MG4 Charging port lights stopped working

[FlyingDutchman]

The lights in the charging port of my MG4 stopped working soon after I got the car. It didn’t appear to affect any functionality of the car so I just left it and asked the dealership to sort it out during its first service which was in September. The dealership had a replacement part ready but were unable to replace as they were not able to gain access to the part of the car required as they needed a “special tool” that MG would only lend them?? However in the process of messing about with the car, the charge ports now work again…… I guess a happy ending (so far) but no-one is any the wiser. The dealership suspects a loose wire somewhere which was rectified during the attempts to remove the charge port!

It’s great that the dealer is helping but, it’s a shame they’re losing the skillset to properly root cause analysis without throwing parts at it. As they took the battery off to diagnose; that must’ve been when it reset and turned back on. Almost like magic!

 

[tsedge]

It’s great that the dealer is helping but, it’s a shame they’re losing the skillset to properly root cause analysis without throwing parts at it. As they took the battery off to diagnose; that must’ve been when it reset and turned back on. Almost like magic!

I agree, sounds like it was just the battery disconnect that reset the charger lights module. Dealer playing parts darts rather than trying a reboot first.

 

[Ian Key]

Trouble shooting for dummies.
If it's showing no sign of life check the fuse.
If it's showing signs of life but not working switch it off and on again.

 

[Profpalindrome]

To be fair to the dealership, I get the feeling that MG (UK) are not necessarily completely open and transparent with them. There seemed to be a lot of back and forth. And just to try to be as fair as possible to MG (UK), maybe MG (head office in China) are not the easiest to deal with either….not sure where exactly the problem is but there do seem to be some issues.

 

[tsedge]

Plus lack of trained technicians (industry wide problem) and overloaded dealers, does not help.

 

[Tommasov]

I have this problem since this morning when I unlocked the car to release the connector. Do you suggest 12v battery or fuse first?

 

[tsedge]

I have this problem since this morning when I unlocked the car to release the connector. Do you suggest 12v battery or fuse first?

The fuse will mean that you only reset the charge port and don't need to reset other things (steering, windows). It is more of a pain to get to though.

 

[Tommasov]

The fuse will mean that you only reset the charge port and don't need to reset other things (steering, windows). It is more of a pain to get to though.

Thanks for the reply. Do you also lose personal settings? (Nav, Radio..etc)

 

[siteguru]

Not if you just do the fuse - probably if you do a battery disconnect.

 

[Tommasov]

Ok did it. I had to disconnect the battery because my drive is on the left side and the fuse box is reversed, the F9 is far from the side opening thing (which is easy to remove) and it's behind the relay. I disconnected the negative for 10 seconds, my infotainment kept the settings (yeah!). I had tons of warning, I played with the window controllers and turned all left and right the steering wheel, then I locked the car and unlocked every message disappeared. Of course the charging light works

 

[mg4mc]

I've posted it before, but the MG recommended power reset is NOT to disconnect from battery terminal. DO disconnect the power lead from battery sensor attached to the battery.

 

[Tommasov]

I've posted it before, but the MG recommended power reset is NOT to disconnect from battery terminal. DO disconnect the power lead from battery sensor attached to the battery.

I missed that part

 

[Ian Key]

I missed that part

You wouldn't have done any harm as the manual says to disconnect the negative terminal if leaving the car for more than one month.

 

[mg4mc]

It doesn't do any harm. But the process manual says that the battery monitor should be left for several hours to recalibrate itself after reconnecting.

It's not clear if it means the car should be be left unused for several hours, or if the battery monitoring will not be accurate for several hours.

 

[DevonMG4]

Suffered the problem of no charge port lights at all, had been perfect. Read the thread, understand the question, is it the battery disconnect or fuse pull that fixes the issue.

Unlocked the car, did not sit in, removed F9 fuse, walked to the bench and confirmed that the fuse had not failed, replaced in the car, opened charge flap, white light, plugged in charger, blue light then green.

So the fuse was out for max two minutes.

Looks like fuse alone fixed in this instance.

@FlyingDutchman video in #26 is all you need, pull the rubber door trim aft and the fuse cover will come right off for better access. F9 is the very top beige/brown fuse in the video, looking at the manual it looks like F10 would be above it but it's not fitted on my SE or FD's video.

Thank you to all those who've undertaken the research, it's avoided a trip to the dealership - result!

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Suffered the problem of no charge port lights at all, had been perfect. Read the thread, understand the question, is it the battery disconnect or fuse pull that fixes the issue.

Unlocked the car, did not sit in, removed F9 fuse, walked to the bench and confirmed that the fuse had not failed, replaced in the car, opened charge flap, white light, plugged in charger, blue light then green.

So the fuse was out for max two minutes.

Looks like fuse alone fixed in this instance.

@FlyingDutchman video in #26 is all you need, pull the rubber door trim apt and the fuse cover will come right off for better access. F9 is the very top beige/brown fuse in the video, looking at the manual it looks like F10 would be above it but it's not fitted on my SE or FD's video.

Thank you to all those who've undertaken the research, it's avoided a trip to the dealership - result!

Interesting! A guy commented on the video saying that just removing the -ve on battery worked. Glad it helps though!

 

[DevonMG4]

Interesting! A guy commented on the video saying that just removing the -ve on battery worked. Glad it helps though!

Removing the fuse or battery terminal are both versions of the same No.1 fix ie powering systems off and then back on again.

The suggestion earlier in this thread is that if the fuse alone resolves to problem then it's less invasive removing the need to recalibrate windows, steering etc.

Thanks for taking the time to post the video.

 

[Rolfe]

Accessing the fuse box sounds pretty invasive to me!

 

[Ian Key]

Disconnecting the battery has the advantage of powering all the systems on and off again.

 

[baader]

Hey. Hey. Do you have a charging port? If so, does the charging port light activate somehow? It never lights up for me...