EV System Service required and Charge Interrupted

[Viaccess]

I am posting this in case it helps any other Outlander owners with the same problem.

My car is the PHEV 5hs and was purchased new in March. Yesterday, I found that the car would not take a charge from the Chargemaster Home Charger and the following error messages appeared on the dashboard:

I called the garage and arranged to bring the car in this morning and inevitably they could find no fault. I brought it home and plugged it in, and immediately I saw the messages again: "Charge Interrupted by System Malfunction" and "EV System Service Required".

This time, I tried plugging in the 13amp plug supplied with the car (which I had never used before) and this worked fine. This made me think that it might have been a problem with the charging point and not the car. I called ChargeMaster and spoke to a very helpful person there who said that this is a common problem and they are very familiar with this error warning on Outlander PHEVs! I was asked to disconnect the ChargeMaster point from the fusebox and reconnect after 10 minutes. This I did and the car is now working fine.

 

[NightPHEVer]

I briefly got the 'charge interrupted by system malfunction' bit on a Rolec 32amp charger when I first plugged it in, at a hotel in Selkirk last year. Didn't get the 'EV system service required' bit though. It also still charged the car up. I very nearly pood myself with fear though as it was the first time I'd tried any other charger than my own - also a Rolec 32amp (a slightly newer version than the one at the hotel). If the 'EV system service required' had come up too I think I would have definitely needed the toilet.

So maybe this can be an issue on Rolec chargers too? My PHEV is a 2014 white lens model GX4h.

 

[williamg]

I have just had the same problem with a Chargemaster unit fitted about 4 months ago.

The Symptoms

• Car parked in the garage.
  Plug the Chargemaster plug into the car.
  Normal clunk-clunk-clunk and things happen.
  Red dashboard light starts to flash.
  After a few seconds clunk-clunk-clunk again and the dash shows the two messages shown in the original post.
  No battery charge.

The messages seem to be a confession by the car that there is a fault and it is responsible! It isn't!

Test with the Mitsubishi charging cable that came with car, connected to a 13A socket.

• Plug the Mitsubishi plug into the car.
  Normal clunk-clunk-clunk and things happen.
  Red dashboard light comes on solidly.
  Charging brick shows one green light on and one green light flashing, as normal.
  Everything okay - car charges fully.

On closer observation, the Chargemaster power light and green charging light are both on, even when the connector is not plugged into the car. I go to the house electrical distribution board and flick of the Chargemaster EV contactor, then turn it on again.

The Chargemaster goes through an extended sequence which takes a while, but eventually ends with the yellow power light on, but the green battery charging light, significantly, is off. I plug it into the car, and everything now behaves normally. The Chargemaster green charging light turns on and the Outlander dashboard red charging light turns on solidly.

Conclusion?
The Chargemaster unit is faulty, not the car. My suspicion is that a contactor in the Chargemaster had become stuck, or the internal software had "crashed" so that only power-cycling the Chargemaster unit would clear the problem.

Is it permanently fixed?
I very much doubt it! I think I will be asking Chargemaster for a replacement unit in due course, but we will see...

 

[Daff]

Had a failure to charge on my Chargemaster a few weeks ago. I didn't look at the dashboard so don't know if the EV service message was there. I did the same thing of trying the granny cable and it was fine, and then power cycling the Chargemaster, which was then also fine. So it does indeed point to that charger getting its knickers in a twist. If it happens again I'll check the dashboard.

Steve

 

[MikkB]

Had a failure to charge on my Chargemaster a few weeks ago. I didn't look at the dashboard so don't know if the EV service message was there. I did the same thing of trying the granny cable and it was fine, and then power cycling the Chargemaster, which was then also fine. So it does indeed point to that charger getting its knickers in a twist. If it happens again I'll check the dashboard.

Steve

Same story here about a week ago. I eventually just flicked up the switch (for the chargemaster charger) in the fusebox, waited 30secs and then switched it back on again, after which life returned to normal. Gave me a fright at first though!

Difficult to remember what message was displayed. I think something similar to the first one but I don't think I got the second 'EV Service Required' message, but I wouldn't swear to it.

 

[rome]

Thank you so much for sharing this. It’s saved me a trip to the dealers and a lot of anxiety. Resetting the charger solved the problem!