Compulsory traction battery servicing?

[phevnz21]

Hi; Brian from 'Godzone' (New Zealand) here. My 2019 model still goes well, but with less than 20,000 kilometers so it should; still very happy with it. Not so, necessarily, with Mitsubishi NZ. Wondering if anyone elsewhere has had similar experience?

On its 2-year service the dealer told me that next time I'd have to pay some hundreds of dollars for the battery to be taken out and serviced - with no real explanation. So, I've not been to see him since; can change the oil myself, thanks very much.

Is this a rort to test each cell, identify any becoming defective and replace at owner's expense, so ensuring Mitsubishi will be unlikely to need to replace anything later under guarantee? Or maybe to check for any defective assembly like loosening terminal connections etc, removing maker's liability for faulty battery assembly?

There is nothing in the warranty conditions or service schedule mentioning this as an owner's responsibility or part of routine service requirements, so I am suspicious of this after-sale locally-imposed condition and expense. Is this service required in other countries? Any comments or advice very welcome.

 

[Daixiwen]

I have a 2016 model in Norway and never had the battery serviced. The first time it was taken out is when the fuse was blown last year.

 

[maby]

It was never a requirement on our old 2014 model. Not really a lot of "servicing" they can do other than a rebuild.

Martin

 

[greendwarf]

Still got my 2014 PHEV and no suggestion ever of servicing the battery or much else either!

 

[MrPastry]

I have had two Outlander Phev's and never heard about having the battery taken out and serviced. !!
Don't all pre 2020 Phev's have a traction battery warranty of 8 Year/100,000 miles.

Mr. P

 

[russ]

Can you ask them for the Mitsubishi service procedure? Never heard of this in Oz, car always serviced by dealers to schedule, and Mitsubishi replaced the drive battery free of charge (following 2 emails and the dealer determining it had degraded..)
I think they do check the cooling system regularly.

 

[phevnz21]

Can you ask them for the Mitsubishi service procedure? Never heard of this in Oz, car always serviced by dealers to schedule, and Mitsubishi replaced the drive battery free of charge (following 2 emails and the dealer determining it had degraded..)
I think they do check the cooling system regularly.

Thank you, and to all others who replied. Are there any other NZ owners who have had this dealer experience, I wonder? The local dealer seemed quite genuine when he told me, 3 years ago, that this procedure was required, but I smelt a rat somewhere as it was not mentioned in the Mitsubishi service schedule. I will ask for further clarification when in the future I need dealer service. It's certainly reassuring to hear that others have not needed this extra and difficult work.

 

[phevnz21]

I have a 2016 model in Norway and never had the battery serviced. The first time it was taken out is when the fuse was blown last year.

Thank you.

 

[phevnz21]

It was never a requirement on our old 2014 model. Not really a lot of "servicing" they can do other than a rebuild.

Martin

Thank you

 

[phevnz21]

Still got my 2014 PHEV and no suggestion ever of servicing the battery or much else either!

Thank you

 

[phevnz21]

I have had two Outlander Phev's and never heard about having the battery taken out and serviced. !!
Don't all pre 2020 Phev's have a traction battery warranty of 8 Year/100,000 miles.

Mr. P

Thank you

 

[DaveHO]

I have had two Outlander Phev's and never heard about having the battery taken out and serviced. !!
Don't all pre 2020 Phev's have a traction battery warranty of 8 Year/100,000 miles

I have had two Outlander Phev's and never heard about having the battery taken out and serviced. !!
Don't all pre 2020 Phev's have a traction battery warranty of 8 Year/100,000 miles.

Mr. P

Yes but only for battery capacity issues there is no service scheduled for batteries

 

[phevnz21]

Actually my dealer implied that this expensive service operation was needed to maintain the battery warranty, and he already had one other PHEV in the shop having the battery service performed. I rather suspected that Mitsubishi were 'trying it on' in NZ, as a test market, before requiring it elsewhere, to minimise their battery warranty costs. Glad to hear that it's not since been required in other countries. Of course this could be just an innocent misunderstanding by the local dealer ... It would be good to hear of the experience of other New Zealand Outlander PHEV owners.

 

[Daixiwen]

Can you ask your dealer for the actual procedure they need to do on the battery from the workshop manual ? Just the name would be enough. I honestly don't see what kind of expensive service they would need to perform.
I don't know what the laws are in NZ, but in Norway at least the car warranty is enforceable even if you didn't do the services at the official dealer. As long as you can document (with receipts) that you performed all the services as specified in the user manual, the warranty applies.

You can find the workshop manual for the 2019 PHEV here

 

[phevnz21]

Can you ask your dealer for the actual procedure they need to do on the battery from the workshop manual ? Just the name would be enough. I honestly don't see what kind of expensive service they would need to perform.
I don't know what the laws are in NZ, but in Norway at least the car warranty is enforceable even if you didn't do the services at the official dealer. As long as you can document (with receipts) that you performed all the services as specified in the user manual, the warranty applies.

You can find the workshop manual for the 2019 PHEV here

Thanks for that info. I'll quiz the dealer when next I see him; could be some months away. The manual you posted was only for a 2016 PHEV; do you have similar for a 2019 model? Also, any relevant instruction to NZ dealers might be in the form of confidential service notes.

The expensive part of the alleged procedure might comprise mainly the jobs of removing and re-installing the traction battery. Other than that, what can they do apart from measuring the voltage of each cell, and checking the tightness of all connections? Software checks don't require battery removal from the car. I'd think, too, that whatever they find wrong, if anything, should justify correction under guarantee at that time (but would be inexpensive compared with the charge for the service).

 

[Daixiwen]

Oh sorry I just discovered that the 2019 manual in that link was without the Phev. That said a lot of procedures are the same between the 2016 and the 2019 model.
You can get the voltage of each cell and a complete report through OBD, there is no need to take the battery out to get an assessment of its condition. Besides if they open the battery they then need to change the gasket, and I'm a big fan of the "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" rule.

 

[phevnz21]

Oh sorry I just discovered that the 2019 manual in that link was without the Phev. That said a lot of procedures are the same between the 2016 and the 2019 model.
You can get the voltage of each cell and a complete report through OBD, there is no need to take the battery out to get an assessment of its condition. Besides if they open the battery they then need to change the gasket, and I'm a big fan of the "if it ain't broken, don't fix it" rule.

Very informative; thank you. All adds to my suspicion. Anyway, amazing to hear they can read all individual cell voltages via the OBD; I'd really like to hear the technical story behind that (I am a long-retired engineer).

 

[Daixiwen]

The drive battery has a cell balancing circuitry, and this requires to be able to measure the voltage of each cell. Basically during charging the balancing circuitry will divert some of the current away from the cells that have a higher than average voltage. This helps keeping all the cells at the same level. It is the BMU (battery management unit) that collects all the voltages and controls the balancing circuits. With an OBD scanner you can collect all those voltages from the BMU.

 

[OutlanderMatt]

Hi, I am in NZ. We had a 2018 PHEV and my then ex partner had the car and they made her get one for the “Battery Warranty”. It was Simon Lucas in Newmarket. I didn’t say much at the time as we were separated however after looking into it, I found that no other countries did it.

We have a very robust consumer guarantee act here in NZ and unless this procedure is specifically listed on the Battery Warranty documents and the scheduled servicing documents then they will not be able to enforce it. A quick call to consumer affairs will clarify that.

I believe this is nothing more than the dealers trying it on and making extra money from EV type vehicles as in general people don't understand the technology and they play on the fear around battery degradation to their advantage which is quite disgusting and if it is not in the Warranty Document then mbie would have something to say about it too.

All the battery info can be gained from the MUT3 scan tool. I know because I have one. The only thing they would carry out would be to check connections in the pack, check for any ingress of water or derbies etc but that's about it. They would have to replace the seal and also as the Air Con goes through the battery this would need to be de-gassed and re-gassed also.

I would definitely demand that they provide you with the battery warranty document and the scheduled servicing document from "Mitsubishi" and not some document that they themselves have made up and I would scan through that and find out where it calls for this procedure. I suspect that it is not in there. I would then contact them and ask them to explain where and why are they telling you this is required.

Also like our vehicle, this was not pointed out to us at the time of purchase and again I would think that under the consumer guarantees act that a significant service like this would need to be disclosed up front. Again I'm sure mbie would have something to say about this.

Hope this helps

 

[OutlanderMatt]