Water ingress from the charging port causing HV battery shut off

[gaza123]

As the title suggests, the car is being diagnosed for the fault that causes the HV battery shut off. They have come back that due to water ingress from the charging port of the car, this is causing the HV battery shut off fault. Apparently the rubber caps that cover the charging pins under the charging flap were not there, and this seems to be causing the HV battery fault on occasion, sort of makes sense to me. I am being quoted in excess of a thousand pounds to have the whole charging port piece with all the wiring replaced etc, which I just cannot afford. Would it be as simple of a solution for me, to just buy some new rubber caps, and this should stop the problem happening again?? TIA

 

[Gadget Geek]

Why are they asking you to pay? You didn't take the rubber caps off. If the rubber caps aren't there, then someone has cocked up and they need to fix it under warranty.

 

[gaza123]

Why are they asking you to pay? You didn't take the rubber caps off. If the rubber caps aren't there, then someone has cocked up and they need to fix it under warranty.

To be honest, I cannot remember ever having rubber caps on there. I said I will check my house for them, but cannot find any, MG are telling the dealership that water ingress is not covered, and the dealership have explained that there was no rubber caps, so MG will not fix it under warranty. Do you think that if I just buy some rubber caps and put them on, it will stop the HV battery fault I have been getting?

 

[Coulomb]

Do you think that if I just buy some rubber caps and put them on, it will stop the HV battery fault I have been getting?

Hard to say. My guess is yes, unless the water has caused some sort of permanent corrosion. But if so I would not expect the problem to be particularly intermittent.

Doesn't the Mark 2 have captive plugs? On my Mark 1, the plugs (one for rapid charging, and the other for type 2 AC charging) are attached to the car via rubber cords. To charge, I pull out the plug and just drop it, it stays attached and just flops around. After charging, I just fish around for the plug and put it back.

Maybe yours broke off at some point?

 

[Lovemyev]

The OP does not state if the issue relates to the Gen 1 or Gen 2 ZS EV ?.
I am going to assume here, that we are dealing with the original Gen 1 model, as this model does have the removable bungs, that protect the charging socket adapter female terminals, from adverse wet weather conditions ?.
These weather protective bungs have rubber retaining fly lead, that prevents the bungs from getting lost or misplaced.
I am puzzled WHY they are not still there ??,

 

[Coulomb]

Duh! I see that Mark 2s have solid flaps that spring aside, like my Leaf. I wish my Mark 1 had those.

 

[gaza123]

Hard to say. My guess is yes, unless the water has caused some sort of permanent corrosion. But if so I would not expect the problem to be particularly intermittent.

Doesn't the Mark 2 have captive plugs? On my Mark 1, the plugs (one for rapid charging, and the other for type 2 AC charging) are attached to the car via rubber cords. To charge, I pull out the plug and just drop it, it stays attached and just flops around. After charging, I just fish around for the plug and put it back.

Maybe yours broke off at some point?

Thank you. I spoke to one of the top electricians at work last night, and he said exactly the same as you. Any water ingress which had occurred, as long as it had left no lasting damage, the use of rubber caps on the charging port would cure the problem. The car never has had any problem charging, and with it being a totally intermittent fault, he was thinking along the same lines as you, that there does not appear to be any lasting damage, thanks.

 

[gaza123]

The OP does not state if the issue relates to the Gen 1 or Gen 2 ZS EV ?.
I am going to assume here, that we are dealing with the original Gen 1 model, as this model does have the removable bungs, that protect the charging socket adapter female terminals, from adverse wet weather conditions ?.
These weather protective bungs have rubber retaining fly lead, that prevents the bungs from getting lost or misplaced.
I am puzzled WHY they are not still there ??,

Yes it is the Gen 1, ...it was a second-hand vehicle, and I cannot recall ever having to take out removable bungs to charge it. The flap at the front....why is that not protecting the charging port from the weather, my wife's Nissan leaf does not have the rubber bungs, nor does my friends MG4 ev, and they have no problems, why is it different for the Gen 1 MG zs ev?? Thank you all for the replies as well.

 

[Lovemyev]

Yes it is the Gen 1, ...it was a second-hand vehicle, and I cannot recall ever having to take out removable bungs to charge it. The flap at the front....why is that not protecting the charging port from the weather, my wife's Nissan leaf does not have the rubber bungs, nor does my friends MG4 ev, and they have no problems, why is it different for the Gen 1 MG zs ev?? Thank you all for the replies as well.

Some EV's provide rubber bungs to protect the charging socket, while others have a IP rated flat seal on the back of the flap, then when the door is closed, it keeps out the weather.
The Gen2 ZS EV has a common method used, of a spring loaded flap, with a IP rated rubber seal on the inside of that flap, when the hinged flap is closed, this provides the weather proof seal.
What ever system has been designed, either bungs / flap etc it needs protecting from water ingress. end of story !.
You would not expose any of your house electrics to the elements, unless the connections were housed in a IP suitably rated accessory / socket.
The car was supplied from the factory with the weather proof bungs attached to the charging port.
At some stage these bungs have been lost I guess, but they need replacing ASAP.

 

[Tim Green]

Maybe the car was in a shunt at the front and the repairer left the bungs off by mistake or couldn't be bothered to refit them. They obviously need to be there so yes, just get some spares and fit them....

 

[gaza123]

Great replies from all, thanks. So by the looks of it then, the flap for the Gen 1 is not properly waterproofed and IP rated, I am just praying that there is no long lasting damage, but I think all the signs are pointing that there is not. I will buy these bungs and make sure to use them in the future. Just a bit disappointed that something so trivial has caused so many problems. The car has had dealership services, plus they have had it in for repair many times, and I know of at least two occasions when they would of had to charge the car, as when it was recovered to them, the range left was very low, I am a bit surprised that they did not pick up on the bungs earlier.

 

[Gadget Geek]

You could spray the socket with a water repelent contact cleaner for good measure.

 

[RobinH]

The car has had dealership services, plus they have had it in for repair many times, and I know of at least two occasions when they would of had to charge the car, as when it was recovered to them, the range left was very low, I am a bit surprised that they did not pick up on the bungs earlier.

Completely agree. Surprising, and I would argue negligent on their part. If the absence of rubber bungs is cause to refuse a warranty claim their absence should absolutely have been picked up and noted (with a quote to replace) in a service.

 

[gaza123]

Completely agree. Surprising, and I would argue negligent on their part. If the absence of rubber bungs is cause to refuse a warranty claim their absence should absolutely have been picked up and noted (with a quote to replace) in a service.

I hundred per cent agree, but I reckon they would argue that it was not part of the service to check the bungs were in place, to be honest, I am not even sure what they do on a service, if it is classed as a general overview and check of the car, then yes, this should have been picked up in my opinion as well.

 

[gaza123]

Just found my service report from a few weeks ago, one of the checks was...."connect vehicle to HV charge point to ensure charging system is fully functional".....why did they not mention in their notes that there was no bungs in place??

 

[Gadget Geek]

Just found my service report from a few weeks ago, one of the checks was...."connect vehicle to HV charge point to ensure charging system is fully functional".....why did they not mention in their notes that there was no bungs in place??

Got them bang to rights.

 

[EX MG Owner]

As people have said the gen 2 has really good plugs\covers which security clipped into place and worked perfectly .

 

[Lovemyev]

.why did they not mention in their notes that there was no bungs in place??

Quote the line item on the sheet ( which if ticked is done ) and challenge why it was not picked up ?.
Of course, they are likely to say the bungs were present at the time of the service !.

 

[gaza123]

Quote the line item on the sheet ( which if ticked is done ) and challenge why it was not picked up ?.
Of course, they are likely to say the bungs were present at the time of the service !.

LOL, they have had the car virtually minus one day since that service was carried out.

True what you say though, as I say phoned them up and asked if the technicians were competent, and he said yes, fully trained blah blah blah. I asked that if there was something amiss, would they pick up on it....yes of course they would he said. So then, the killer question, I asked, for something that is being refused under warranty, why on earth did your technicians not pick up on this to forewarn me, it was ticked as done, and nothing in the notes to highlight this issue, he then said some rude comments and said I would have to speak to the branch manager and slammed the phone down.

I honestly do not know whether this gives me a genuine argument to challenge the fact that I have to pay hundreds of pounds to get it repaired???

 

[gaza123]

This will be a pretty long message, forgive me lol.
56 days ago I was at the end of my rope with this car and had to miss work for the fourth time because of the car, I work approximately 40 miles away. So I phoned the finance company and said I wanted to reject the car. The dealership has virtually had this car since then. I sent all the RAC reports to the finance company and updated them that the dealership was investigating the issues. The finance company has 56 days to decide on my claim. On day 45 or so, the finance company advised me that the dealership was not replying to emails, and we are still none the wiser about the fault. This puts me in a massive dilemma, as I have researched that as I have had the car over six months, the onus is on me to prove that this fault was there at the point of sale. Anyway, the 56 days elapsed, this Wednesday just gone, and the finance company called me to say the claim was unsuccessful as I have not proved the fault was there at the point of sale...per the Consumer Credit Act 2015. I said how on earth can I prove that it was not when nobody knows what the fault is!! To rub salt in the wounds, the very next day at 8.15 am the dealership rings up saying I need to pay approx 1500 pounds as they have discovered, literally hours later from the finance company's deadline what the fault is. The thing is, this was a massive amount of money for us as a family to spend on a vehicle, trust me, and yet instead of trouble-free driving and experience, it has been an absolute nightmare. Never having owned an electric car in the past, how on earth was I meant to know that bungs were meant to go there, and the things were not even there in the first place. Sorry for the whine, had to vent somewhere, at least I have my health and am still smiling, worse things happen at sea and all that.