misaligned the gear shift mechanism. For this reason my intention is to park the car in the reverse direction on the incline so that the forces on the gearbox while in the Park position are in the opposite direction than previously. Time will tell.

 

[PV1]

Since the electrical gear switch is mounted to the gearbox and is actuated by a cable, I would think that the cable needs lubricated.

 

[veimi]

Since the electrical gear switch is mounted to the gearbox and is actuated by a cable, I would think that the cable needs lubricated.

Any chance of the cable stretching and the possibility of a readjustment procedure to correct the problem?

EDIT: After searching both this forum and Google I have been unable to find any information on adjusting the shift selector cable.

There is a reference to it on a DVD shop manual sold on Ebay and for this reason I suspect that it is possible, but so far the only information I have found refers to adjusting the Brake and Ignition shifter interlock cables.

 

[veimi]

I found a shop manual for a 2011 on this forum.

http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2802

I turns out that a template must be made and the shift selector housing on the gearbox adjusted.
=================================================================================

caution
•Prepare a sheet metal plate having a dimension as shown in the figure, and use it as an adjustment plate.

•Do not adjust the rod assembly set length by loosening the lock nut.


1.Set the control lever to the N (neutral) position.
2.Loosen the mounting bolt of the shift position switch (main).
3.Using the adjustment plate, perform the adjustment by turning the shift position switch body so as to align the position of manual control shaft slit with the position of shift position switch positioning groove.
4.Tighten the mounting bolt to the specified torque.
Tightening torque: 11 ± 1 N·m
5.Using the same procedure, adjust the shift position switch (sub).
6.Once again, use the adjustment plate to check that the manual control shaft slits are aligned with positioning grooves of the shift position switches (main) and (sub).

And another manual for a 2012

http://mmc-manuals.ru/manuals/i-miev/online/Service_Manual/2013/index_M1.htm

For the 2012 the adjustment procedure is different. It consists of inserting a metal rod through both the control lever and position switch housing to align them when the shift lever is in the neutral position.

For Shift Position Adjust go to Transmission-Shift Position Switch-Shift Position Switch Adjustment

1.Set the selector lever to the N (neutral) position.
2.Set the control lever to the N (neutral) position.
3.Loosen the shift position switch mounting bolts and turn the shift position switch so the hole in the control lever and the hole (cross section A-A in the figure on the left) in the shift position switch are aligned.
4.The shift position switch can be aligned by inserting the special tool inhibitor switch adjusting gauge (MD999576) into the hole in the control lever and the hole in the shift position switch.
5.Tighten the shift position switch mounting bolts to the specified torque. Be careful at this time that the switch does not move.
Tightening torque: 11 ± 1 N·m
6.Check that the special tool inhibitor switch adjusting gauge (MD999576) can be inserted into and pulled out from the holes in the control lever and the shift position switch smoothly.
If it cannot be done smoothly, return to step 3.
7.Check the shift position service data.

 

[JoeS]

Further relating to this discussion -

We've had one thread dealing with a shifter-engagement issue, but I can't find it at the moment. If I recall, linkage lubrication was the solution rather than actual shifter cable adjustment, but I may be wrong… anyone?

The park locking device is called a "sprag" and is mentioned in this thread, but I see that the FiddlerJohn's link to the transmission innards graphic is broken:
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=244&hilit=sprag

Here's a discussion of the sprag and the transmission clunk.
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=1741&p=12375&hilit=shifter#p12368

 

[veimi]

Thanks for that.

I was able to see the exploded view of the mechanism on Facebook. Because I am not a Facebook member the view was partially obstructed by a login screen. The diagrams may be separated by clicking on them.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2941449447691.2127385.1004832596&type=1&l=69bc9b5fae

It is my understanding that the 2012 and newer shift selector arrangements are different than previous models.

The older versions have both a shift position sensor (main) and a shift position sensor (sub) and this is the drawing shown on Facebook.

I believe the newer versions have only the shift position sensor (main).

During my searches I found this from 2012 without an image.

"Here is the picture under my car (if I did this right). It is looking forward from the drivers-side rear corner. At the center of the picture, you can see the shift position switch on the left side of the transmission. The rubber bellows covers the cable that goes forward to the shift lever in the cabin."

Below is a link to a picture of the older transmission housing which has two shift position sensors.

http://media.caranddriver.com/images/10q1/335484/mitsubishi-i-miev-transmission-photo-335602-s-original.jpg