DTC on freeway

[user 7784]

I have a 2015 outlander PHEV that has a DTC ( Diagnostic Trouble Code) that appears stating EV service required. This has only happened on the freeway at 90km/h or above. There is then no acceleration at all, and I must pull over to the curb and stop completely, and turn the car off . Turning the car on again removes the DTC and I can drive again.
Mitsubishi service have been trying to fix this problem for months now. Technical support have said I need to pay to get cell smoothing done up to 7 times if needed at my expense. This cell smoothing does not guarantee the DTC fault will not return!! The next step after that is to replace the Drive battery, which I’ve been quoted over $$14000.
Does anyone know of this DTC fault ( voltage too high, which I’m told the voltage isn’t necessarily too high as this is a general fault covering lots of things) ?
Will Mitsubishi pay for a new drive battery if the fault started before 8 years old?

 

[Daixiwen]

If it's voltage too high on one of the cells it is possible that cell smoothing will do something but it depends on the actual voltage difference. If the voltage is way higher than the other cells it is more likely that the cell is damaged and will need replacement. An official dealer will only change the full battery but you may be able ti find a third party company that would only change the damaged cell.
It would help if you had an OBD dongle and an app like Watchdog Phev to indicate the voltages of each cell in your battery in order to see what your options are.
I don't think the guarantee will cover a battery change after 8 years, even if the problem began before the car's 8 year anniversary unfortunately.

 

[user 7784]

Thanks. Interesting. The problem is that service have not taken the car on a sufficiently long test drive over one hour freeway driving each way, when the DTC appears.
They said:
“The DTC which we have is Cell Voltage High detected in the BMU, which is more or less a generic code. It doesn't specify whether it's coming from the HV battery or inside the BMU, which is why we carried out a DBCAM (Drive Battery Capacity Automatic Measurement) to try and factory reset the HV battery.
At this stage the next step as previous emails is to see if the car is still faulting after carrying out DBCAM, so far in our testing we haven't been able to.”
Sooo, I took the car on a test drive after DBCAM and it was fine for 100kms ( which has been the case as always) ,I stopped for lunch and it faulted twice on way home.
I was offered $1000 for the car, which is scrapping price.
Even if I found out the faulty cell and had it replaced, for not cheap cost, then I would just be buying time and other cells may fail. I’m considering just using the car to drive around town mostly until total failure of cells.
I am considering taking the car on another test drive, but this time, I would press the ‘save’ button , to stop the battery draining to near zero, and keep charge above half way. Do you think this may stop the DTC?

 

[mellobob]

I have a 2015 outlander PHEV that has a DTC ( Diagnostic Trouble Code) that appears stating EV service required. This has only happened on the freeway at 90km/h or above. There is then no acceleration at all, and I must pull over to the curb and stop completely, and turn the car off . Turning the car on again removes the DTC and I can drive again.
Mitsubishi service have been trying to fix this problem for months now. Technical support have said I need to pay to get cell smoothing done up to 7 times if needed at my expense. This cell smoothing does not guarantee the DTC fault will not return!! The next step after that is to replace the Drive battery, which I’ve been quoted over $$14000.
Does anyone know of this DTC fault ( voltage too high, which I’m told the voltage isn’t necessarily too high as this is a general fault covering lots of things) ?
Will Mitsubishi pay for a new drive battery if the fault started before 8 years old?

I had the same problem on a previous car. Problem was that the 12v battery needed replacing. From what I read on the forums this is a common problem which many dealers just can't seem to figure out.

 

[user 7784]

I had the same problem on a previous car. Problem was that the 12v battery needed replacing. From what I read on the forums this is a common problem which many dealers just can't seem to figure out.

I had the 12v changed a year or so ago. The 12v fail stopped being able to start at all. My problem now is the DTC appears whilst driving on the freeway and then no acceleration. Did that happen in your car?

 

[user 7784]

I had the 12v changed a year or so ago. The 12v fail stopped being able to start at all. My problem now is the DTC appears whilst driving on the freeway and then no acceleration. Did that happen in your car?

 

[mellobob]

I had the 12v changed a year or so ago. The 12v fail stopped being able to start at all. My problem now is the DTC appears whilst driving on the freeway and then no acceleration. Did that happen in your car?

Nope. Just a light and message saying it needed to be looked at. Don't have the car anymore (it was destroying in an accident).

 

[Johny451]

I strongly recommend you purchase an OBD2 dongle and use EvBatMon or Phev watchdog to actually see what is going on with your battery. Knowledge will help and quite possibly save the car.

 

[user 7784]

I strongly recommend you purchase an OBD2 dongle and use EvBatMon or Phev watchdog to actually see what is going on with your battery. Knowledge will help and quite possibly save the car.

 

[user 7784]

Cant the service center diagnose with their tool? They have had the car for 4 weeks now, with a free replacement vehicle.
As they won’t lone out diagnostic tools for me to take on a long 100 km test drive, ( and they haven’t done a sufficiently long test drive) would a dongle help diagnose the problem as the DTC appears? They said there would be pages and pages of data. Would I be able to see in the data , where the problem occurred. Does a dongle and iPhone store enough data for over an hour?

 

[Daixiwen]

PhevWatchdog can show you in real time the cell voltages while you drive. It can also log into a text file (csv) a bunch of parameters, including cell minimum, average and maximum voltages, which can help see if there is indeed a cell imbalance. (although I think now that only the paid version of PhevWatchdog does the logging to text file)

When this code appears in the highway, can it happen at any battery state of charge, or only when the battery is low or high? I would expect a cell voltage high error only when the battery is almost full.

 

[user 7784]

PhevWatchdog can show you in real time the cell voltages while you drive. It can also log into a text file (csv) a bunch of parameters, including cell minimum, average and maximum voltages, which can help see if there is indeed a cell imbalance. (although I think now that only the paid version of PhevWatchdog does the logging to text file)

When this code appears in the highway, can it happen at any battery state of charge, or only when the battery is low or high? I would expect a cell voltage high error only when the battery is almost full.

 

[user 7784]

The DTC appears on freeway when battery lowest. I’m picking up car tomorrow for another test drive, and I will be pressing the save button just above half charge, to see if it breaks down.
If the DTC appears, then next step is cell smoothing up to 7 times at my expense. If that doesn’t work , then a good will claim will be lodged to replace the drive battery. Not holding my breath.

 

[kpetrov]

The DTC appears on freeway when battery lowest. I’m picking up car tomorrow for another test drive, and I will be pressing the save button just above half charge, to see if it breaks down.
If the DTC appears, then next step is cell smoothing up to 7 times at my expense. If that doesn’t work , then a good will claim will be lodged to replace the drive battery. Not holding my breath.

Was any kind of battery, BMU reset done on the vehicle? What is your current battery status?
If the problem appear only when battery at lowest it is very suspicious that such reset may be performed and the battery is actually not reported properly and even lower than it shows.

 

[user 7784]

My entire drive battery was changed. I returned the hire car to Mitsubishi. All charges covered by Mitsubishi. My case is unique because went into limp mode on freeway. The drive battery was returned to Mitsubishi for research.

 

[user 7784]

Was any kind of battery, BMU reset done on the vehicle? What is your current battery status?
If the problem appear only when battery at lowest it is very suspicious that such reset may be performed and the battery is actually not reported properly and even lower than it shows.

Mitsubishi head office Australia has replaced my entire drive battery,covering labour expenses and a hire care I had for four and half months!
My case is unique because car went into limp mode on freeway. My car was built in 2014 and taken ownership in September 2015, so I’m guessing I just made it under 8 year battery warranty , as this case ( problem ) has been open since June 2023.
Of what I can ascertain, normal battery degradation in most cases, is not covered under warranty . I’ve heard that one owners car motor cuts in almost immediately because batteries hold very little charge, and owner complains he has now a heavy car with no benefits of batteries, so gets bad fuel economy.
I’m very pleased with my outcome, which is over $15,000 repairs at no expense to me.
I test drove new drive battery fitted, and fault did not return, so I guess the problem of cutting out on freeway is solved.
The range showing on dash is now 50 kms at full charge, or 39 when air conditioner on, and a test drive showed this to be accurate.
The old defective drive battery was returned to Mitsubishi for research.