Charging fault, charging port locked and won't let go

[dmcquigg]

jcorado: I came up with a permanent solution. After using the 90 degree hook as I described above, I was able to remove the charging cable. Then (this is on my home charger) I drilled out a little bit of the plastic locking hook on the charger, so that in case that little pin doesn't retract, I can still pull the cable out. Works every time.

 

[FrancoZimmerli]

I do have the same problem on my 2015 E-Golf, the solution is pressing the unlock button on the remote one time, turn on the ignition and turn it off again. Then press the unlock button one more time, it will release the charger.
That's my solution till VW finds the fix for the problem.

 

[TimH]

I have a premium 2015 eGolf with all the bells and whistles and have the same problem I'm currently sitting at the dealer waiting for them to go through a series of diagnostics with someone at VW headquarters. This is the third time at the VW dealer in the past three months for a stuck charger - the first two required towing to the dealer. I've also had to bring it in for a failed A/C system. My eGolf only has 13,000 miles on it - shouldn't be having this many problems on a new car. When my lease runs out, I'm definitely looking into the new Leaf or another electric. Too bad - there's a lot of nice features to the eGolf like the nice shift handle and four regenerative braking modes.

 

[Igor]

2015 SEL owner here, got the charging fault red light this morning in my garage. Found this post and fashioned a 90 degree bend with a wire hanger and was able to release the cable. Applied silicon spray to metal pin and plug and unplug several time, it seem to work fine for now.

 

[dlaituri]

The 90° pick solution worked great - thanks! I had all of the same symptoms listed here for my 2015:

1) You need a stiff wire, 6" long with a 90° bend and a 1" long tip - 7" of wire total. The Home Depot pics could work or you could make one out of coat hanger wire.

2) The silver metal locking pin is at the very top of the socket and you can't see it from any angle. It's small, maybe 1/8" in diameter

3) I inserted the 1" bent tip blindly between the charging plug shield and the socket with the tip in the 10:00 position.

4) I blindly rotated the bent tip until I touched the locking pin, then made a few in/out motions to try to push the pin back into the socket. Didn't know what I was doing, so I fished around.

5) It seemed that the pin was lightly 'stuck', and wouldn't slide back on it's own... just needed to be lightly 'nudged' a bit. Odd, because when you pull on a locked connector you'd expect that pin to larger and require more force to deal with.

6) Some WD 40 and it works smoothly now - saved a week in the garage and full tear down.

Suggestion to EVERYONE - a shot of WD 40 on that pin now, followed by a lock/unlock/lock/unlock sequence, should save it from happening in the first place.

Oh, and put your new bent wire in your glove box just in case.

UPDATE: This kept happening, but ONLY with the 110V home charger. The wire 'nudging' trick described above worked, but got tedious (particularly in pouring rain) - so I clipped the latch tab on the end of the plug with a pair of wire cutters, problem solved forever (obviously)! I'm an engineer and it looks like there is interference between the metal locking pin on the car side (photo in a previous post) and the latch tab on the plug side... it seems to stick, even get hung up entirely forcing some to have to be towed back to VW. A design/quality flaw... snip off that locking tab and you'll be good forever!

 

[JoulesThief]

2015 SEL owner here, got the charging fault red light this morning in my garage. Found this post and fashioned a 90 degree bend with a wire hanger and was able to release the cable. Applied silicon spray to metal pin and plug and unplug several time, it seem to work fine for now.

/\ This, DONT use WD40, it's fish oil based and will attract dust and dirt and all kinds of bad stuff on that pin. Use Silicon spray.

 

[95GLX]

I finally had this issue this morning on my 2015 e-Golf. The dreaded red light of not wanting to unlock. I did a full scan of the car with my VCDS but didn't want to manually push the locking pin to retract if I didn't have too. The car sat all day yesterday as I drove my beater 2004 VW R32 to get its annual inspection completed. It also sat in this little tropical storm we got on the East Coast of North Carolina so I was not sure if that had something to do with it. The kids were also playing outside when I got home and I did get a service maybe required message on the VW CAR-Net app on my phone while I was at work. I didn't think much of it as I had a nail in a tire the day prior that I patched and it set off the TPMS alert that I promptly reset.

Anyway-the fix. I did the full scan, just showed the locking mechanism fault. I blew the rain water away from the charging port with a nozzle from my air compressor in the garage and tried again and still no unlock. Multiple, lock/unlock attempts from the key fob and both doors-no luck! Opened the breaker for the charger outlet and unplugged the charger-no luck. Adjusted the plug a hair this way, a hair that way-No luck. You could here it trying but it just wouldn't fully retract the pin.

So-after thinking what else I could do besides using the scribe to push the pin in I had a bright idea. It is obviously hung up, so what does something need when it is hung up now and again? A Fonzi Tap! Yes, I gave it a Fonzi tap just above the charger door and it released. No joke. Will this work every time? Who knows but worth adding it to the list of things to try.

I also gave it a little lube and lubed up the tab on my charger plug as well since that is what it makes contact with. On my daily public charger now so praying there are no issues there.

Video:
https://youtu.be/Z8cwR_vrarQ

 

[forbin404]

But can that Fonzi tap work on the soda machine?

Good job BTW

 

[JoulesThief]

There are going to be folks that don't know what a Fonzi tap is. Didn't watch the show. Also be careful, too much force, and that sheet metal will push in, and you'll have a dent, if you have anger management issues and are frustrated.

 

[95GLX]

That's why I posted a quick vid, I was thinking the same thing. User beware, not responsible for too much machismo! Oh and don't forget to say, "HEYYY!" when you do it.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

2015 SEL owner here, got the charging fault red light this morning in my garage. Found this post and fashioned a 90 degree bend with a wire hanger and was able to release the cable. Applied silicon spray to metal pin and plug and unplug several time, it seem to work fine for now.

/\ This, DONT use WD40, it's fish oil based and will attract dust and dirt and all kinds of bad stuff on that pin. Use Silicon spray.

I think that WD40 is denatured kerosene, but you are correct that it will get sticky over time.

 

[PacBlue]

I was also experiencing an unability to remove the charging cable from the car, tried EVERYTHING - including an emergency procedure detailed in the owners manual (press the unlock button on the key fob and full charge button next to the charge port) and it just would not unlock. Called VWOA customer service to no avail. I did see what looked like a small cylinder or post above the J1772 nozzle on the car that stuck out, pushed it in with a solid plastic stick and voila it unlocked ! — then took it in to my VW dealer. Here is the long term fix - not documented in the owners manual at all. To unlock the charger, you first unlock the car outside with the key fob or pressing the drivers door handle then press the unlock button INSIDE the car - this seems to always work now, go figure ?

Still love the car but the locking charger cable seems to have had a mind of its own - not sure if this is just specific to MY 2015 e-Golf or later cars as well, as this was frustrating to say the least thought it was worth sharing my own experience, car is always garaged and have owned it for 10 months, first time that I’ve had any real issue with it.

 

[GadgetGav]

I have to say, this is one big improvement on the 2107 model. I just changed from my 2015 to a 2017 and the unlocking of the charge cable is much more reliable. I often had to manually shut off the charger and then re-unlock the car, sometimes many times, to get the light to go out and the charger to unlock in the 2015. So far in the 2017 (it's only been 2 weeks) the charger has shut down and the port has unlocked every time I unlock the car.

 

[JoulesThief]

I have to say, this is one big improvement on the 2107 model. I just changed from my 2015 to a 2017 and the unlocking of the charge cable is much more reliable. I often had to manually shut off the charger and then re-unlock the car, sometimes many times, to get the light to go out and the charger to unlock in the 2015. So far in the 2017 (it's only been 2 weeks) the charger has shut down and the port has unlocked every time I unlock the car.

That's great to hear. Probably a re engineer on the design of the latching device that makes it more reliable, and a modified part number that ends in a "A" or "B" designating that it supercedes the old design.

Overall, so far, how do you like your 2017? Have you tested the range on what you got on your 2015 between a recharge, and your 2017 yet? I regularly get 100 to 105 miles on a charge on my 2015, with 10 to 15 miles let on the guess o meter. Using that as a baseline, I suspect i could probably get 160 to 170 on a 2017 e-Golf, still leaving 10 to 15 miles of range left on the battery, driving surface streets and Blvds, no freeways or highways.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

I used silicon spray, and it has been consistent since.

 

[egolf2017toronto]

If this ever happened on my 2017 I would be very, very, very pissed. To have this happen on any vehicle and to have to mess with pins and locksmith-style tools to disconnect the EVSE cable is just ridiculous. This should be one of those things in the car that just works smoothly, 100% of the time.

 

[JoulesThief]

If this ever happened on my 2017 I would be very, very, very pissed. To have this happen on any vehicle and to have to mess with pins and locksmith-style tools to disconnect the EVSE cable is just ridiculous. This should be one of those things in the car that just works smoothly, 100% of the time.

Then you probably shouldn't own a German car. Plan ahead on being a pissed off owner.

It's even more ridiculous to get upset about something that hasn't even happened to you yet, or been displayed as a common occurence in a 2017. I own my 2015 SEL, and most of the problems can be attributed to human error, tugging on the handle before pushing the keyfob button or the remote button inside the port.

The Germans at VW, Porsche and Audi design things because they can, not because they should. This is particularly true at Robert Bosch, who probably make that charging port. Or perhaps Pierburg makes it. But, on VW, it's generally Robert Bosch for electrical devices and Heitz for locks.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

If this ever happened on my 2017 I would be very, very, very pissed. To have this happen on any vehicle and to have to mess with pins and locksmith-style tools to disconnect the EVSE cable is just ridiculous. This should be one of those things in the car that just works smoothly, 100% of the time.

I have done this with my pocketknife. Having a light to see the pin is the hardest part.

It is a big pain, and very frustrating.

 

[f1geek]

I completely agree that this should NEVER happen. Though I would be curious as to how often a Tesla S or X driver has this problem, because the Tesla plug locks, too. The question is: Does the car designer care about achieving 100% reliabilty. I assume that Tesla designers shoot for 100% while my sense is that VW designers are probably targeting something more like 80% as building EVs are not a priority for VW right now.

 

[miimura]

I completely agree that this should NEVER happen. Though I would be curious as to how often a Tesla S or X driver has this problem, because the Tesla plug locks, too. The question is: Does the car designer care about achieving 100% reliabilty. I assume that Tesla designers shoot for 100% while my sense is that VW designers are probably targeting something more like 80% as building EVs are not a priority for VW right now.

I frequent the Tesla forums and have not heard of the Tesla charge port getting stuck and not letting go of a charging cord. Also, I have not heard of European e-Golf owners having this issue either. The Type-2 socket on the European cars also has an integrated charge port lock. The mechanism is an integral part of the functioning of the Type-2 socket, but is somewhat of an add-on for J1772 inlets. It is only required on the SAE-Combo (CCS Type-1) inlets, not AC-only J1772. Now I'm curious how the lock works on the Chevy Bolt.