Help Please - EV system service required

[Craigy]

Hi all, got a bit of an issue with my 2019 outlander. Tried to start it his morning and it just said “EV system service required, Brake system service required , please stop safely “
I was put through to Mitsubishi who were taking my details when it all cleared after I’d plugged the car in. I took the decision (rightly or wrongly) to drive down to Devon where I’m now on a camp site drinking beer.
I’ve tried starting it again and I’m getting the same error (and it won’t allow me to select drive or reverse as before). There is an electric hook up here so I can probably plug the car in and start it again when I leave (hopefully).
I’m here until Thursday so have time to tinker if there is anything anyone can suggest I do (like disconnecting the battery).

Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[user 2238]

The EV System message can be a loose plug behind the Eco button, it's easy enough to pop the trim off. First though I'd check the 12V battery. Could be low/knackered.

 

[Craigy]

Thanks for the reply, interesting point about the 12V battery as throw is the first time I’ve used it for a camping trip and it would have taken a bit of a beating when I loaded the car over Sunday and Monday (I was doing it at a leisurely pace and using the tailgate a lot). I’ve then arrived here (over a 120 mile journey I’d expect it to charge) and then unpacked and set up leaving it open for quite a while.
It now won’t operate the tailgate either and just beeps which might also suggest that the battery is flat. I think I’ll plug it in and charge it and see if that fixes it.

 

[michael8554]

On other posts in the Tech Section people have been deliberately draining their AUX battery to get a part of the car's software to reset, and those error messages do appear, but go when correct volts are restored.

You can either plug in a charger, or connect jump leads to the "jump start" terminal in the fuse box under the bonnet on the passenger side. Consult your Handbook for details.

 

[Craigy]

Thank you, I’m still quite concerned as to how this has happened, I wouldn’t expect leaving a car open for a while should cause the voltage to drop on the 12v battery, especially after a reasonably long drive. Do we know when the 12v battery is charged? Is it always charged when the car is in “ready” mode, as well as being plugged in? Does the 12v battery charge when plugged in?
If this is normal behaviour then I think I’ll buy a small jump start battery to keep in the car.

 

[jaapv]

It is quite a small battery, so yes, it drains easily.

 

[Mitch]

It will be charged while driving, while charging and once a day, if a mobile phone is registered to Wifi

 

[JohanvdH]

Do you have an ODB dongle connected (to show the car system in PHEV Watchdog for example)?
If so, remove the dongle and see if the error messages come back.

 

[ThudnBlundr]

Unlike a "normal" car, it's not easy to tell when the 12V battery is on its way out. Previously you'd notice that the car was getting harder to start or it would turn over more slowly, especially on cold days. On the PHEV, (apart from running the lights, boot, accessory sockets, etc) the 12V battery's main job is to wake up the car's computers when the start button is pressed. Once the car is awake the 12V battery is constantly charged from the drive battery. So unlike previous cars, the 12V battery can soldier on till it's in a pretty poor state and you'll be none the wiser until one day it suddenly stops working properly and displaying errors. It's in effect binary - it works or it doesn't - whereas before you would notice a slow (analogue) degradation before it failed.

 

[Craigy]

Thanks all. So I’ve made it home again but this morning I again had to plug it in to start the car. It seems to not hold charge in the 12V battery for more than a few hours. It’s now done over 300 miles and been charged twice with the same fault each time I try to start it.
Mitsubishi are on there way to take a look, is there anything I need to be aware of, I don’t fancy being fobbed off.

 

[jaapv]

A new 12V battery from Mitsubishi is severely overpriced.

 

[Craigy]

So after 280 miles and several charges etc it continues to not start, it’s gone to Mitsubishi to see if they can find the fault.
Mitsubishi have been pretty helpful though, arranged hire car etc, all fairly slick.

 

[Craigy]

JUst thought I’d report back, after some testing they tried to return the vehicle to me having not found a fault. It started three times on the forecourt before I returned the hire car, however when I tried to drive it away it failed again.
Bit of luck really as at least they could see the problem and (even though I kept trying to tell them the battery was screwed) they could see that the 12v battery couldn’t hold much charge.

So new battery and (hopefully) on my merry way again! I did have a Kia Sorento as a hire car which was quite nice, very glad to be back in the PHEV though.

 

[user 2238]

Glad you're all sorted mate.

 

[yardbird88]

Do you have a home battery charger to check the 12v battery? Could be a bad 12V battery.

 

[Craigy]

As I previously posted, it was found to be a bad 12v battery.

 

[markhals]

I have the same message coming up but it seems to only occur after about 30 miles of driving, and disappears again once turned off and on again. Can't see it being the 12v battery as the message isn't coming up on start up. My suspicion is it's something to do with a cheap set of LED sidelight bulbs that were playing up and changed for the MOT the other week, but again you would think the message would occur on start up. Other than the warning coming on it is driving absolutely fine. I've tried my OBD dongle and Torque Lite app but no error codes found on it. Any ideas much appreciated as I don't fancy taking it to the main dealers outside of warranty to get them to erase an error code for a couple hundred quid.

 

[JohanvdH]

Markhals, is your dongle always connected to the car?
Does the warning appear when the dongle is not connected?

 

[markhals]

Hi Johan, i don't keep the dongle connected. I did plug it in whilst the EV System Service message was still present yesterday but no error codes were found. The message is coming on when the dongle isn't connected.

 

[markhals]

Update - I spoke to the local Mitsubishi dealers as I had to book in for a safety recall. Told them about the light and they asked had I changed any tyres recently. I said yes one, and not to a Toyo. They said 99% certain it was that which was causing the EV system service warning light to come on. Seems to make sense as the car drives fine. I wonder how the car is detecting this and what I could do to prevent it without getting rid of the perfectly good new tyre - balancing? tracking? I did notice the S-AWC visual was showing occasionally slightly more drive to this particular tyre.