I'm in Toronto, and we have gotten an early blast of winter. Every time I have charged my car when it has been below 0C the tab that holds the charge cable in has gotten frozen and will not release the cable. What I had to do is from inside the trunk I pulled back the felt liner then removed the the orange cover from the back of the charge port and heated it until it released.
To try and fix it I warmed it thoroughly then blew out any moisture by blowing compressed air down the charge port from outside. There was moisture. I tried to dry it with a heat gun to try and dry any remaining moisture and sprayed some lubricating oil in it similar to wd40. This didnt work, the cord still refused to come out. This time I was at work and luckily I had a small heater with me and access to 110v power. I warmed it and it released.
So then the update came out where the tab is suppossed to relase after it is done charging. I charged overnight and sure enough it was frozen it the morning. So now I've had enough. I got out the tools and started to take the charge port apart to figure out a fix. I removed the 3 x 10mm bolts holding the charge port to the car. I could then pull the mechanism slightly back from the car to take a better look, but you can only pull it back a little bit because of the large wires. When I pulled it back I could see a power cord going to the solenoid that controls the tab. So I unplugged it and put everything back together and plugged it in. It charged but only at 16 amps from my HPWC which is set at 40 amps. It also gave an error saying cord may not be inserted properly.
OK, still determined to fix it, I took it apart again. I noticed that the solenoid would wiggle and is only held in by a tab on the bottom of it. So I took a screwdriver and held the tab back and wiggled the whole solenoid out. It was a bit of a struggle, and I was worried I might break it, but I got it out. I then plugged in the solenoid and just left it hanging. I put it all back together, reset the car, and what do ya know, it starts charging at 40 amps.
So sure now my cord wont lock, but I rarely supercharge and at work our lot is gated and not open to the public. Until a real fix is found i will leave it like this
To try and fix it I warmed it thoroughly then blew out any moisture by blowing compressed air down the charge port from outside. There was moisture. I tried to dry it with a heat gun to try and dry any remaining moisture and sprayed some lubricating oil in it similar to wd40. This didnt work, the cord still refused to come out. This time I was at work and luckily I had a small heater with me and access to 110v power. I warmed it and it released.
So then the update came out where the tab is suppossed to relase after it is done charging. I charged overnight and sure enough it was frozen it the morning. So now I've had enough. I got out the tools and started to take the charge port apart to figure out a fix. I removed the 3 x 10mm bolts holding the charge port to the car. I could then pull the mechanism slightly back from the car to take a better look, but you can only pull it back a little bit because of the large wires. When I pulled it back I could see a power cord going to the solenoid that controls the tab. So I unplugged it and put everything back together and plugged it in. It charged but only at 16 amps from my HPWC which is set at 40 amps. It also gave an error saying cord may not be inserted properly.
OK, still determined to fix it, I took it apart again. I noticed that the solenoid would wiggle and is only held in by a tab on the bottom of it. So I took a screwdriver and held the tab back and wiggled the whole solenoid out. It was a bit of a struggle, and I was worried I might break it, but I got it out. I then plugged in the solenoid and just left it hanging. I put it all back together, reset the car, and what do ya know, it starts charging at 40 amps.
So sure now my cord wont lock, but I rarely supercharge and at work our lot is gated and not open to the public. Until a real fix is found i will leave it like this
