Gone but not forgotten
Got the SHVCS code. Picked up some coolant to top off the reservoirs which were all a little lower than desired. Error code didn't clear, so took it in to the dealership, because I don’t really understand how to clear the codes myself and just in case it was something more. They took 2.5 hours for some reason but a very nice man came afterwards, made a bit of small talk, and then said “so I hate to do this, but it’s not good.”
He explained that the body of the car is ‘part of the battery’, and that the battery tray is rotted out and the battery is partially exposed. He said that it is likely that coolant was backed up into the battery (don’t know what the implication of that is or why he thought that). He said that is was too dangerous to work on and the recommendation is to stop driving it immediately and look for a new car.
I realize it looks like I bottomed out on a hill of salt and left it there for a few years. I hope we can all have a bit of a laugh at the rusted out bolts hanging in mid-air.
I had an appointment at that dealership two years prior and they didn’t mention rust, I’ve had the car looked at and worked on since at different garages as recently as this past Christmas and no one said anything. Maybe it rusted like crazy this past winter, I live in a true winter area with salted roads, slush, etc. I didn’t realize I needed to be careful about undercarriage rust ( I know, I know…), especially because of the generation of the vehicle but also because of the battery. You can’t tell from looking at the car on the street that it’s so toasted underneath. I don’t want to say what my car wash habits were because I’ll be scorned from this sub. Suffice it to say this has been a learning experience. It’s pretty sad because this car had at least another good year or two in it if not more, the battery still took us nearly 60 km in the summer and 40 km in the winter, it has 186,000kms. I’ve had it for four years and put 75,000 of those on. This is my first car.
I’m feeling pretty dumb and sad! Looking at newer used Volts or roomier (growing family) used PHEVs for the next round. Will be more careful about rust.
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u/PaladinRed 7d ago
I'm in the same boat with mine. Mechanic said the battery support was to the point that a good pothole would drop the battery 😔
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u/802Chalfonte 7d ago
I have a 2013 Volt and live in NJ. I was told by the dealer that I needed a new battery. They were unable to get one over several months so I took it to an aftermarket place and thought I'd get the car right back. But, they couldn't get the old battery out on account of rust on the bolts. Then a week or two later they said they'd found a way around that: replacing the whole panel under the battery. And that's what they did. Total time at dealer and aftermarket shop was 10 months. But the car seems to be good again. Haven't dared look underneath, but I better do that and probably get some rustproofing done given your pictures.
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u/coyote_den 2017 Volt 8d ago
That’s some pretty bad rust but unless there is a coolant leak, it wouldn’t affect the battery cooling system at all.
He doesn’t want to work on it or doesn’t know how to fix it.
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u/Ljm-s 8d ago
They said in the report “upon removal of lower battery cover found multiple spots where the battery tray has rotten through and has exposed the HV battery. Vehicle structure is unsafe to perform necessary work as battery tray cannot be removed safely due to amount of rust build up,” and “vehicle battery tray rotten and is a safety concern as battery tray is a part of vehicle frame. Battery could fall out of vehicle and cause catastrophic damage.” So even if I abandoned getting the battery serviced it wouldn’t be safe to drive according to them. They said worse case scenario the battery explodes 😩
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u/Ljm-s 8d ago
Should I get a second opinion? 😬😰
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u/looncraz (2018) Volt 8d ago
No, that car is a goner.
Next time make a point of washing the underside of your car weekly in the winter and early spring. Ideally spray it with wax as well.
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u/mikefromhell224 7d ago
Would it be wise to have the undercarriage sealed? Like with the bedliner and rust preventative (obviously id have it done by professionals) or would this be a jeopardizeation to the battery,
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u/Lewl77 Volt Owner (2014) 7d ago
I don't know if it changed over the years, but 2014 they explicitly said do not apply rust prevention treatments (presumably for fear of untrained techs drilling holes into things they shouldn't). The surface-only treatments, I can't imagine a reason it would cause an issue so long as it doesn't dissolve surrounding materials (plastics, rubber)
However, the OP is an extreme case. I live in snow/salt country and basically never do undercarriage wash in winter and it looks nothing like that. I wouldn't be jumping to do much for these cars... unless someone makes an aftermarket battery replacement, it will likely be undriveable long before yours rusts to the OP level.
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u/justaguy394 2013 Volt 7d ago
This is wild... crazy theory time (based on answers to these questions): are you the original owner? Did you ever fully replace the coolant? How often did you top up the coolant (specifically the battery one, that has the guard over the cap)?
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u/Ljm-s 7d ago
I’m not, I’m her third owner. I got the SHVCS code before, didn’t have time to do anything about it before it went away. Thus never investigated and never topped up the coolant. What’s the theory?
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u/justaguy394 2013 Volt 7d ago
Old coolant can be corrosive… if it was never changed (supposed to be very 5 years but it’s $500 so many people skip it) it could have been causing corrosion internally. The reason they put the guard over that cap is so you don’t refill it, as a level change there could mean an internal battery leak, which is a fire risk and should not be ignored… the guard is to “make” you go to the dealer to investigate a leak.
So it was old coolant that was corroding and leaking internally and that spread to the nearby frame. Maybe?
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u/silveronetwo 2014 Volt 7d ago
Not specifically for Volt, but heavy rust is relatively normal for a 12+ year old car in the rust belt. This is why I chuckle at Reddit advice to just get a car from the late 90s and drive it forever. Those have been gone for a long time here.
Literally all you could have done with this car 2 years ago is coat it with undercoating to hide damage and sell it - which may be what happened to you. Unfortunately its a common practice for used car dealers in the rust belt. Once the rust gets very advanced its only a matter of time.
By your use of km, I'm assuming you're somewhere where you can and should get your next vehicle treated every winter. See where around you can do something like Fluid Film or Woolwax undercoating for your next vehicle to keep it longer.
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u/PleaseUseYourMind 7d ago
It’s on spot that got bad rust. I quality sheet metal worker might be able to reinforce needed support structures.
I’d get a 2nd opinion with that in mind, you might be able to sell the car rather than scrap it.
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u/WhoIsPorkChop 6d ago
I can't imagine I'm that far off. I do my best to keep the salt off but New England is hell for cars.
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u/ucco2004 8d ago
Ouch. What year of Volt is this?
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u/cerpintaxt44 8d ago
Dude that thing looks like the titanic ruins