[Madrid Ion]

Hello everyone.

Some advice, please!

I have a (much loved) 2011 Peugeot Ion.

Recently the car stopped mid-drive, and the yellow "!" car warning light appeared on the dashboard. The car restarted and we were able to drive home. But now the car won't charge, the warning light stays on, sometimes the car will drive for a few meters but then stop, sometimes it won't drive at all.

The local Peugeot garage took the car. They replaced the 12V starter battery. This did not fix the problem.

They say they have run some diagnostics and are convinced that the "electrical convertor" has failed and needs to be replaced at a cost of €6894.

I am not 100% convinced that their mechanics know anything about the Ion, or indeed any electric cars. I worry there may be a much simpler, cheaper solution that they are missing. Before I consider paying this much money, does anyone have any alternative solutions?

Thank you.

Neil, Madrid

 

[andrew*debbie]

At that price you would be better off scrapping it and buying something else!

Paging @Grumpy-b

 

[richi]

Does this sound like the classic "bad capacitor causes fuse to blow" problem?

 

[Spiny]

Oops! this is in Spain, do you have a local independent ev specialist?

 

[DBMandrake]

Does this sound like the classic "bad capacitor causes fuse to blow" problem?

It does.

One way to check would be to put a volt meter across the 12v battery when the car is turned off, take note of the voltage (which should be around 12 - 13 volts) and then turn the car on to ready to drive mode, ensuring that the green READY does in fact appear.

Normally this should instantly raise the voltage to 14.2 - 14.6 volts, if the voltage does not rise or drops then the DC/DC converter is not working which very likely means the 20 amp fuse in the MCU is blown and the disc capacitors in the OBC have blown. This is what happened to mine. I was able to repair mine for the cost of a new fuse, (which I had to order from Japan) some capacitors and some black silicon sealant to re-pot the capacitor area, (since you have to dig it all out to get at them) however I have a fair bit of electronics repair experience - it's not a job for an electronics newbie, but any competent electronics repairer should be able to do it if they are given the right information on the fault and how to repair it.

@Madrid Ion do you have access to a volt meter to do this initial test?

 

[Alex Haldane]

Ask for the old 12v battery back as a spare (seems like there was nothing wrong with it).

It does sound like the blown capacitor/fuse issue which can easily be repaired for a few very cheap components and some labour.

Can it take a rapid charge?

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

 

[freddym]

Hello everyone.

Some advice, please!

I have a (much loved) 2011 Peugeot Ion.

Recently the car stopped mid-drive, and the yellow "!" car warning light appeared on the dashboard. The car restarted and we were able to drive home. But now the car won't charge, the warning light stays on, sometimes the car will drive for a few meters but then stop, sometimes it won't drive at all.

The local Peugeot garage took the car. They replaced the 12V starter battery. This did not fix the problem.

They say they have run some diagnostics and are convinced that the "electrical convertor" has failed and needs to be replaced at a cost of €6894.

I am not 100% convinced that their mechanics know anything about the Ion, or indeed any electric cars. I worry there may be a much simpler, cheaper solution that they are missing. Before I consider paying this much money, does anyone have any alternative solutions?

Thank you.

Neil, Madrid

As a first move, install HOBDRIVE for Android on your phone, get a suitable OBDII Bluetooth dongle and note the DTC codes that HOBDRIVE reports. This is a poor man's fault diagnostics programme but surprisingly effective.!

 

[Madrid Ion]

It does.

One way to check would be to put a volt meter across the 12v battery when the car is turned off, take note of the voltage (which should be around 12 - 13 volts) and then turn the car on to ready to drive mode, ensuring that the green READY does in fact appear.

Normally this should instantly raise the voltage to 14.2 - 14.6 volts, if the voltage does not rise or drops then the DC/DC converter is not working which very likely means the 20 amp fuse in the MCU is blown and the disc capacitors in the OBC have blown. This is what happened to mine. I was able to repair mine for the cost of a new fuse, (which I had to order from Japan) some capacitors and some black silicon sealant to re-pot the capacitor area, (since you have to dig it all out to get at them) however I have a fair bit of electronics repair experience - it's not a job for an electronics newbie, but any competent electronics repairer should be able to do it if they are given the right information on the fault and how to repair it.

@Madrid Ion do you have access to a volt meter to do this initial test?

Thanks for the feedback.

I will attempt to ask the garage to run this test. In parallel I'll continue my search for a decent EV repair shop in Madrid.