2012 LEAF won't charge.

[LeftieBiker]

There is no shame in dumping a lemon with full disclosure.

 

[PHXLeaf16]

I guess part of me wanted to continue the quest to discover what was wrong with the vehicle and fix it. I took the easy way out.

This Leaf served me well for 3 1/2 years without a problem.
I'm already missing my electric car that only costs me 2 cents per mile in energy cost to operate.

I'd really enjoy having a Leaf Plus. The extra range would address my only complaint with my 2012 leaf (driving range), and the 8 year 100,000 warranty on the electrical system would give me peace of mind until 2027. Living in Phoenix and knowing that the new Leaf Plus battery is not liquid cooled, I'd be willing to bet that the battery will deteriorate to 8 bars long before 8/100k.

 

[LeafMama2018]

@joe6pack -- Could you provide an update on what ended up happening when you brought your 2012 to the Nissan dealer? Would love to know the outcome and approximate cost.

For all the rest on this chain, I too have a 2012 and just last week had the same issue begin @Joe6pack and @PHXLeaf16 describe with the AC input not charging and giving me the EV System light, until connected to Chatemo, which charges fine still and clears the error light.

Brought it in to the dealer today and they pulled the P3173 code all are mentioning.

I'm not feeling super comfortable with the level of service they can provide as they haven't ever seen this code before and want to start by pulling my entire car apart to replace a fuse. They say it will take replacing an entire part which cost around $3k and 4-6 hours of labor!!!

I called another Nissan dealership in Portland area (3.5 hours away through a mountain pass=10 hours on the road with this old leaf at 10 bar range) that works on these cars much more frequently and they advised it is likely the onboard charger which from my research is located in the rear of the 2012 models.

Here are my questions:
1) Is the first dealership out of their mind? Feel like they are based on this entire forum. But just wanted to confirm!
2) For others who have had this issue, did replacing the onboard charger fix the issue? How much labor and cost was it? (I am not a mechanic, but have no problem telling one how to do his/her job if I have the answers they don't!)
3) Worth spending the day on the road to have someone who knows Leafs work on it? Maybe rent a trailer and tow it over?
3) Am I safe to keep driving it with the charging issue?

Thanks for any help on this! Terrible timing for this to happen. :-(

 

[defenderred]

My leaf recently started to show the yellow caution symbol and refuse L1 &L2 charging. I can hear the usual chunk of the contactors except the final one.
My DTCs are the same ones:
B29C1 236C CHARGER EVSE VC-98
P3173 00C0 EV/HEV On Board Charger Sys EVC-236

Resetting the DTCs will clear the codes until I plug the car in again. I am pretty convinced that my OBC has failed and needs repair or replacement.

What say you fair internet people?

2012 Leaf with 70k miles. On second battery, 3 bars down after 2.5 years.

 

[LeafMama2018]

I too fear it is the OBC, however, it may also be a fuse. Let me know what you find out.

Check out the YouTube video link below. The mechanic diagnosed it as a d547 circuit was the fault on the top circuit board of the OBC.

https://youtu.be/5R4dGg8nIUs

Other have though maybe the diode? Or a fuse?

I took it in because it was doing the exact thing Your’s is and was told it would be 4-5 hours of labor (At $150/hour) to even diagnose it because the code is coming back as an error with the OBC, but is not specific to what. They suspected a fuse and they quoted me like 3k for the repair!!!! Nope!

I’ve just been going to the one Chatemo in town (free luckily) every day to charge. Not ideal, but saves me some $ on my electric bill.

If anyone else who experienced this and previously posted can also reply please on the outcome.

Good luck!

 

[baronvonshush]

So I experienced this issue last year on my 2011 - L1/L2 charging consistently failed, L3 worked fine, similar codes from LeafSpy. Long story short, I spent several months doing L3 charging at local EVgo stations, hoping to see if I could find a cheap and simple fix before resorting to the dealership. I followed the video already posted to try to determine if it was simply the diode, which does have a cheap and simple fix. Unfortunately, mine did not appear to be that problem because: resistance measurements didn't match with what would be expected for that issue, and my Nissan L1 EVSE also did not work (those with the diode issue were still able to charge using the Nissan EVSE or Aeroenvironment EVSEs, but no others).

After months I finally gave up and took it to the dealership. They replaced the OBC at a total cost of just over $2k. That hurt, but I figured it was much lower than the cost of replacing the vehicle, and I intend to drive this for many years as long as it easily covers my commute (the battery was replaced under warranty in 2015 with the newer pack at the time, and it's still in good shape at 11 bars). L1/L2 charging has worked flawlessly ever since the repair.

For those who may be lucky enough to have the diode issue which could be much cheaper to fix (if you're good with soldering or find a friend who is), here are a couple of links that were helpful in my research. I think there were probably more if you search around (I feel like there was one with pictures, but I didn't find it in 30 seconds of google).

https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=24696
https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=24560

 

[cwerdna]

After months I finally gave up and took it to the dealership. They replaced the OBC at a total cost of just over $2k. That hurt, but I figured it was much lower than the cost of replacing the vehicle, and I intend to drive this for many years as long as it easily covers my commute (the battery was replaced under warranty in 2015 with the newer pack at the time, and it's still in good shape at 11 bars). L1/L2 charging has worked flawlessly ever since the repair.

Bummer. Hope you decided to keep the bad OBC to see if someone is would like to buy it off you to fix it and maybe let you/MNL know what failed.

It certainly is possible that something else inside failed and maybe it's just not that well-known what on MNL.

 

[91040]

The OBC failure could still be the diode.
If the diode fails in a closed state, it still conducts, so an added diode will fix it.
If the diode fails in an open state, it won’t conduct, so it needs to be replaced on the circuit board.

 

[goldbrick]

Sorta, but it depends on whether the added diode is placed in series or parallel with the failed one. Usually, adding a part is much easier in parallel since you can just solder the new on top of the old part. To add one in series requires cutting the circuit somewhere and adding the new part, usually with new wires. At that point it is usually easier to just replace the part.

 

[coulomb]

Usually, adding a part is much easier in parallel since you can just solder the new on top of the old part.

True. But in this case, the diode is buried inside the OBC, and is considerable work to get to, probably including draining part of the cooling system. The pilot wire is moderately easy to get to, and when you do, you can easily cut the wire, solder in the new diode, heatshrink, put everything back and it's done.

 

[loduffy]

After months I finally gave up and took it to the dealership. They replaced the OBC at a total cost of just over $2k. That hurt, but I figured it was much lower than the cost of replacing the vehicle, and I intend to drive this for many years as long as it easily covers my commute (the battery was replaced under warranty in 2015 with the newer pack at the time, and it's still in good shape at 11 bars). L1/L2 charging has worked flawlessly ever since the repair.

Which dealer did you bring your car to? 2k is not bad. My 2011 is having the safe issue, and Nissan dealer here in San Diego is charging $3400 + tax to replace OBC. I know inflation has been bad for the last few years. But still.

Thanks!