Battery Problems?

[Patti]

Hi All = I have a 2012 i-Miev with under 50K miles and until recently no problems. A few months ago I was driving and my car almost stopped and a whole bunch of warning lites came on including the turtle light. I got it home and for some reason charged the 12V battery. Also charged the drive battery, I usually do if it's near half charged. I live 15 miles from town and never know when I;'ll have to go to town.

No problems till Friday. Almost home and the lights came on again, including turtle. It was around half on my gauge. It made it home slowly.

Charged both batteries, didn't make it to town. If I let it sit a couple minutes Ready was ok and almost immediately turtle. Made it home and charged 12V. Backed it up in my driveway and as soon as I went in Drive, turtle came on.

I was hoping it was 12V battery, called dealer to ask about replacing it, they want almost 200 to tell me if that battery needs replacing and almost 500 for a new battery installed.

Is there an easy way to see which battery is bad, if one is bad? Also I bought my car in July 2013, I'm out of warranty, right?

Thanks in advance for helping a dumdum.

edited for spelling

 

[MickeyS70]

Hello DumDum
Sorry to hear about your troubles, the 12V aux might not be the cause of your problems but given that it appears to be more than 10 years old it’s high time to replace it.

Not sure what currency your figures are in but a new battery should be less than $100. Best practice is to charge it overnight before fitting.

Further info see below
https://www.gogreenautos.co.uk/how-tos/mitsubishi-i-miev-12v-auxiliary-battery

Let us know how you got on..
Mickey

 

[JoeS]

Patti, I would replace the 12v battery immediately (like TODAY) and if there is any sign of turtle or inability to charge to 16 bars or recharge the 12v battery (dashboard warning) then get it to the Mitsu dealer ASAP as the July day you bought your car might be important for a main battery or OBC replacement warranty claim.

$500 for a 12v battery replacement is a ripoff - if you or a helpful neighbor can't do it, then any old shop can.

Mitsu refused my OBC warranty claim because I was six weeks too late.

 

[Patti]

Thanks for the replies and advice!

I hope to have the 12V battery replaced tomorrow. I can't do ir and my shop was closed when I went there Monday. I'll try taking it for a long drive with the new battery. I got it 7-13-33013 so if it turtles with the new battery I'll get it towed to the dealer and see what they have to say.

If it does need a battery pack they quoted me 13K for parts on Saturday. How much does it usually cost for labor for this ( I know every shop is different so just a rough idea is fine) and if they do this does it usually come with a warranty? I don't know but it makes sense to me that if they're selling me a used battery that it might have the sane problem soon.

Thanks again and thanks for being patient with a dumdum.

Patti


Edited to add: It does charge to full when I plug it in.

 

[JoeS]

...I hope to have the 12V battery replaced tomorrow. I can't do ir and my shop was closed when I went there Monday. I'll try taking it for a long drive with the new battery. I got it 7-13-33013 so if it turtles with the new battery I'll get it towed to the dealer and see what they have to say.

Any hiccup (such as prematurely seeing turtle) would be reason to take it to Mitsubishi and get on record with the problem BEFORE July 13. Unfortunately, Mitsubishi has taken the position that if the main battery can charge fully to 16 bars then they claim the rest is normal degradation. If the main battery stops charging before reaching 16 bars please ensure that this gets recorded when you go to Mitsubishi. I would also get a copy of the work order for your records.

If it does need a battery pack they quoted me 13K for parts on Saturday. How much does it usually cost for labor for this ( I know every shop is different so just a rough idea is fine) and if they do this does it usually come with a warranty? I don't know but it makes sense to me that if they're selling me a used battery that it might have the sane problem soon...

Labor will probably add at least $1000. Sad to say, the consensus on this forum seems to be that if the main battery needs replacement we either try to fix it ourselves or have to part with the car. As much as we love our i-MiEVs, there are better options out there (e.g., used Chevy Bolt) with much longer range and good batteries for the same price. Unfortunately, so far no one in the US has undertaken to install the very nice Australian upgrade which doubles the range of the i-MiEV. Sadly, the price for doing that appears to be in the same $$$$ ballpark.

 

[Patti]

Thanks for your replies and advice!

Update - it's been at the dealership since Friday. I did tell them that sometimes it charges till full and sometimes it does not. Monday they called to ask how I charged it (120 or 240). Later they needed to change the 12V battery. I didn't want to buy an auto zone battery and have it replaced and then have them blame me for working on it so I dropped it off there with the old 12V.

Today they stopped here to pick up my original charge cable. They haven't said why they needed it but said something might be wrong with the onboard charger. At least it's there - I bought it 10 years ago on the 13th!