Car won't charge / Onboard Charger Failure

[TonyWilliams]

There’s no recall on the charger. It is covered by the 5 year / 60,000 month powertrain warranty.

If your 2012-2014 Toyota RAV4 EV is outside those parameters, you need to buy the Toyota Platinum used car extended warranty (VSA). You can buy this for up to 5 years / 60,000 more miles.

Expect to pay $2000 to $2500 for the warranty. The Toyota dealer in Bozeman, Montana seems to be a good source to buy this warranty.

 

[alflash]

RAV4EV a '13 has a fully discharged high-voltage battery, but charging (by different devices) is impossible and not ON/Flash of Indicate Lamps..
On Electric Vehicle Charger Cable read Flash-code 3 *
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGVIqqbSxtU
No "Check EV System" message, Car have current DTC only in ABC/VSC/TRAK (U0293).
Please, let me know, as I can solved Problem?

Update. Video lack of charging on another Car and for example charging a serviceable Car shown in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ0xDz-5mAM ,
One of the reasons for the lack of charging is shown in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMHu2x7RC_I

 

[califteacher]

Sadly, at 42,000 miles, my wife and I are joining the chorus of those having charging issues. Last night, our 2014 Rav4EV would not accept a charge--the two charging lights would both blink after about 30 seconds, with a warning message on the dash. After about 4-5 tries, the car finally accepted a full charge, which will get me to the dealer tomorrow, 54 miles away.

We had our original 12-volt battery changed a couple of weeks ago, while the dealership was replacing the front axle, but I don't know that the battery exchange would have any effect on the charging function. After dealing with the axle issue, it is pretty discouraging to now have charging issues, but that seems to be the price of driving this "rolling science experiment." We did purchase the 10-year, 125,000 mile extended warranty, so we're ready for the long haul.

 

[hokiematt]

Sadly, at 42,000 miles, my wife and I are joining the chorus of those having charging issues. Last night, our 2014 Rav4EV would not accept a charge--the two charging lights would both blink after about 30 seconds, with a warning message on the dash. After about 4-5 tries, the car finally accepted a full charge, which will get me to the dealer tomorrow, 54 miles away.

Sorry to hear about your charging issues. Could you ask your dealer to check for fault codes/history on the Tesla diagnostics connector and share the results here? It might help shed some light on these failures that have been popping up.

 

[TonyWilliams]

If this is not under warranty, we can beat the dealer price for an onboard charger repair.

$4800 at the dealer

$3000 at our shop in San Marcos, California.

 

[teaguecl]

Does anyone know what the buzzing sound is the car makes while charging? Mine has always done it (presumably they all do), I figured it was a pump running battery coolant or something. The reason I ask is that mine is behaving different today than it has the previous 4 years. Rather than just buzzing continuously during charging, it is not buzzing for ~3 seconds, then whatever it is turns off for ~3 seconds, and this continues forever. The car seems to be charging, but the on/off sound is way more annoying than the continuous buzz was. Has anyone who has had a charger fail had the same symptoms?
I should mention that this didn't happen out of thin air. I just got my car back from a motor + battery replacement, and this is the first time I've plugged it in since that work was done.

 

[smkettner]

Mine did the intermittent buzzing for what seemed like the first few months when I bought it new.
Then the buzzing stopped except maybe a couple times.

I call normal and wait to see how it goes.

 

[dstjohn99]

Yeah mine does that too. I noticed it this morning. 2014, 65,000 miles

 

[prakash]

After 5 years of relatively minor problems, I've had a string of troubles in the last 6 months with my 2012 RAV4, 36000 miles. It started with replacing the 12V battery at Tustin Toyota. Later that day, the Check EV light started to come on, leading to intermittent charging problems. After two months, Tustin Toyota decided it was the onboard charger. However, replacing the onboard charger didn't solve the charging issue, and despite Tony's best efforts, he was not able to figure out the problem. Last week, the power steering failed; luckily I had just pulled off the freeway. The car is with Carson Toyota, waiting for diagnosis. If anyone has experienced similar issues, and can provide guidance, that would be much appreciated. Are these all connected? or just a bad string of isolated problems? If I hadn't just spent many thousands of $$, I would call it quits now. Might need to in any case, given this is my only car.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Despite my bravado that we could repair any RAV4 EV, this one has been a challenge bigger than us.

In the car mentioned above, we performed the following troubleshooting:

1) replaced onboard vehicle charger (OBVC)

2) replaced gateway ECU

3) replaced main traction battery

4) re-wired the J1772 pilot wire

I’m out of ideas.

Tony Williams
Quick Charge Power LLC
1780-104 La Costa Meadows Drive
San Marcos, California 92078 USA
[email protected]
www.QuickChargePower.com
Twitter: QCPower
1-844-EV-PARTS
1-844-387-2787
1-760-798-0342 Office
Hours M-F, 9-5 Pacific Time

 

[hokiematt]

Has the dealership been able to pull any fault codes, on either the Tesla side or Toyota side?

As the power steering is an intermittent but potentially high current load on the 12V system, I'd want to know the health of the 12V system, particularly as it can cause trouble in a variety of subsystems.

This is what I keep plugged into my RAV: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N00I4TM/ It's not a calibrated instrument (mine reads about 0.2-0.3V higher than actual), but it will let you monitor the general status of the 12V system while driving. If the DC-DC is functioning correctly, you should typically see around 14.0-14.5V displayed (I'd consider anything from 13.5-15.0V to be acceptable, given the slight error possible in the meter itself) while in READY, and around 13.6V when charging.

If the 12V system proves to be OK, and based on the other modules already swapped/replaced, I'd probably next look at wiring harness connections for corrosion/rodent damage/etc.

 

[alflash]

Has the dealership been able to pull any fault codes, on either the Tesla side or Toyota side?

As the power steering is an intermittent but potentially high current load on the 12V system, I'd want to know the health of the 12V system, particularly as it can cause trouble in a variety of subsystems.
...

The dealership can necessarily get any trouble codes on the Tesla or Toyota side, if they are in the memory of the corresponding ECUs.
Moreover, they must verify the parameters of the respective systems.
For example,
https://youtu.be/ASQSTf6lzRI,

 

[prakash]

Thanks hokiematt and alflash,
On Friday, the service person let me know that they were able to find an error code that coincides with the day I had the power steering failure, but she didn't tell me what the codes were. They have sent them on to Toyota. I am headed to Carson Toyota today to see if they can give me any details.
The recommendation to monitor the 12V system is a very good one, I do believe that the intermittent charging failure stemmed from the 12V battery replacement. If and when I get my car back, I will monitor it.

 

[prakash]

Carson Toyota finally called. They say its the drive train that needs to be replaced. Couldn't give me the codes, but they think drive train failure is what is causing the power steering failure. Does this sound plausible?

 

[smkettner]

Drive unit seems to be the kingpin for lots of trouble. As long as Toyota/Tesla is paying you may as well stick it out.

I could not mentally handle these repairs, delays and costs. I had to let mine go.

 

[hokiematt]

Carson Toyota finally called. They say its the drive train that needs to be replaced. Couldn't give me the codes, but they think drive train failure is what is causing the power steering failure. Does this sound plausible?

In a word: No. This doesn't sound plausible, or at least extremely unlikely. The power steering system is all Toyota: torque sensor, assist motor, ECU, etc. Inputs to the PS ECU are via the Toyota CAN bus, there's no direct connection to the Tesla system.

The dealership should be able to give you the codes from the Techstream software with any fault codes reported as by the power steering ECU. If you search on this forum or the Facebook group, you can find links to aftermarket cables/software that will give you the Techstream diagnostics ability for around $30, if you want to check things out for yourself (note this only gives you Toyota fault codes, not Tesla).

Did you happen to acquire a cigarette lighter voltage indicator I previously suggested? A faulty DC-DC that doesn't provide a robust 13-15V to the system could cause many strange issues; the intermittent high current loads of the power steering could make things worse. Keeping an eye on the voltage while you turn the steering back and forth would let you determine if that's an issue.

If the 12V system checks out, I'd suspect a problem with the CAN bus. The power steering ECU relies on the CAN data to know that the vehicle is in gear and moving, in order to be active and adjust the amount of assist. There are several fault codes that can describe the nature of any faults related to the CAN bus.

 

[Jonathan_UK]

I think the drive unit is plausible, because I remember having power steering warnings and Check EV warnings (switching back and forth) when my drive unit failed while on the freeway a month or two ago.

 

[prakash]

It was the traction motor. One of the technicians was stranded with the same power steering failure. It took Carson Toyota about 3 weeks to diagnose. Since that was replaced, that car has been working perfectly.

 

[asavage]

Thanks for posting the followup!

 

[jimbo69ny]

If anyone needs any parts let me know. I have quite a few bits and pieces if anyone needs replacement stuff.