Annual Battery Calibration check $130.00?

[rkarl89203]

Hi all...
Took my car in to a dealership for a pre-route 66 checkup.
They tried to sell me a 'annual battery calibration check.'
$130.00.
Really?
I checked my maintenance manual that came with the car and I can't seem to find this. I called them back and asked them where this was in the manual. Twice they said they would get back to me and haven't.
I did find a capacity test, which isn't due for quite a while.
My concern is that the 'calibration check' doesn't seem to exist, and that the technician marked it as
'Customer declined needed repairs.'
Should I file a grievance over this?
Opinions?

 

[mdbuilder]

No longer exists, your manual should have an orange card added loosely which advises not to bother you can do it yourself. Drive to less than 2 bars, plug in and recharge fully. The card has lines to note the "test date"

 

[PV1]

With the apps EVBatMon and CaniOn, we can easily check the health of our battery pack ourselves. EVBatMon queries the car on Ah capacity, and CaniOn will allow us to monitor individual cell voltages (well both do, but CaniOn has a bar graph for easy comparison), among many other features.

This, combined with the car's capability to automatically do a calibration charge, mostly negates the need to have the dealer check the battery, as they look at the same things.

Unfortunately, if a battery failure were to occur, it'll likely go undetected until the car refuses to charge to 16 bars. So far in the reported failures, there has been little warning before the failure occurs (mine drove perfectly fine before I couldn't fully charge, as the failure happened while the car was parked over the weekend).

 

[JoeS]

Everything entered into a database under a vehicle's VIN stays in that database; is that info available to CarFax, for example? This is an example where if you try to sell your car in the future - would that comment show up somewhere? I dunno.

I would go back to the dealer, tell them that "needed repairs" is an completely untrue statement and demand that they purge it from your car's record, and I'd keep escalating it up the chain of command until I got satisfaction. It's the principle of the whole thing - yeah, I also joust with windmills.

I'm afraid I'd get belligerent enough (depending on how many cups of coffee I just had) to have them tell me specifically what the pass/fail criteria are for this 'annual battery calibration check' and why that matters? I'm curious if they bring up battery capacity and thus what the criteria would be for battery replacement.

I doubt that Mitsu would use this in the future if for some reason your battery became defective, but who knows what new management might decide?

If you have EVBatMon it will give you a capacity number for your pack, and CaniOn nicely shows you how well the cells are balanced.

Hmmm, maybe the dealership would like your pack to 'fail' so they can get reimbursed from Mitsubishi for the warranty replacement? :twisted:

Sad example of upselling, I'm afraid.

</coffee>

 

[rkarl89203]

It would appear to be upselling indeed.
I am giving them to the end of January(3 days).
Have talked to the maintenance guy twice, he says my seat heater part went backorder, and it could be months before that is fixed. His attitude about that and the bogus 'calibration check' is pretty damn condescending.
Will contact him on Wednesday. If no results then, the very sincere and direct letter will be sent certified mail to the service manager, the CEO of the dealership, and MMNA.
Not gonna fool around with this any more.

 

[jennrod12]

During our warranty period (2012 iMiev), the dealer told us not to come back after the first year because the battery check wasn't needed anymore.

Last fall I took it in for one of the recalls, and the dealer said, "I see you haven't had an annual battery check for a few years, you should get that done." He wanted something like $350 for it! I asked him what they did for that fee and he said, "Check all the fluids, check the batteries which is very time consuming, and, uh, check all the fluids...". I said no thanks. Then he said that if I ever had a problem with the batteries, they might hold it against me that I hadn't had the annual checks done. I haven't been back.

Jenn

 

[PV1]

Jenn, nice to see you back on the forum. Hopefully you're still enjoying your i-MiEV.

My car came with the manual insert that said dealer calibrations weren't necessary, as we could do the same thing by running down to 2 bars or less and fully recharging. Now that the app EVBatMon is available, we can even see the Ah capacity of the battery, making the dealer visit even more un-necessary.

 

[jennrod12]

Definitely still loving the iMiev! I had an injury almost a year ago that has kept me off my bike for commuting, but I drive to work every day in the iMiev "guilt-free" Hoping to get back on the bike again eventually.

Just changed the cabin air filter for the first time - yuck! Also found some "foam peanuts" (not really peanut shaped, more like little cylinders) in the air filter area. I found a bunch of them under the hood a little while back, too - anyone else have those?

I do the "drive down to two bars then fully recharge" every once-in-a-while. I don't feel like I've lost any range yet. I definitely still get all 16 bars.

I have an iPhone - what would be the correct scan tool to use with EVBatMon?

Thanks,

Jenn

 

[PV1]

This one should work:

https://www.scantool.net/obdlink-mxwf/

No idea on the foam bits. I've only pulled my filter twice and knocked a little dust out of it, still using the original.

We've discovered over the years that capacity loss won't show on the charge gauge (just the RR number will decrease). Only in the case that the pack becomes seriously mis-balanced or a cell loses charge (aka fails) that the car won't charge to 16 bars. Failure to fully charge is covered by the battery warranty. General capacity loss isn't covered, although one member was successful in getting a warranty replacement for drastic capacity loss (best range achieved was 32 miles).

Hope you can get biking again real soon.

 

[JoeS]

Hi Jenn, great to hear from you again. Missed you! Sorry to hear about your injury and glad to hear your faithful i-MiEV is doing well for you until you get back on your bike.

Since I already had an Android tablet for CaniOn, I never tried the iOX version of EVBatMon. If you're interested, we can get together and try my devices on your car. Just send me a PM. Both apps are handy to have.

 

[rkarl89203]

Hi, OP here...
Weird that others have had this upselling issue also. Once again, this is unsettling, especially just before our route 66 adventure in a couple of weeks.
They DID relent on the 'customer declined needed repairs" issue.
But they still maintain that the part for the seat heater repair is months away. Would have been nice to have it for our trip.
We will be stopping where we bought the car (Bloomington IL) on one of the first days of the trip so we will see what THEY think.
Not impressed with the Elgin IL dealership. Very inclined to send the aforementioned letter just before we leave anyways. Customers should be treated with a minimum of respect, IMHO.

 

[Don]

Most dealerships live and die on the money brought in by the service department - Likely one reason some Mitsu dealerships opted not to mess with EV's at all. They just don't require enough 'service' to be profitable

. . . . and then, sadly, there are always those who will do or say anything to make a buck

Don

 

[rkarl89203]

But guess what?
They have been bugging me all weekend to trade in my imiev to get me to buy a Mirage.
Seriously.
4 separate emails from them offering me 110% of blue book on the imiev for trade and a 'lifelong powertrain warranty. '
I sent them a blunt email saying under no circumstances would I buy a car from them, period.
The upselling of unneeded services, their inability to fix my seat heater.
No way.
They will never touch my car again.
Nor will they sell me a gas car.
Sheesh.