Fresh owner of damaged Peugeot Ion

[drgrin]

Hi!

This is my first post here, so i want to say hello to forum users, and introduce car and myself. I am located in Poland, and I am working in EV industry. I am also huge fan of EV mobility, since 3 years I am driving Vectrix VX1 converted to Li-Ion cells. I always wanted to get "real" electric car for my own, and finally I was able to get one

My Ion is challenge, I bought it as non runner, with dismantled battery, several people was trying to fix it before. What I know so far is that vehicle was charging overnight normally, and in the morning was unable to drive. Car was at authorized service, but since it's not under warranty they were to expensive to fix it, then it was at independent garage, also no effect.

What i discovered already:
- main contactor was welded, I've temporarily fixed it.
- battery was heavily discharged, to 2,7V per cell. I've recharged it to 3,7, and hope that cells survived.
- after battery installation I am seeing two bars at battery gauge, there is also blinking distributor icon, and red battery symbol together with yellow car with exclamation mark are lit. Car is not reacting on kick, contactors not clicking, so no power comes to inverter.

I hope that you're able to help me bring Ion back on the road. first question is: Is there any other option than M.U.T. III to read factory error codes from vehicle?

 

[kiev]

Welcome.

There are two main contactors, + and -, be sure to replace both if there is an issue.

So far nobody has reported being able to read/reset trouble codes. Maybe that will happen as more folks pick up used cars coming off lease, etc. and start peeling back the covers.

You could charge the cells up to 3.95-4.00vdc and the fuel gauge would likely give you more bars. Don't go higher until you get it working.

Good luck to you, hope you have great success.

 

[drgrin]

Welcome.

There are two main contactors, + and -, be sure to replace both if there is an issue.

So far nobody has reported being able to read/reset trouble codes. Maybe that will happen as more folks pick up used cars coming off lease, etc. and start peeling back the covers.

You could charge the cells up to 3.95-4.00vdc and the fuel gauge would likely give you more bars. Don't go higher until you get it working.

Good luck to you, hope you have great success.

In fact main contactor is build from 3 independent Omron units tied in common housing. There is plus and minus, and third one for precharge. Only plus contactor was welded.
I don't think that SoC is and issune now, so I don't want to charge more until it runs. I don't have EVSE yet, so I can't try on board charger.

I really want to make it run!

 

[PV1]

Best of luck in trying to get this car running.

Could you perhaps describe more on the blinking distributor icon? I know the other lights are the 12 volt "not charging" light and the EMU Warning Light.

 

[JoeS]

Cześć drgrin, and welcome to the forum.

I do not envy your situation, as the days of being able to repair broken cars easily are gone. Whereas we can repair the mechanicals, hacking/spoofing the computer-driven electronics is a whole new world.

Sadly, to this day, there is no substitute available for the Mitsubishi MUT-3, although we had a recent post about Peugeot's equivalent to this diagnostic tool which may be better.
Ref: http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=22473#p22473
Here is a very meager (to date) discussion about the MUT-3:
http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=2666

I am sorry that I cannot be of help, and wish you all the best.

Off topic, conversion of the delightful Vectrix to Lithium is a great upgrade. I was sorry to see them go out of business, and I understand that it was built in Poland. I especially liked the regeneration control by reverse-twisting the "throttle" - and that it also served to back up from a parking spot.

 

[priusfan]

Bonjour,
Since you have a iOn, it is better to use Diagbox and Lexia, the service tool from peugeot.
(Lexia is the VCI, Vehicule Communication Interface. Diagbox is the Software).

It is much less expensive than mut3.
It is much more user friendly...

With this service tool, you can check the balance of battery's cells and you can get all the "Default Codes".

Search on the web "lexia diagbox"

You can also have a look there

 

[jray3]

Welcome drgrin! We've recently lost our most accomplished hacker, siai47 to his next victim, the Chevy Volt, but I'd recommend reading his old posts. You'll certainly want the service manuals from HELM online, or hopefully there's a Polish translation available. They're only available in electronic format, so that should make translation easier. Some phrases in the USA version are obviously Japaneseglish...

 

[drgrin]

Bonjour,
Since you have a iOn, it is better to use Diagbox and Lexia, the service tool from peugeot.
(Lexia is the VCI, Vehicule Communication Interface. Diagbox is the Software).

It is much less expensive than mut3.
It is much more user friendly...

With this service tool, you can check the balance of battery's cells and you can get all the "Default Codes".

Search on the web "lexia diagbox"

You can also have a look there

Hi!

Thanks for hint, Lexia seems to be quite easy to obtain and it looks like that it supports iOn by default.
I will try it in next days.

also, I have Vector equippment for CAN bus analysis at work, I followed CAN thread and was able to read battery voltage. Unfortunately, when attempt to read generic OBD codes caused crash of ABS and ESP It's so easy to mess here.

 

[drgrin]

In the instrument panel left circle there is distibutor icon, surrounded with SOC bars. This icon blinks... I can try to make short movie.

rgds

 

[PV1]

I think that is an icon for the electric equivalent of a gas pump. It's an illustration showing that is the charge gauge, very similar to a gas gauge in an ICEV. It will blink with two bars of charge or less, warning of a low charge.

 

[drgrin]

Hi!

It took me few days to find Lexia, and install it correctly, but finally I was able to connect to the car and read fault codes. I am able to connect and diagnose all on board devices except On board charger. Thes same is in second, OK vehicle which I tested for comparision.
I've cleared most of errors and now when all errors are cleared vehicle exclamation mark dissapires, so only red accu mark is lit. Car does not go into Ready, but when I make "kick" it provides voltage for inverter for 2 seconds, then vehicle excalamation mark returns. Usually I am receiving "Capacitor charge fault" in EV ECU.
Battery voltage seems to be ok (3.7 per cell), no errors in BMS.

I am suspecting DC/DC in charger, since red accu sign is always on - what is your opinion?

 

[drgrin]

Hi everyone,

Car is now fixed - charger was faulty, i've repaced it with other one and everything seems to be OK, car is driving. I don't know range, etc yet , as I need to get licence plates first.
Thank you for your help.

 

[JoeS]

Car is now fixed - charger was faulty, i've repaced it with other one and everything seems to be OK, car is driving....

drgrin, congratulations! I admire your resourcefulness! Wish we could have been of more help to you. Now that it's running, I wish you many happy silent, inexpensive, and emissions-free miles, uh, kilometers, with your 'new' car - hope the licensing and registration is painless for you.

I see Lexia diagnostic hardware and software on eBay, as an (inexpensive?) alternative to Mitsubishi's MUT3. Should we try to follow in your footsteps, what should we be looking for in terms of software versions, modules, cables, PC software versions, etc.?