Check EV System warning message

[astroev]

Today I was going down steep hill near our house in B mode, outside air temp about 73. At the bottom of the hill it flipped into turtle mode, charge went to 0 bars, and the Check EV System warning light came on. Pulled into nearby lot. I power cycled multiple times with no joy, but after about 30 minutes I tried again, just as the tow truck came, and all was good. 52,000 miles. I guess I'll not take it in and see if it recurs.

Reporting back on this. Tony at Palo Alto said it was the "Tesla gateway ECU" failed. They got a replacement from Tesla same day(!!) and replaced it. No charge as under the 60,000 mile warranty.

 

[jimbo69ny]

Today I was going down steep hill near our house in B mode, outside air temp about 73. At the bottom of the hill it flipped into turtle mode, charge went to 0 bars, and the Check EV System warning light came on. Pulled into nearby lot. I power cycled multiple times with no joy, but after about 30 minutes I tried again, just as the tow truck came, and all was good. 52,000 miles. I guess I'll not take it in and see if it recurs.

Reporting back on this. Tony at Palo Alto said it was the "Tesla gateway ECU" failed. They got a replacement from Tesla same day(!!) and replaced it. No charge as under the 60,000 mile warranty.

Wow nice! Congrats.

 

[astroev]

Today I was going down steep hill near our house in B mode, outside air temp about 73. At the bottom of the hill it flipped into turtle mode, charge went to 0 bars, and the Check EV System warning light came on. Pulled into nearby lot. I power cycled multiple times with no joy, but after about 30 minutes I tried again, just as the tow truck came, and all was good. 52,000 miles. I guess I'll not take it in and see if it recurs.

Reporting back on this. Tony at Palo Alto said it was the "Tesla gateway ECU" failed. They got a replacement from Tesla same day(!!) and replaced it. No charge as under the 60,000 mile warranty.

A bit more color from Tony when I picked it up: the technician advised against using B mode on long downhills when charge > ~70 miles because it can't use the power to charge efficiently. Technician thinks the problem I had was the battery overheating and that the ECU failure was separate or maybe caused by the battery glitch. Don't know what to think about all that. If this is true the battery problem may still be there. Time will tell.

Also said my engine whir is there but not loud enough yet to get replaced. 8000 miles left on the 60,000 warranty.

Non-warranty ECU replacement price would have been about $4400.

 

[jimbo69ny]

Today I was going down steep hill near our house in B mode, outside air temp about 73. At the bottom of the hill it flipped into turtle mode, charge went to 0 bars, and the Check EV System warning light came on. Pulled into nearby lot. I power cycled multiple times with no joy, but after about 30 minutes I tried again, just as the tow truck came, and all was good. 52,000 miles. I guess I'll not take it in and see if it recurs.

Reporting back on this. Tony at Palo Alto said it was the "Tesla gateway ECU" failed. They got a replacement from Tesla same day(!!) and replaced it. No charge as under the 60,000 mile warranty.

A bit more color from Tony when I picked it up: the technician advised against using B mode on long downhills when charge > ~70 miles because it can't use the power to charge efficiently. Technician thinks the problem I had was the battery overheating and that the ECU failure was separate or maybe caused by the battery glitch. Don't know what to think about all that. If this is true the battery problem may still be there. Time will tell.

Also said my engine whir is there but not loud enough yet to get replaced. 8000 miles left on the 60,000 warranty.

Non-warranty ECU replacement price would have been about $4400.

I dont know about all of that. Sounds like BS. I have hills all over Ithaca and us B mode all the time. I am sure there are people out there in Cali that have used it going down mountains.

 

[smkettner]

Non-warranty ECU replacement price would have been about $4400.

Cashier told me $3,800 or something close. Very matter of fact and a straight face like it was completely normal. I let her know it was under warranty. Took close to an hour to get the right person to correct the paperwork. What a waste of time but the cost will soon be real.

EVs may have few moving parts but the few that do and the electronics are just insane expensive.

 

[davewill]

I dont know about all of that. Sounds like BS. I have hills all over Ithaca and us B mode all the time. I am sure there are people out there in Cali that have used it going down mountains.

Double BS since if you didn't use "B" mode, then you'd have to ride the brakes, which is going to max out regen anyway.

 

[astroev]

I dont know about all of that. Sounds like BS. I have hills all over Ithaca and us B mode all the time. I am sure there are people out there in Cali that have used it going down mountains.

Double BS since if you didn't use "B" mode, then you'd have to ride the brakes, which is going to max out regen anyway.

I know. Surprised to have gotten that from Palo Alto.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Also said my engine whir is there but not loud enough yet to get replaced. 8000 miles left on the 60,000 warranty.

Non-warranty ECU replacement price would have been about $4400.

Make sure you don’t go over 60 months from the date it was sold new. Call the dealer and have them give you the exact sale date. Don’t guess.

I recommend that you start shopping for the Platinum warranty. The guy in Bozeman seems to be the best source this week.

 

[smkettner]

I got the warning message today. Vehicle is out of warranty.

While driving 60 mph (cc) suddenly the vehicle basically shuts off and restarts. GOM drops to LO and turtle light is on along with EV system warning light. Car continues to run and GOM numbers start coming up as I travel. Was about 75% charged at the time. Only odd thing I noticed is that it seemed to happen when I selected to turn the air conditioning on or within a few seconds.

Similar happened last May IIRC. Don't remember if the A/C was a trigger then. Dealer found nothing of course. Now I suspect a voltage fluctuation when the A/C compressor started.

A few more starts and I assume the warning light will go off again and all back to normal.... whatever that is. Doubt it is worth the time in the dealer until it stops completely.

Just wanted to express this situation as a data point.

 

[jimbo69ny]

I got the warning message today. Vehicle is out of warranty.

While driving 60 mph (cc) suddenly the vehicle basically shuts off and restarts. GOM drops to LO and turtle light is on along with EV system warning light. Car continues to run and GOM numbers start coming up as I travel. Was about 75% charged at the time. Only odd thing I noticed is that it seemed to happen when I selected to turn the air conditioning on or within a few seconds.

Similar happened last May IIRC. Don't remember if the A/C was a trigger then. Dealer found nothing of course. Now I suspect a voltage fluctuation when the A/C compressor started.

A few more starts and I assume the warning light will go off again and all back to normal.... whatever that is. Doubt it is worth the time in the dealer until it stops completely.

Just wanted to express this situation as a data point.

Have you replaced your 12v battery? If not do it now. Replace with the Bosch battery that we are always talking about.

 

[slorav4]

24F-AGM is 20% off today at Pepboys for pickup or shipping $159.99. Headed out to get one now.

 

[smkettner]

Have you replaced your 12v battery? If not do it now. Replace with the Bosch battery that we are always talking about.

Yes it is time to swap the Bosch back in.

The Bosch had to be removed for Carson Toyota to perform any warranty diagnostic and repair about two years ago. (long story previously posted)
Car is now past the drivetrain warranty so the Toyota battery can go. Been top charging the Bosch about every four months.

Is there a heavy 12v draw when the air conditioner starts? No clutch like the old cars.

 

[miimura]

Have you replaced your 12v battery? If not do it now. Replace with the Bosch battery that we are always talking about.

Yes it is time to swap the Bosch back in.

The Bosch had to be removed for Carson Toyota to perform any warranty diagnostic and repair about two years ago. (long story previously posted)
Car is now past the drivetrain warranty so the Toyota battery can go. Been top charging the Bosch about every four months.

Is there a heavy 12v draw when the air conditioner starts? No clutch like the old cars.

Nope. If anything, it would be an extra heavy startup draw on the HV DC. If you're not accelerating at the time, it's probably not significant to the traction battery.

 

[alflash]

I got the warning message today. Vehicle is out of warranty.

While driving 60 mph (cc) suddenly the vehicle basically shuts off and restarts. GOM drops to LO and turtle light is on along with EV system warning light. Car continues to run and GOM numbers start coming up as I travel. Was about 75% charged at the time. Only odd thing I noticed is that it seemed to happen when I selected to turn the air conditioning on or within a few seconds.
...
A few more starts and I assume the warning light will go off again and all back to normal.... whatever that is. Doubt it is worth the time in the dealer until it stops completely.
...

As I understand it, if you did not disconnect the battery, the technicians of the authorized serviceshop could and should read and show the trouble codes and/or currently alerts and history alerts.
If the fault indicators were turned on, then the systems/corresponding computers could and must save them.
For Example

,

 

[smkettner]

Last time I was in to the dealer for this the light had gone off and I was told no trouble codes were found. I had not disconnected the 12v battery.
The Toyota battery was at 12.88 volts after resting with the hood up two hours. Still made the swap but the Toyota battery seemed to be in good shape.
The warning light is now off after a few starts. Drives normal for now.

Going to test drive an I-Pace this weekend....

 

[smkettner]

OK so now I am thinking this might be the third time. I had posted a while ago about going to turtle mode with still a bar of charge left. At this point I seem to recall that I put on the A/C just before this event happened. I assume vehicle was low enough on charge it did not recover like the other two times but just stayed in turtle and eventually cut power. Same situation going 60 mph with cruise control as I do that a lot.

Coincidence? Maybe but I think this is an issue with my vehicle. Only thing I can add is that my heater has long since failed and has not been repaired.

 

[Incredulocious]

I'm stuck with a persistent "Check EV System" message now.

It happened following a two-month period where my RAV4 EV sat unused while I was away. (I forgot to hook up the trickle charger to the 12V and the person I asked to do it while I was away didn't realize you can't make electrical contact through the painted chassis.) So my 12V Bosch AGM battery completely drained and it took some effort to get it back — hooking it up in parallel to a good 12V battery for a while to get the trickle charger to operate.

The car went haywire when I tried starting it up to get it to finish the charging of the 12V. (I was getting impatient with the trickle charger.) Well, the Bosch AGM battery seems to hold a decent voltage now (12.6 - 12.8V) and I can drive the car but I can't seem to reset the "Check EV System" message. I've tried the four plus times of power cycling it a couple of times and disconnected and reconnected the 12V a couple of times, but the warning message remains.

Any other ideas? Or is just going to require another visit to a Toyota dealer?

 

[jimbo69ny]

I'm stuck with a persistent "Check EV System" message now.

It happened following a two-month period where my RAV4 EV sat unused while I was away. (I forgot to hook up the trickle charger to the 12V and the person I asked to do it while I was away didn't realize you can't make electrical contact through the painted chassis.) So my 12V Bosch AGM battery completely drained and it took some effort to get it back — hooking it up in parallel to a good 12V battery for a while to get the trickle charger to operate.

The car went haywire when I tried starting it up to get it to finish the charging of the 12V. (I was getting impatient with the trickle charger.) Well, the Bosch AGM battery seems to hold a decent voltage now (12.6 - 12.8V) and I can drive the car but I can't seem to reset the "Check EV System" message. I've tried the four plus times of power cycling it a couple of times and disconnected and reconnected the 12V a couple of times, but the warning message remains.

Any other ideas? Or is just going to require another visit to a Toyota dealer?

If those tricks didnt work then it sounds like you need to go to the dealer. Maybe Tony has another idea but it sounds like its dealer time. I think I have heard him say before that a failed battery can take out the DC to DC. Hopefully you have a warranty?

 

[smkettner]

Any other ideas? Or is just going to require another visit to a Toyota dealer?

If it is working I would just drive it normal for 2 or 3 weeks before I went to the dealer.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Any other ideas? Or is just going to require another visit to a Toyota dealer?

If it is working I would just drive it normal for 2 or 3 weeks before I went to the dealer.

If four start-ups don’t clear the message, and disconnecting the 12 volt doesn’t do it, you’ll have to have the dealer reset the error message coming from the Tesla gateway.

Sadly, pretty normal for a dead 12 volt battery.

Obviously, it’s perfectly safe to drive the car until it’s concenient to get the “CHECK EV” message cleared.

Ask the dealer if is a “P312F” DTC / error message.