Yo! OK, so, like, I have this 2017 Chevy Volt, and I’m happy with it. Well, pretty much. I mean, like, I had to put gas in the car TWICE LAST YEAR. I took it to the Chevy dealer and they acted like that was some kind of good news! As if! I know that gasoline will age and form like humongous molecular chains and stuff, so when I’m forced to PUT GASOLINE IN MY ELECTRIC CAR I also add fuel stabilizer. So does fuel stabilizer, like, have a half-life like nucular fuel? Do I need to add more over time? 'Cos the car computer now starts running the gasoline engine BECAUSE I HAVEN’T PUT ENOUGH FRESH GAS IN IT! I looked in the manual and couldn’t find how to explain that the fuel is stabilized so QUIT RUNNING THE GASOLINE ENGINE! I really don’t think the car computer is smarter than me, but IT WON’T STOP RUNNING THE GASOLINE ENGINE! I can hardly hear my free 10 days of Sirius XM! And I feel like a TOTAL GEEK going to a GAS STATION with my ELECTRIC CAR! Umm, OK, so I guess my questions come down to 1) how often do I need to put fuel stabilizer in my tank and 2) can I tell the car to STOP RUNNING THE GASOLINE ENGINE??? Thank you for your consideration.
check your owners manual to be sure, but I don’t think it’s necessary to add Sta-bil to the gas. The computer keeps track of when gas was added last, and it will run the gas engine periodically to make sure the gas doesn’t get stale. If it seems like the gas engine is running excessively, take it back to the dealership and let them take a look at it, as your car is still under warranty
The car is doing just what it supposed to do . I am not sure but I think it will only go about 50 miles on electric power before the gas engine kicks in. You don’t need stabilizer as the gas engine will run enough to use the fuel. as for not hearing the radio I can’t think there is that much noise .
It IS smarter than you. It runs the gasoline engine to drive off moisture that accumulates when it isn’t running.
No, you can’t. And stop yelling.
As much as GM wants to say otherwise, it is not an electric car, it is a hybrid car since it runs on both electric and gasoline.
If you wanted a car that never uses a gas engine, you should have gotten an electric car. You didn’t. You got a hybrid car. It uses both the engine and the battery to generate power.
As the others have said, it’s working as designed.
I have the same car as the OP. When my engine is running I can hardly tell, I have to go to the ECO page to confirm it is running. As far as “engine maintenance mode” is concerned, it doesn’t run the engine that long. If you think it’s stuck in MM just take it to your dealer.
The gas engine might need to be run from time to time for other reasons, in addition to keeping the fuel fresh. It seems best to me to let it do that as designed.
I know this is a stale thread, but in case someone else has this question, this sounds like the car is in Fuel Maintenance Mode (page 184 of the User Manual). In a nutshell, the car has determined that the fuel’s age has reached the limit of the car’s ability to preserve it (1 year), and requires it to be burned off and replaced until the average age of the fuel is acceptable to the computer. If you started with a full tank (about 9 gallons), allow the car to run on gas until the gauge reads 1/4 tank or less, then add 2 gallons. That will make the average age of the fuel 6 months, and you’ll have another six months to use this up and replace with fresh fuel. To answer your questions, 1) You NEVER need to put fuel stabilizer in your tank, 2) You must get the fuel’s age low enough to stop the engine from running. And yes, the car’s computer is smarter than you-- after all it was programmed by the people who designed and built the car; they know how best to maintain it.
I agree that the computer is smarter than the OP, but not because of the cars designers or builders.
The computer was programmed by people who were told what the parameters are by the engine designers. The people that build the car had nothing to do with the design or programming.