Slimsalabim

I found this pdf written by A123 in 2013. This showed me where the contactors were and that it should be easily (carefully) done. Slim A123 battery Info.pdf

There was a guy in a diy electric forum that replaced his 100 amp contactor with a 200 amp one. Wonder if you got his truck?

Thanks, but I wish that was the issue. I had them send me a data logger and we found a contactor in the battery pack is bad. They wanted me to ship the truck to Utah to have it fixed, then layer said just the battery. I've finally convinced them to let me bring it to the dealer and have their EV tech do it. It's not a terrible repair that both Volts and Fisker Karma owners deal with. I don't have a lift to drop my battery (plus I've lowered my truck 5 inches), so a dealer it is. It's taken forever for them to allow me to get the information to drop the battery. I'm still waiting on a liability release form to allow 3rd party repairs which had been maddening, but I'm happy to get the help I'm getting. Slim

He can confirm, but it was govdeals or something like that.

I followed that auction. It was either 9 or 11 grand before fees. Super awesome price honestly.

Their tech line is really good. The guy I work with now is Ryan James. I'll keep you posted. Slim

No need yet. I had to rent a data logger and perform some steps to record what the truck does, then ship it back. I'm going to hear something by Friday. Did you get that truck your selling out of Florida? Slim

Hope you have luck with this. My truck had a charging fault this week. This has been resolved in the past by cleaning the leads on the plug or blowing out my charging cable since my truck sits outside year round. While checking some fuses and relays in the hybrid fuse panel, I managed to disable the driver mode of the truck. Travis sent me document to troubleshoot the charging fault and that appears to be a resistor on the charging plug has gone bad. He hasn't been able to provide guidance on the drive enabler issue yet.

That's great news! For $70, I'd roll the dice as well. Good luck!

I saw that auction. You got a great price on that thing. Reach out to Via Motors. Their tech line is really helpful. You'll likely have to rent diagnostic equipment from them to understand what failed, then go from there. Sorry I can't be more help. Please let me know what you find! Slim

Thad, I bought my truck for the same reasons you talked about. I needed gas mileage and this truck had that plus low miles, seating for 6, and satisfied my irrational want of a pickup. I dove head first into buying knowing I would likely have to fix things myself when they broke. Buying one of these is a huge risk, especially if you can't/ won't tackle problems when they inevitably arise. The truck is a series hybrid which means it's always driven by the batteries. If the hybrid components fail, the truck will not drive. There's no transmission, so the electric motor has to function to move the truck. On my other thread, there's a guy who's battery died with low miles on it. He paid to ship it to Utah, get the battery replaced, then ship it back. It was crazy expensive to do that. You can search for hybrid/ev service shops in your area and see if they've had experience with these trucks or more likely the components installed in the truck. Here's a list of components put together by another Vtrux owner. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xFRTP8Wd0X-TawGd8yX23xAub034FJCL0gnJw3Xnfn8/edit?usp=drivesdk Slim

If no one locally will touch it, reach out to Via Motors (the company that converted the truck) at: Vehicle Service Number: 844-4-VIA-TEC (844-484-2832). They rent out scan tools to troubleshoot the hybrid side of the truck, but this all sounds like it's the Chevy side of it. Another option would be to a service shop that specializes in hybrid/electric vehicles. I googled "michigan hybrid service shops" and found numerous shops. Start there and call around. Standard auto shops are likely scared of the Vtrux and don't want to open a can of worms that can't fix. Hybrid service shops are likely going to be excited to just see a Vtrux, let alone work on it. Good Luck! Slim

That's frustrating as hell. What was their explanation for this? Can't they correct it? I have an OBD2 reader plugged into my port all the time that's hooked up through Bluetooth on my stereo. I use that to clear codes all the time because the truck just randomly throws them (mostly transmission codes). The speedometer not working is one I would think any shop could correct though if you're not interested in using the dealer again. Keep me posted if you want on your truck! Slim

The silverado aspects of the truck can be services at the dealer. The hybrid portion of the truck is technology from Via Motors and the dealer cannot service it. You can rent diagnostic equipment from Via if you have issues though. If you're looking at purchasing one of these trucks, you need to be ready to tackle issues yourself as it's just a research and development platform. Slim

Because the truck is just a w/t, there's almost no options on it. It has basic power options and cruise control, but aside from the G80 rear axle, nothing else. This meant the radio was awful. I wanted a tesla screen, but the little things about it were bugging me. Because I don't have dual climate control or heated seats, I didn't really need either of them to be digital. I also hated the fact that the screen moved the volume to the passenger side. Then, the price was just so much. Instead, I shopped on Ali Express and came across this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000922321153.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.21ef18025RP3MO This got me a 10" screen and Android Auto while maintaining a factory look. I also changed out all the door speakers for some Rockford Fosgate R165X3, then some Kenwood dash speakers (KFC-X2C), and added an Infinity basslink under the center front seat. The screen is an Android tablet, so if you don't want to use carplay, you can hotspot it off your phone to do standard internet things (youtube, netflix, etc). Pointless things for myself when I'm driving, but super great when I have the kids in the truck. The sound is probably on par with a factory Bose setup, but I listen to audiobooks most days now so it's good enough. I have about a thousand dollars into the whole stereo at this point. The next thing I need to install is this 360 degree camera. I'll post that after it gets installed. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001419631649.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.0.0.21ef1802t7da91

Hi guys, If you saw the title and were wondering wth a Vtrux is, please see my intro thread here: Short story is the truck is a Silverado that's been converted to a plug-in hybrid. It operates similarly to a Chevy Volt. I bought it on a whim because it was cheap and good on gas (my best mpg so far is 119mpg!). This thread is my documentation of my modifications and likely weird issues I'll likely have with this thing. This is how I bought it. A 2014 CCSB with 17k miles on it. Leveling kit, 33" Nittos on Black Rhino wheels, and a Smittybilt bumper. Great looking truck, but the big tires aren't great for EV range and I really like the look of a lowered truck. I installed an IHC 3/5 kit that's a flip kit and control arms. I wish I could've gone lower, but the battery pack and its housing (roll cage I guess?) sit so far down that I'm already 3.5" off the ground as it is. Here is the truck now: And this is a mini can, so Just over 3.5" to the 2"x4" steel tubing around the battery pack. If you're wondering, I have bottomed out on this a few times, but nothing I've worried about. You get used to it with lowered vehicles. I'm slowly changing things on the truck and will update this post accordingly. Regards, Slim

Alvaro, your best bet is to just get the code cleared before you go in. My truck throws random codes all the time. These trucks were sold to fleet and exempt from emissions and inspections. Best of luck. Slim

$24k trade in? Nice. I've had good luck with mine so far after 23k miles. I get 75-120mpg during the summer and about 35-45mpg in the dead of winter. If this can last me until there's more electric options, I'll be happy.

Sorry that I'm seeing this so late. Hope you were to find a resolution. I would assume you can find some used batteries since these are the same A123 batteries used in the Chevy Volt.

The VINs are just Silverado VIN. Not unique to Via Motors at all. I haven't been able to get any schematics, but I've been able to look up the parts based on the pn's on the components themselves. It does have braking regen. I don't know what you count as worthless, but I paid $23k for this last year and it only had 17k miles on it. Reasonably priced is still double that price right now, so I think I'll be just fine. I search AutoTempest.com or Proxybid.com. Use keyword: vtrux If you have a Volt, you'd dig this. It's rough around the edges, but it's been a cool vehicle for me. I just filled it up this week after putting over 1200 miles on just 10.5 gallons. See my reply above to find one for yourself. They're out if you're patient.

At least you got some feedback. What did you check so far? Sounds like it could just be a loose wire honestly. I talked with another Vtrux owner who had a coolant pump (for the batteries) that failed. He found that there was a broken wire to the pump and repaired it without issue. That coupler will always be loud. It's basically a dry clutch and the noise is part of the design. Ducati motorcycles have a dry clutch and their noise is part of the charm I guess (a neighbor noted the similarity to the noise my Vtrux makes). I never get that kind of mileage running just the engine. Maybe 15mpg. I wonder what the difference is? Slim Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Rugz, I would talk with a local chevy dealer that has a certified Volt technician. It sounds like Via is becoming more difficult to reach as they begin focusing on other projects now. 23mpg over 1k miles is really impressive. I'm assuming you're running the engine (generator) the whole time or are you charging in between too? Slim Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

I guess stupid is a relative term. You're buying a vehicle that's been converted from a factory production truck into an R&D platform (that they made about 250 of). You, like me, are making a gamble owning this truck. Whether or not you want to call it stupid depends on the person I would imagine. I've owned my Vtrux for about 9 months and 12k miles now. No issues yet, but know that's probably just luck. I haven't towed anything with mine, but I've put plenty of weight in the bed without issue. If you're doing a lot of long distance driving with this, you're going to be disappointed in the gas mileage. My Vtrux returned about 14mpg doing 80mph on 33" 10 ply tires on a 300 mile road trip. I got 20mpg doing 60 mph. I would expect worse when towing the Jetta. There not a lot of gauge to monitor the engine since those have been replaced with the battery monitoring gauges. An obd2 Bluetooth gauge setup would be something to check out to ensure everything is running okay when towing. Also, a brake controller is something you'll need as well (if it doesn't have one already). The Vtrux is annoyingly slow as I'm sure you've noticed. The power is cut from 0-30mph, so acceleration is maddening from a stand still. Passing requires lots of room as the power tapers off again at around 65mph to the 80mph cutoff (based on gps). The air conditioning and heater work much better when the generator (the gasoline engine) is running. Now that it's cold here in Minnesota, the heater on battery only is only adequate at 15 degrees F, so I'm not looking forward to when it gets really cold here. Same thing for the air conditioning. I would seriously consider tinted windows to help ease the burden on the ac. For towing, I would drive the truck in manual mode because there point in driving 30 miles in EV only, then doing several hundred on gas. On long trips, I put the shifter in M to keep the battery charged, then when I pull into gas stations or test stops, I put the shifter back into D because I don't like how loud the coupler between the engine and generator is at low speeds. I really dig my Vtrux. It's not as refined as an actual Silverado and Via Motors will tell you so. If you're an early adopter of new technology, this will be fun. If you thought you just bought a fuel efficient "Silverado", you may have made an error. My thoughts: Do the road trip and report back to us. Slim Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

They work a standard 8-5, so I'm guessing they they don't answer after that. I've never had an issue getting ahold of them. What kind of information are you looking for? Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

Put the shifter to M. Because there's no transmission, there's no manual mode. The tow/haul button doesn't do anything either. Selecting M allows you to run just the generator and maintain the current state of charge the batteries have at that time. Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk