TrueDelta reliability numbers on Volt

Troll,
I don't know,,, I think it's just a glorified timer. There are OLM that optically analyse the oil.
I have read reports of milky oil being drained from Volts in cold climates.
The Volt will run its engine to only assist with cabin heat, and then it does not get up to 180-190°F typical range.
It make the engine act like a gas burning stove. The oil never gets hot enough to burn off the moisture.

I changed my oil at 2500 Gas Miles. ( old school ) It was not pretty and I wish I had done it earlier.
I'm afraid some Volt engines have a hard life by never getting warmed up all the way.
Only time will tell.

 

I won't dispute that but I've never seen anyone report that. Do you have a link handy?

I'm not sure about the details on that but I have heard that "engine running due to extreme cold temperature" is not counted against "engine maintenance mode" which does fully bring the engine up to full operating temperature to burn off moisture if the engine has not been run within the previous 6 weeks.

The large majority of Volt owners run the engine for a long enough period to burn off moisture on a regular basis without running into engine maintenance mode. Those that don't will be covered by maintenance mode and will have almost new engines after putting 100,000 miles on the car. I'm not worried about it.

 

Look on the Volt forum for milky oil.
Who cares if ERDDT is counted anywhere? It's hard duty for the oil to never warm up while the engine idles and only gets to ~147°.
FMM and EMM do not warm the oil up enough to remove all the moisture from the short runs of ERDDT.
They are for moving fuel through the engine and don't run the engine for a long time.
But, I'm old school. I saw bad oil. I wish I had an analysis done. The first oil change is important.

 

Running an engine from 0 to full rpm is never good. It doesn't matter id its' gas, diesel, turbine. The mechanical, thermal, dynamic stresses and loads instantly placed on a motor leads to a short life.

The current Volts' engine is not exempt from the above.

DBCassidy

 

In my experience, the Volt engine runs at its highest rpm under load no more often than my 2nd gen Prius and probably substantially less.

The maximum Volt engine rpm is limited to 4800 (around the same as the Prius) but the actual engine itself has a maximum rpm of 6250 when used in conventional vehicles in Europe like the Opel Corsa (L2Z 1.4L engine).

So the Volt never takes its engine anywhere near the actual engine design redline.

 

DB,
'13 and later Volts have a 'power flow' display. You can watch it happen.
The Volt engine always goes through a warm up phase for a few minutes where it makes the minimum power.
Unlike the PiP engine when you floor it.
Then it ramps up to run mid power in series hybrid mode. If you were to floor it, the electric motor yanks you to 100 MPH without the engine in EV mode.
In Hybrid mode the engine will go to it's max power only during full pedal runs, but after the warm up phase.

Go test drive one. What have you got to lose?

 

With our 2014 Volt we take a trip to Portland Oregon at least once a month or so and burn a little gas
to give the gas engine a little activity. Normally my wife can drive for 2-3 weeks just on the electric motor with
her 32 mile round trip to work each day. Gas mpg last trip was 43.6, so even on gas mpg's are not so bad, not quite as good as our 2010 Prius but still better than most of the cars out there.

 

The Prius engine warms up no where at max rpm. Don't know what with the statement "Unlike Prius engine when you floor it" - Duh!.

Driven the Volt, more than once - never impressed with it, especially rear, LIMITED, seating.

On U.S. versions only, what is max RPM of the Volt engine? I am not interested in the European versions.

If the Volt runs at its' highest RPM under load - not good, it should be variable. I can understand why this is the case, the Volts' engine needs to put out the max power possible to power the car when not on ev mode. That also explains the low 43.6 MPG numbers.

Again, as mentioned many times in past posts, GM engineers were told to use existing line power plants (corp bean counters, backed by BOD). The current config validates that.

DBCassidy

 

That is not how PiP works.

I understand how the "floor it" confusion came about. Making the assumption that dropping the pedal all the way down causes it increase engine RPM to the maximum is reasonable conclusion to draw. But it isn't correct... not even close.

All that happens when you "floor it" is instruct the system to allow the engine to exceed the 1500 RPM threshold. That's it. The battery-pack will continue delivering full power, plenty of electricity to keep engine RPM well below the maximum. The warm-up process still takes place. It is not circumvented as the "unlike" implies.

 

Here's what I said:

In other words, the Volt/Ampera/ELR regardless of where it is sold limits the gas engine to 4800 rpm. GM sells conventional cars in Europe which use the same engine with a maximum rpm of 6250. The Volt presumably limits the rpm to improve the noise and vibration. The 4800 rpm limit is just after the engine's peak torque output. The Prius rpm limit is probably set for similar reasons.

Obviously, the Volt does not run the gas engine at 4800 rpm at all times.... As in the Prius, you're only going to see that when flooring the accelerator but with the Volt in Mountain mode it can reach far deeper into its battery buffer to keep rpms down when climbing up steeply graded mountain roads at highway speeds compared to a Prius.

 

Reaching down "deeper" into the batts has a limit. There are SOC limits which one should not exceed for batts longevity.
So, the Volt has more batts than the PIP.
But, not w/o trade offs in increased weights and size.

DBCassidy

 

Duplicate post

 

For context, I said:

Mountain mode on the Volt raises the set point for the SOC that the car tries to normally maintain from about 20% to about 45%. That allows the car to draw down that extra 4 kWh (25% of 16.5 kWh) when it needs to use it to blend with power from the gas engine under prolonged high output like driving at highway speeds up steep and long mountain roads. This extra reserve capacity is sized to be sufficient for the steepest roads.

The Volt does not draw down lower than the levels that would damage battery longevity.

 

I heard what a Prius is like on a long climb in the Rockies.
I will find out what that long climb in a Volt is like.
Both of these cars will be anemic once the battery has depleted on these long climbs.

Of course the trade off with a Volt is a bigger, heavier battery. It's a 38 mile EV range EREV/PHEV/ whatever.
It is not a 5 seater for instance. That was never an issue for me but for some it's a deal breaker.

 

Yes, hard duty on oil that is never let to warm up to its' operating temp. Milky oil is, without a doubt, a sure indication of moisture in the oil.

DBCassidy