Gen 1 GM Volt Plug-In Hybrid (2011-2015)

[AndyH]

I think you can go something like 2 years between oil changes if you don't use the engine much. The car watches how the engine is used and adjusts the OCI for you so they are generally a rare event. Even without running the engine much, the oil can accumulate water and stuff which you want to remove.

I've driven on gasoline about 11,000 miles in the last 1.5 years and the car tells me I still have half of my oil lifetime remaining. I'll get it changed when the 2 year limit comes up in Decembe, as recommended due to calendar aging. Part of the good oil life is due to use of synthetic oil and the other part is that most gasoline burning on the Volt will be done on the highway. Oil lifetime is hurt more by short trips on the engine during city driving and repeated cold engine starts and the Volt's EV range tends to reduce the need for those versus a conventional or non-plugin hybrid. The Volt's engine computer keeps track of your usage pattern and uses that to calculate the estimated oil life.

Synthetic oil doesn't provide a longer oil life by itself. Engine oil is 75-80% 'base oil' and 20-25% additives. The additive package is depleted in use while the base oil is not.

Not running the engine is worse than start/stops, because the engine still 'breathes' each day - exhaling during the heat of the afternoon and inhaling overnight. Enough water condenses out of the air to cause engine rust, acid formation, and thus deplete the oil's rust/corrosion and acid-neutralizing additives.

I wouldn't go two years between oil changes without oil analysis at the one year, 18-, 21-, and 24-month point so I knew exactly what was happening. And there is absolutely no way I'd do it with any off-the-shelf oil - even Mobil 1's best 15,000 mile (normal service) product.

 

[Herm]

I wouldn't go two years between oil changes without oil analysis..

I'm sure GM has some lubrication engineers in their payroll. Note that the required Dexos oil has extra additives just for this purpose.

 

[AndyH]

I wouldn't go two years between oil changes without oil analysis..

I'm sure GM has some lubrication engineers in their payroll. Note that the required Dexos oil has extra additives just for this purpose.

Sure they do! But they didn't build or test the oil. They just took current Euro spec oil, tweaked it enough to make it legally different, and then set up the licensing program. The actual formulation work is done by tribologists at additive companies. That's not a GM dig as OEM lube specs (and oils capable of 2 year intervals) are common - and cash cows - in Europe.

Oil companies are put on notice that in order to sell oil to OEMs, they have to build it to the applicable spec. The oil company has ultimate liability for their product. The Shells and Mobils of the world contract with an additive company to build a product that meets the new spec. The geeks at Lubrizol do all the grunt work, and the oil companies blend/package the oil and pay their licensing fees to GM. GM gets the cash and doesn't have to do any work or carry any liability. Who says organized crime is dead? :lol:

http://www.imakenews.com/lng/e_article001713657.cfm

 

[scottf200]

2013 Chevy Volt Trifold Brochure
http://www.gmproductsource.com/pdfs/chevy/2013_Volt_special_update_trifold.pdf

 

[RegGuheert]

2013 Chevy Volt Trifold Brochure
http://www.gmproductsource.com/pdfs/chevy/2013_Volt_special_update_trifold.pdf

Thanks! Wow! Pretty many new features!

Here are a couple that are notable to me:

Rear-seat center console with storage and removable rear armrest. Included with leather-trimmed seats, accessory for cloth.

New 120V Cord Set

Anyone want to bet this one does not use 16-AWG wiring for the main current path?

Charge Level Setting in center stack with 8- or 12-amp settings

Hold drive mode

Comfort Package (PCM)
- Heated driver and front passenger seats
- Leather-wrapped steering wheel
- Only available for cloth in Jet Black or Pebble Beige

Improved EPA - 38 EV Miles, 98 MPGe

 

[scottf200]

* The heated seats originally ('11,'12) were only available in the leather package and some really wanted them for the cloth option.
* The 120v charging now defaults to 8 amp and reset to that default. That was a very conservative route. Makes sense to me when you are away from home since you don't know what you are plugging into (ie. I set mine to 8 when I charge at a hotel that I'm unsure of). It would be nice if you have a dedicated circuit at home or one you know handles 12 to make that a "home" default. Not a big deal for those charging on 240v but one of the great things about the Volt is you can charge "fully" overnight using the 120v and in theory Volt owners do not need the 240v "charger". True for other BEV/PHEVs if you don't drive that far tho.
* Improved EPA - 38 EV Miles, 98 MPGe ---- nice improvement. Last winter I came home with 1 mile left on my battery a few times ... just about burned dino juice ... but I'm ok doing that occasionally (have some road trips lined up!)

 

[Stoaty]

Just ran across an interesting poll on gm-volt.com:

http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?13804-Another-dead-Volt-due-to-12V-battery-drain" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Out of 140 respondents, 10% said that on one occasion the Volt failed to start. Apologies if this has been mentioned before. I was very surprised to see this number.

 

[redLEAF]

This was a rehashed story on MSN that showed up today but was curious if GM/Chevy went ahead with a shut down of the Volt factory during July (would have thought that might have been normal anyway for model year changeover of tooling that all mfg do) ... if it's not correct they should add an edit, if so perhaps the latest article on it? That would also mean a possible sales downturn in July for Volts (which has just today and tomorrow to go) but I think GM/Chevy still has enough in their current dealer inventories ... the earlier shut down had a lot more PR than this one as it's the first I've seen mention of it but it dates from early April!

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blog...=0a572719-79a4-49b4-99fa-c108ee85600c&_blg=15

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/will-the-electric-vehicle-survive-in-the-us?icid=autos_2994

 

[GRA]

This was a rehashed story on MSN that showed up today but was curious if GM/Chevy went ahead with a shut down of the Volt factory during July (would have thought that might have been normal anyway for model year changeover of tooling that all mfg do) ... if it's not correct they should add an edit, if so perhaps the latest article on it? That would also mean a possible sales downturn in July for Volts (which has just today and tomorrow to go) but I think GM/Chevy still has enough in their current dealer inventories ... the earlier shut down had a lot more PR than this one as it's the first I've seen mention of it but it dates from early April!

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blog...=0a572719-79a4-49b4-99fa-c108ee85600c&_blg=15

http://editorial.autos.msn.com/will-the-electric-vehicle-survive-in-the-us?icid=autos_2994

Didn't read the first one, but I think the second article above is an excellent statement of the issues.

 

[CarZin]

July Volt sales at 1,849

 

[scottf200]

July Volt sales at 1,849

Delivered and Production chart from TechTom on GM-Volt.com

 

[SanDust]

Do we need this in two threads? (I know you're not trying to rub it in but it feels that way.)

 

[scottf200]

Do we need this in two threads? (I know you're not trying to rub it in but it feels that way.)

Sorry. I'm sure only very frequent forum visitors even saw both. It was sales related so made sense in the sales thread too but that one gets sooo many post around this time that many folks do not see individual post very long as they move to "previous pages" quickly. Figured this was the long term Volt thread.

 

[CHAMP]

Hi everyone, my first post here, after lurking for many months.

I ended up getting a Volt a few days ago, after exhaustively reading posts here. Thanks for all the useful information, but I decided that the Leaf wouldn't fit my needs.

Maybe my next car will be a pure EV!

 

[CarZin]

Did you powercoat those rims? They look great!

 

[CHAMP]

Plasti Dip! It's a lease so I'll have to return it in original condition, hopefully it will be easy to remove.

 

[IBELEAF]

I had plasti dip in my leaf and it was a pain to remove. Also it damaged paint after removal. Wheels might be ok.

 

[CHAMP]

I had plasti dip in my leaf and it was a pain to remove. Also it damaged paint after removal. Wheels might be ok.

Now I have something new to worry about for the next few years!

 

[ztanos]

Plasti Dip! It's a lease so I'll have to return it in original condition, hopefully it will be easy to remove.

That looks amazing. Can you send a link on how you did that?

 

[IBELEAF]

Now I have something new to worry about for the next few years!

Don't worry. If I would be doing this again I will be putting several coats. When you have a thin coat it's a pain to remove because it breaks. Also paint was rough to touch after the removal which would probably needed some clay bar work, but that wasn't really visible from the distance, so I didn't bother with it. Also the spot where some paint got damaged was in the corner next to grille, probably bad paint job there. The thing with Volt it looks good enough to me, so I am not going to deal with plasti dip this time.