i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Mitsubishi EV Interest Group
majorphill
Noobie
Posts: 16
Joined: Tue, 03 Nov 2015, 00:48
Real Name: Phil Major
Location: Perth

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by majorphill »

Mike

The Imiev is u/s. As I understand they "fix it", test it, take it back to the workshop for further testing. To give them their due they have given us a loan car so it's not an inconvenience so much as an annoyance.

I should imagine Mitsubishi Australia is being back charged and if so, it's no skin off their nose

The problem is in "Japans" hands at the moment. I think that's the second or third time I have heard that.

I shall wait a little longer before taking action to resolve the matter.

It is a shame. I liked that car.

When I was much younger a mechanic could tell which of the 9000 parts in a car was playing up from the "clunking" noise. It appears now that the technician can't tell which of the five parts is faulty unless a diagnostic code holds their hand and circles it in red.
Ultralights
Groupie
Posts: 131
Joined: Wed, 01 Jun 2016, 02:19
Real Name: robert
Location: Sydney

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by Ultralights »

well, today, we have had an identical problem with our 2010 i-miev, got in to drive it, started normal, drove normal, everything worked fine, air con, everything, though i noticed it was still at about 70% charge from the day before, i assumed that the plug in our off peak had fallen out, or i forgot to turn it on at the wall. anyway . when i got to the end of the street, the sun moved from the panel, and i saw exactly what was mentioned in the first post, red battery warning light, and the yellow alert warning below it.

went back home, and put the car back on charge, and..... not charging. did the same as above, disconnected the 12 volt battery, reconnected, and still the same, put the 12 volt back on charge for a few hrs, and...... no change. load tested the battery with battery tester, and all was good, no issues with the battery under 100Amp load...

then the fun started, insert a WIFI dongle into the OBD2 ports. and nothing. no apps on Iphone IOs will communicate with the i-miev ECU.. ok . install emulator and Android OBD2 apps on android emulator, and yep, apps connected fine to the WIFI dongle fine, but nothing could read the i-miev ECU protocol.. all we need is an error code. and not only the frustration at all the poorly written OBD2 diagnosis apps.

the only app the communicated was Canion, which great, did not have any diagnosis info.. but i did find our battery is at 87% SOH, so im happy with that..

so, only option now, take it to Mitsubishi.. though i do not know if the Charger was replaced under a recall, but if it was, then it should still be covered under warranty.

at this point, if the replacement costs are $4000, i would rather buy a reck from Japan for that money, and get spare battery and everything else.

but first step, as the dealer for a fault code diagnosis.
PHEV, i-Miev, Youtube @SydEV, Twitter @Sydney_ev Insta @Sydney_ev
Ultralights
Groupie
Posts: 131
Joined: Wed, 01 Jun 2016, 02:19
Real Name: robert
Location: Sydney

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by Ultralights »

also, some additional info, we have noticed in the last week or so, the battery level meter, on the Left hand side . (the 16 blocks) has been doing strange stuff, some days, its as normal, and drops at a rate of about 1 block every 5 to 7 km, and still giving us a guestimated range of about 90Km. yet some days it would lose 3 blocks just driving 500 mtrs to the shops.

a regular trip we do is 70Km round trip, and we return with approx 20Km range left and 4 blocks. but during the last week, sometimes, we have seen 3 or 4 blocks vanish in the first 5 km. and when we arrive at our halfway point, the battery is showing 5 or 6 blocks left, well below half, (usually it would only drop about 6 or 7) and be 1 or 2 blocks above half.

now with these issues, even leaving for the return journey, it would regain a few blocks, sometimes none would come back, but we would still arrive home with 20km range remaining on the guess o metre, and 3 or 4 blocks on the battery. so, the battery itself is still fine, and giving us the usual range, yet the battery meter has been doing weird things.

all this started just 2 weeks ago... i wonder if it has anything to do with the now charging failure.
yet i cannot see a connection between a AC charger failure, and bad reporting of the battery charge state..
PHEV, i-Miev, Youtube @SydEV, Twitter @Sydney_ev Insta @Sydney_ev
Ultralights
Groupie
Posts: 131
Joined: Wed, 01 Jun 2016, 02:19
Real Name: robert
Location: Sydney

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by Ultralights »

After a bit more research, we are obviously not the only ones with this issue, but a French Canadian had a similar issue, but Mitsubishi there had a more technically minded tech, and diagnosed a blown fuse in the main charging inverter, a $19USD part and 3 hrs labour to replace.

http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3897
PHEV, i-Miev, Youtube @SydEV, Twitter @Sydney_ev Insta @Sydney_ev
mikedufty
Senior Member
Posts: 810
Joined: Tue, 02 Dec 2008, 00:15
Real Name: Michael Dufty
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Contact:

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by mikedufty »

Nice work finding the fuse issue.

I did notice ours seemed to have not fully charged a few times in the weeks before the problem.
mikedufty
Senior Member
Posts: 810
Joined: Tue, 02 Dec 2008, 00:15
Real Name: Michael Dufty
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Contact:

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by mikedufty »

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but it looks like the blown fuse may be a symptom, not a cause, it blew again after replacement.
mikedufty
Senior Member
Posts: 810
Joined: Tue, 02 Dec 2008, 00:15
Real Name: Michael Dufty
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Contact:

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by mikedufty »

From the french forum (translation by facebook)- doesn't sound promising for fitting second hand parts.

To help your reflection!!! Think about this little detail 4 larger pieces are connected with a communication system between the rooms and when the need to change the room is coming... it is impossible to place a used piece in the Load or engine controls because programming is linked to vin vin number one possible programming, so a mcu motor control unit cannot be replaced by another which has already been programmed on another used vehicle. The room must be a virgin in order to receive a unique programming number. This is really waste of pollution on the planet.... no genius to succeed. If you know him made me sign!!!! Thank you for taking the time to read me and understand the situation that is not unique... thank you Gérald Fiola
Ultralights
Groupie
Posts: 131
Joined: Wed, 01 Jun 2016, 02:19
Real Name: robert
Location: Sydney

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by Ultralights »

yeah, i read that thread on the French I-miev page, but cannot find any evidence that this is the case with i-miev parts. its the only place i can find anything about that. but if the only problem is a fuse, or failed resistor, it might be a quick cheap fix
PHEV, i-Miev, Youtube @SydEV, Twitter @Sydney_ev Insta @Sydney_ev
User avatar
g4qber
Senior Member
Posts: 2022
Joined: Sat, 31 Jul 2010, 06:27
Real Name: Joseph
Location: Perth
Contact:

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by g4qber »

spooky my 12v batt died.
noticed that the windows were going slow yesterday
this morning came to test if 2011 imiev would start with non energised EVSE plugged in
there was constant beep and car would not start.

managed to reverse the car around for easier fixing by RAC
the sat nav's CD drive was trying to spin up constantly


DCDC convertor OK as it reads 14.5 when car is turned on.

118 CCA then 114 CCA when on load test by Gary

seems that 12V batts are calcium ones now.

$189 3 year warranty
2021 Model 3 PW MIC RWD FSD - Mon 28 Jun ‘21 -
k kms 17x
2009 Tango - http://www.evalbum.com/211
Aptera
Cybertruck
On order

Past EVs
2011 i-MiEV
2012 Volt
2014 i3 REx
2014 Model S
2020 FRERWD
Ultralights
Groupie
Posts: 131
Joined: Wed, 01 Jun 2016, 02:19
Real Name: robert
Location: Sydney

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by Ultralights »

found this today,

Google translation------

Do you know that the 4 main parts
mcu , motor, charger, and controller
communicate together via a programming But that the piece has a unique number and
it is not possible to replace it with another coming from another miev !!!
Really a pity So you have to pay for a new piece if you have to change one piece of the main components
A salted bill for a Mcu $ 8000 plus installation
All of this is craziness for the environment.
Really disappointing.
--------------------------------------------------
Here is a video ( in French) of an attempt to program a salvaged MCU to replace a faulty unit on a 2012 I Miev ,
Testing done at Mitsubishi with their equipment and technician the speaker in the video!

Quick rough translation is -- unable to program vin number not recognized.

https://www.facebook.com/geradineplous/ ... p_activity.

NOT encouraging.

How is that right to repair case going with John Deer tractors in the USA?

also, puts a dampener on my plan on buying an i-miev from japan to bring it over for parts.
PHEV, i-Miev, Youtube @SydEV, Twitter @Sydney_ev Insta @Sydney_ev
mikedufty
Senior Member
Posts: 810
Joined: Tue, 02 Dec 2008, 00:15
Real Name: Michael Dufty
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Contact:

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by mikedufty »

That sort of thing was making me wary of Tesla, didn't realise I already had it so bad.
User avatar
jonescg
Senior Member
Posts: 4721
Joined: Thu, 21 Jan 2010, 23:05
Real Name: Chris Jones
Location: Perth, WA.
Contact:

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by jonescg »

It sounds like there may be some aftermarket hacking required in the near future. But at that point you'll probably end up spending far more than you should have...
AEVA National President, WA branch director.
antiscab
Senior Member
Posts: 3183
Joined: Mon, 26 Nov 2007, 05:39
Real Name: Matthew Lacey
Location: Perth, WA

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by antiscab »

Maybe connect a gevcu to the motor controller as a path to going aftermarket?
Matt
2023 BYD Atto 3 - 21k km
2017 Renault zoe - 147'000km
2012 Leaf - 101'000km - soon to be trialing a booster battery
2007 Vectrix - 197'000km (retired)
2007 Vectrix - 50k km
Ultralights
Groupie
Posts: 131
Joined: Wed, 01 Jun 2016, 02:19
Real Name: robert
Location: Sydney

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by Ultralights »

Took the i-miev to Mitsubishi today to pay them to get the error codes, and yes, there are 26 errors, and the technicians still have no idea what they mean, so the car is still there, the bad part is, YES, i-miev parts ARE VIN locked, as are Outlander PHEV EV components..

fantastic.. Extortion locked components.. so, no buying individual EV components to replace faulty ones. you must buy new from Mitsubishi. and when those parts are no longer made, well, throw it all in the bin....

It actually makes me want to buy a Tesla more, as there is a huge aftermarket industry, install, and swapping tesla components into different vehicles, something that cannot be done with Mitsubishi, and what i understand the Leaf.

as for the codes themselves, only a Mitsubishi MUT 3 reader can extract the codes. and you can lease one for ......... $15,000 PA.
PHEV, i-Miev, Youtube @SydEV, Twitter @Sydney_ev Insta @Sydney_ev
rhills
Site Admin
Posts: 689
Joined: Fri, 25 Jul 2008, 01:57
Real Name: Rob Hills
Location: Waikiki, WA

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by rhills »

Sounds like something our consumer advocates might be interested in.

Are any of you who have hard facts to hand a member of Choice? If so, maybe report it on their Choice Help page.

Alternatively, the ABC's Consumer program The Checkout could well be interested...
Rob Hills
AEVA Webmaster
  • 2022 Tesla M3 MIC LR
  • 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander Aspire PHEV
    Petrol Usage to last refill: Jul 2014 - Jul 2022
    Total Petrol: 889.8L
    ODO: 88417
    Av Consumption: 1.01 L/100km
User avatar
zzcoopej
Groupie
Posts: 251
Joined: Fri, 14 Nov 2014, 13:37
Real Name: Jeremy
Location: Gosford
Contact:

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by zzcoopej »

Ultralights wrote: Mon, 07 May 2018, 15:31as for the codes themselves, only a Mitsubishi MUT 3 reader can extract the codes. and you can lease one for ......... $15,000 PA.
If you look in the myimiev forum there are a few owners with Mut 3 devices. I believe they are available for well south of $1k however be sure to get one that someone has used on a iMiEV. I seem to remember someone from AEVA in WA has a Mut 3, not that its probably any use to you in NSW however they might still loan it to you.
2010 iMiEV
2015 PHEV Aspire
Battery App EvBatMon for PHEV & iMiEV iOS(iPhone,iPad)& Android
www.EvPositive.com
Ultralights
Groupie
Posts: 131
Joined: Wed, 01 Jun 2016, 02:19
Real Name: robert
Location: Sydney

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by Ultralights »

zzcoopej wrote: Tue, 08 May 2018, 07:50
If you look in the myimiev forum there are a few owners with Mut 3 devices. I believe they are available for well south of $1k however be sure to get one that someone has used on a iMiEV. I seem to remember someone from AEVA in WA has a Mut 3, not that its probably any use to you in NSW however they might still loan it to you.
yes, there seams to be a lot of after market MUT3 readers for cheap, but genuine ones are super $$$$.

anyone, good news, ish... got report back from Mitsubishi this afternoon, and apparently the battery ECU has died. and its a $1200 part. so, now we wait... unsure of delivery times from japan for that part. shame we cant get a wrecked one from Japan after market/ebay etc , vin locking and all.
bugger.

i was sort of hoping it would be the Inverter issue with a blow fuse, and replacing a fuse and resistor is quite easy. and cheap.
PHEV, i-Miev, Youtube @SydEV, Twitter @Sydney_ev Insta @Sydney_ev
whimpurinter
Senior Member
Posts: 513
Joined: Tue, 05 Jul 2011, 16:32
Location: Brisbane

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by whimpurinter »

Hi,
This is disgusting, this vin thing. But probably to be expected, noting the apparent Japanese reluctance to get with the program. You know, to employees, the world has changed, if you can't change, you have no place here. Maybe it's the USA influence (aside from the magnificent Elon Musk). Imagine the US without TESLA. Exactly the same as it's always been. Ford announced that they will not be making sedans from next year, just the usual monstrosities. That's because they know they cannot compete. I hope they go bankrupt (because they cannot compete). They could compete, but they are run by imbeciles, they must be, it's not my idea. Maybe run by the 8 billion per year oil industry.

Could you boys do a wonderful service and attempt to find out which of the new ev's coming onto the market have this vin locking, or similar thing? Please. Pretty please ??

It is very important. We should decide not to buy any model with this sort of anti-competitive approach. I thought modern corporations WELCOMED competition (well, even when they weren't going to squash the competitors. But of course not.)

It puts a positive dampener on my imiev, but I've spent so much on ev s already.
The next one is going to be the last one. Whenever that is. And it isn't going to be a Mitsubishi, unless things change.
Ultralights
Groupie
Posts: 131
Joined: Wed, 01 Jun 2016, 02:19
Real Name: robert
Location: Sydney

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by Ultralights »

bladecar wrote: Wed, 09 May 2018, 16:03
Could you boys do a wonderful service and attempt to find out which of the new ev's coming onto the market have this vin locking, or similar thing? Please. Pretty please ??

It is very important. We should decide not to buy any model with this sort of anti-competitive approach. I thought modern corporations WELCOMED competition (well, even when they weren't going to squash the competitors. But of course not.)

It puts a positive dampener on my imiev, but I've spent so much on ev s already.
The next one is going to be the last one. Whenever that is. And it isn't going to be a Mitsubishi, unless things change.
Asking about Vin locking will be the first question i ask now when it comes to buying anything, so i plan on asking Hyundai and Kia that question, as my wife and i stated to the Service foreman, the Locking, even on our PHEV, makes us very reluctant to buy another Mitsubishi ever again. and we will make a complaint to mitsubishi about it, i know they wont do anything about it, but i might make a vlog video or something, and forward it to the usual crown like John Cadogan, The chaser checkout etc.


sad thing is, i was planning on keeping the i-miev for as long as possible, for its historical value into the EV era. but if parts are vin locked, and long after the last part is made, then the car will not be able to be repaired ever. unless i learn to hack, solder and program chips.

though i do see the future of EV maintenance being run by computer hackers and engineers. not mechanics.

ever way, still have no expected date on parts arrival. so my i-miev will be sitting unloved at a service centre for a while yet...
PHEV, i-Miev, Youtube @SydEV, Twitter @Sydney_ev Insta @Sydney_ev
whimpurinter
Senior Member
Posts: 513
Joined: Tue, 05 Jul 2011, 16:32
Location: Brisbane

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by whimpurinter »

I do not really know who John Cadogan is. I've seen his photo in the newspaper and the face associated with the videos is not him, though, to my eyes, the video guy is much more suited re presentation.

Have you watched enough "expert" videos to know what his slant is? Without watching more than a few minutes once, I jumped to the conclusion that the whole thing could be defending the past, but I don't know. I would only send stuff in the direction of that group if you have already decided that they are trying to present an even playing field regarding past and future technology. The whole idea that a video series attaches the word "expert" when the "your circumstances may vary" thing is ever-present leaves me cold.


Also, we don't know if Tesla will have some protection thing where say, it won't update if it knows there is a 3rd party device fitted. I mean, we don't know.
It almost suggests that basic ev technology in the near future should be identified such that these problems will not be associated with that particular technology for a long time and make it a staple, in the way of the VW beetle :)

I actually hope that the Chinese do their thing and produce devices to get around this stuff in the future. Who would have thought :) As long as they don't steer the car or put you on tv :) :)
Peter C in Canberra
Senior Member
Posts: 643
Joined: Sun, 27 Jul 2008, 04:05
Real Name: Peter Campbell
Location: Canberra

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by Peter C in Canberra »

Is VIN locking an issue with the electronics in recent model non-EV cars?
Daihatsu charade conversion 2009-18, Mitsubishi iMiEV 2013-2019, Holden Volt 2018-2019, Hyundai Kona 2019-2023, Hyundai Ioniq 5 2023-present on the ACT's 100% renewable electricity.
Ultralights
Groupie
Posts: 131
Joined: Wed, 01 Jun 2016, 02:19
Real Name: robert
Location: Sydney

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by Ultralights »

Peter C in Canberra wrote: Tue, 15 May 2018, 06:53 Is VIN locking an issue with the electronics in recent model non-EV cars?
im not exactly sure, but i would image it happens to things like engine ECU components


also, initial timeline for our replacement was August! bugger, but friday arvo, was told by the service manager, it will now be June 7th. so not too long to wait.
PHEV, i-Miev, Youtube @SydEV, Twitter @Sydney_ev Insta @Sydney_ev
mikedufty
Senior Member
Posts: 810
Joined: Tue, 02 Dec 2008, 00:15
Real Name: Michael Dufty
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Contact:

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by mikedufty »

Good news! We have finally heard back from Mitsubishi (took over a month). They are going to replace the charger under warranty.
Just need to wait a few more weeks for the part to arrive from Japan, then a bit longer for it to be fitted.

They did not say whether it was approved because of the extended warranty or if it would have been covered anyway.
Ultralights
Groupie
Posts: 131
Joined: Wed, 01 Jun 2016, 02:19
Real Name: robert
Location: Sydney

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by Ultralights »

Gday, we get our i-miev back tomorrow..

the story so far, it had a high voltage system and low volatage system warning light and would not charge from AC. took car to dealer, told them its the DC/DC converter, and asked for the error codes from the service reader, they told us it was the Battery ECU fault, and will need to replace it, (we still suspected the DV converter as others have had the same issue) . so agreed to let them change it $1200.. Fast forward to today, told the ECU wasnt the problem, and the problem is the DC controller.. we told them, we know.. so to fix it will be another $5000 on top of the already 1000 ECU, they offered to reduce the cost by the price of non faulty ECU.. we told them, no, we want the car back, as we told them first up it was the Dc controller, their response was, "well, the book says you must replace the ECU first, so we did, and the fault remained" . so we still have to pay the 1200. we get the car back, have to pay $1200 for the brand new ECU, +labour, we get to keep the old still working ECU, and we still have a faulty DC converter.. total cost $1300, progress on the car, Zero.

plan now is to pull apart the DC converter, and change the $20 fuse and resistor, and get it working again, (a few people in Canada and France have done the work already with pic documentation) as seen in previous posts.. NOT very Happy.
PHEV, i-Miev, Youtube @SydEV, Twitter @Sydney_ev Insta @Sydney_ev
mikedufty
Senior Member
Posts: 810
Joined: Tue, 02 Dec 2008, 00:15
Real Name: Michael Dufty
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Contact:

Re: i-MiEV not charging, high voltage warning light and battery

Post by mikedufty »

Did you ask about getting it done under "goodwill" warranty? They ended up approving it for us, though I do not know if it was only because it had been recently replaced in a recall, or if it was to do with the used car warranty extension we had.
Post Reply