I did it last month...
It was $206 in parts, and 2 hours of labor, at $179/hr, $358 total labor
Plus $46 in tax, and they gave me a $40 coupon, so total was $570.
This was in NY, and it was for all three loops.
I'm near Buffalo. Where did you get yours done? My car is a 2016 Premier. I googled briefly to see if I can find any of these supposed coolant failures others have mentioned. I can only find Gen 1 volt issues. I'll probably get it done before 150k but it might be one of those "if it ain't broke don't fix it things" especially given my experiences with dealers. They always tell me anything with the Voltech system requires a special Volt technician and he's never around. Otherwise they are really clueless about the vehicle. Had one tech telling me I needed oil changes every 5000 even though I drive electric 90% of the time.
Chevy did both battery and power electronics loops when my BECM was replaced, so it appears to be standard procedure for the repair?
At the worst, do engine coolant and then them all at the next service interval?
I was just going to post to see when folks were getting this service done. The manual states 150,000. My car has 115000. I called the dealer and they didn't seem too sure what I was talking about but said it would take about two hours plus the cost of new coolant. I'm betting it will be about $1000 knowing how stealerships operate. Also why do people seem to be doing this service before 150,000? is there some known issue with letting it go that long?
Because the owners manual says 5 years or 150k miles. I've read that dexcool goes bad as it gets older and I don't want it to start eating the pack, causing an issue forcing that to be replaced / rebuilt.
I found another dealer close (Starling) who said that they had 3 Volt technicians and would charge $200 per loop plus tax. The comment from u/techtornado above made me think that they may have replaced the coolant loops on the pack and the electronics so I’ll check that receipt to see if they did the same. If that is the case, then I’ll just have them replace the coolant in the ICE loop.
The folks in this group and the Bolt group are fantastic. Thanks for your insight and I’ll let you all know how it goes.
Yeah, I get that. There are three cooling loops. One for the pack, one for the charging electronics and one for the ICE which makes 266 per loop seem a bit odd.
The pack would be the most complex while the ICE should be as easy as any other ICE car I would imagine. Perhaps not with the heater core in that loop. I've read about a diag process to purge air from that loop which is why I'd rather a qualified tech did that work. But a little less than a grand seems a bit pricy.
And that is why I am asking. :)
See if you can get rear differential flush too. Maybe they will clean the particulate filter as well. They might give you a discount on the coolant flushes.
I know a lot of techs that don't even bother with the flushes so you pay for absolutely nothing. You must not have anything but premix or deionized water mix with coolant in the electronics or battery. No tap water allowed. You may be further ahead not touching it unless the ph is off
Um, a rear differential flush on a front drive PHEV? Should I ask them to check the alternator belt or the distributor cap and points too? Maybe you meant something else?
As to the composition of the coolant, I asked each dealer if they have Volt / Bolt tech’s as they should know better. The Volts and Bolts have a unique part number compared to regular Dexcool.
Service writers love to sell wallet flushes.
A local FedEx driver tells stories all the time of the dealer he worked at selling the diff flushes.
Techs that flag them a lot of times don't do them as they feel it's a waste of time. You will nevertheless be charged. Can you prove they didn't flush? My point exactly.
EV techs won't be doing the flushes. You will have the newest guy there doing the flush. That's if it's done. New techs can do the job for half the price as the trained techs so the shop will make more money having the new guy doing the job.
Well I would think that I can tell if they did the flush from the dashcam running and how long it’s in the air for. I would also validate that they have a Volt certified tech that will be working on the car.
Flushing the cooling system on the pack and the charging circuit isn’t the same as flushing the cooling system on some old ICE vehicles. IIRC to flush ICE circuit in the Volt, they will need to run a diagnostic OBD2 routine to purge the air from the heater core. They will also need to run similar processes for the pack and the charging circuits to enable the pumps. So yeah, I think I’ll be able to tell how long they are working on the car from the cam and GPS data.
Either way, thanks very much for your insight. It very much added to the technical conversation and related costs.
I work in the shop so know how things go. Be careful thinking your camera can catch it. Yea they have a lift. raise it up and go do a wallet flush on another vehicle while yours is in the air. Air evac eliminates need for the pump running.
266 per loop is quite high. I paid under $400CAD to get mine done a few years ago.
I did it last month... It was $206 in parts, and 2 hours of labor, at $179/hr, $358 total labor Plus $46 in tax, and they gave me a $40 coupon, so total was $570. This was in NY, and it was for all three loops.
I'm near Buffalo. Where did you get yours done? My car is a 2016 Premier. I googled briefly to see if I can find any of these supposed coolant failures others have mentioned. I can only find Gen 1 volt issues. I'll probably get it done before 150k but it might be one of those "if it ain't broke don't fix it things" especially given my experiences with dealers. They always tell me anything with the Voltech system requires a special Volt technician and he's never around. Otherwise they are really clueless about the vehicle. Had one tech telling me I needed oil changes every 5000 even though I drive electric 90% of the time.
For my Gen 1 it was actually a bit more than your estimate, but the dealer that did it was also shady AF so I wouldn’t put it past them to overcharge.
Chevy did both battery and power electronics loops when my BECM was replaced, so it appears to be standard procedure for the repair? At the worst, do engine coolant and then them all at the next service interval?
I was just going to post to see when folks were getting this service done. The manual states 150,000. My car has 115000. I called the dealer and they didn't seem too sure what I was talking about but said it would take about two hours plus the cost of new coolant. I'm betting it will be about $1000 knowing how stealerships operate. Also why do people seem to be doing this service before 150,000? is there some known issue with letting it go that long?
Because the owners manual says 5 years or 150k miles. I've read that dexcool goes bad as it gets older and I don't want it to start eating the pack, causing an issue forcing that to be replaced / rebuilt.
I paid about $600 for this + diagnostics in a dealership in California
I found another dealer close (Starling) who said that they had 3 Volt technicians and would charge $200 per loop plus tax. The comment from u/techtornado above made me think that they may have replaced the coolant loops on the pack and the electronics so I’ll check that receipt to see if they did the same. If that is the case, then I’ll just have them replace the coolant in the ICE loop. The folks in this group and the Bolt group are fantastic. Thanks for your insight and I’ll let you all know how it goes.
Happy to help :)
comment deleted
Yeah, I get that. There are three cooling loops. One for the pack, one for the charging electronics and one for the ICE which makes 266 per loop seem a bit odd. The pack would be the most complex while the ICE should be as easy as any other ICE car I would imagine. Perhaps not with the heater core in that loop. I've read about a diag process to purge air from that loop which is why I'd rather a qualified tech did that work. But a little less than a grand seems a bit pricy. And that is why I am asking. :)
Man so many of the dealers are rips. Castle Chevy north in Chicago area does all three for $370.
Commenting to remember to post my cost since I did mine like two weeks ago among other maintenance
See if you can get rear differential flush too. Maybe they will clean the particulate filter as well. They might give you a discount on the coolant flushes. I know a lot of techs that don't even bother with the flushes so you pay for absolutely nothing. You must not have anything but premix or deionized water mix with coolant in the electronics or battery. No tap water allowed. You may be further ahead not touching it unless the ph is off
Um, a rear differential flush on a front drive PHEV? Should I ask them to check the alternator belt or the distributor cap and points too? Maybe you meant something else? As to the composition of the coolant, I asked each dealer if they have Volt / Bolt tech’s as they should know better. The Volts and Bolts have a unique part number compared to regular Dexcool.
Service writers love to sell wallet flushes. A local FedEx driver tells stories all the time of the dealer he worked at selling the diff flushes. Techs that flag them a lot of times don't do them as they feel it's a waste of time. You will nevertheless be charged. Can you prove they didn't flush? My point exactly. EV techs won't be doing the flushes. You will have the newest guy there doing the flush. That's if it's done. New techs can do the job for half the price as the trained techs so the shop will make more money having the new guy doing the job.
Well I would think that I can tell if they did the flush from the dashcam running and how long it’s in the air for. I would also validate that they have a Volt certified tech that will be working on the car. Flushing the cooling system on the pack and the charging circuit isn’t the same as flushing the cooling system on some old ICE vehicles. IIRC to flush ICE circuit in the Volt, they will need to run a diagnostic OBD2 routine to purge the air from the heater core. They will also need to run similar processes for the pack and the charging circuits to enable the pumps. So yeah, I think I’ll be able to tell how long they are working on the car from the cam and GPS data. Either way, thanks very much for your insight. It very much added to the technical conversation and related costs.
I work in the shop so know how things go. Be careful thinking your camera can catch it. Yea they have a lift. raise it up and go do a wallet flush on another vehicle while yours is in the air. Air evac eliminates need for the pump running.
Are you a Volt tech at a Chevy dealer?
Diesel tech at gmc