Dealer Bricked my Leaf?

[RecklessMaker]

Update!
After almost 6 months, I finally got an ETA on a replacement battery. At the end of January and out of the blue, Nissan called to say the replacement battery would arrive late April or early May. Additionally, they are providing a loaner and gas until then.

Fast-forward to now, and a lot has happened in the last week. TL;DR: Nissan may have shipped two defective, reman 30kWh batteries instead of a new 40kWh.

On Saturday (3/9) I called the dealer to ask that they power on the car so that my pay-per-mile insurance could get a signal from it. At the end of that call they mentioned that the replacement battery had already shipped. A whole 1-2 months ahead of schedule!

Then on Tuesday (3/12) I get a call from the dealer I originally brought the car to saying that the battery had arrived and asking to bring the car back. That first dealer bricked the car then gave me the runaround for months afterward, so I absolutely did not want them touching it again. In a follow-up text, the service advisor also said that the battery can't be transferred to the new dealer because it is VIN-specific. Though this dealer had gotten literally everything else wrong up to this point, I was still concerned. During that months-long runaround, "can't" more often meant "can't be bothered". So I left the new dealer voicemail yesterday (3/14) asking whether this was the battery they had been tracking.

The old dealer really wanted to make the battery go away ASAP, so I called the new dealer again this morning (3/15). They said that they had received the battery and installed it last night, but that Nissan had just issued them a stop-work order because the replacement battery is somehow defective. They have been ordered not to touch the car, Nissan has a specialist working on a fix, and they will call me back on Monday (3/18) or Tuesday (3/19) with more information.
The one loose end was that they didn't seem 100% confident that the battery they installed came from the previous dealer. So, I called that dealer to confirm. Unsurprisingly, nobody picked up the phone. However, they did return my voicemail surprisingly quickly (especially considering it was the only voicemail they have ever returned). The service manager "confirmed" (doubt) that they still have the battery they received on Monday (3/11), and that Nissan had sent out an email regarding my vehicle. He couldn't find the email to read to me, but he summarized it as "not to install the 30kWh batteries as of right now. [unintelligible] ...once the battery is installed, the check engine light could pop on."

This seems to be the issue that the other dealer was referring to. If true, it does not inspire confidence. Worse, he said it was a 30 kWh pack, not 40. If that's the case, it's probably a remanufactured pack. Last I heard, Nissan discontinued production of the 30 kWh pack years ago.

The service manager also said that the new dealer shouldn't have received a battery for my car. That either the new dealer is mistaken or that they installed the wrong battery. On the one hand, this makes sense; I would expect Nissan to have some sort of check preventing two replacement batteries being issued to the same car at the same time. On the other hand, having worked in a giant company myself, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't. This dealer has also been wrong before, so I take everything they say with a mountain of salt. In fact, if true, this would be the first thing they've been right on.

So that's where I'm at! Seems like there's more than a little chaos at Nissan HQ at the moment.

 

[RecklessMaker]

Every time my 2012 Leaf has trouble starting, the problem is resolved by recharging / replacing the 12 volt battery. The dashboard lights come on but the motor will not start when the problem occurs.

Sounds like you have confirmed the 12 volt battery is NOT the culprit in your case. Is that correct?

I suspect it was the culprit originally, but it isn't anymore. After months of baking in the Arizona sun at 4% SoC, I suspect one or more of the cells has swollen. The isolation fault currently being thrown is genuine; it was not fixed by replacing the 12V and resetting the computers.

 

[Bombastinator2]

Howdy All,

At the beginning of August I picked up a used 2016 S (30kWh). It's in good shape, but the battery was below 9 bars so I took it in for a warranty replacement. The dealer ran their tests, confirmed that the battery was indeed eligible for warranty replacement, and submitted the claim to Nissan. They said it could be up to 10 months for a new battery, so I could have the car in the meantime. However, when I went to pick it up, the traction battery was completely dead and would no longer charge. Plugged in my OBD scanner and the reason is an isolation fault. (P0AA6, codes attached

)

Here's where things get dicey. The dealer has been no help whatsoever at this point. When I asked what they did to the car that made it no longer charge, they essentially couldn't tell me. My service writer just kept repeating "the battery is bad" and threatened to charge for additional diagnostics when I pushed further. Basically "you're getting a new battery for free, what more do you want from us?"

The thing is that it looks like I won't be getting a new battery. Nissan called on 9/29 to request some paperwork so they could make a buyback offer. The possibility of getting a 40 kWh G1 Leaf is incredibly tantalizing given what I paid for the car, but the Nissan rep was letting nothing slip regarding any potential ETA on a new battery. She wouldn't even say whether it was even possible. In the meantime I'm still making payments on the car and paying for insurance even though it's undriveable and the dealer is either unable or unwilling to provide a loaner.

I have been back to the dealer multiple times since, but it has been aggravating to say the least. Went back on Saturday 9/30 to pull codes and get photos for the buyback, only to find that they had moved the car to the back lot. They said to come back at 10AM Monday (10/2) and they'd have the car moved the car out front for photos. Went back on Monday to find that they hadn't moved the car, and the service writer was now threatening to charge an hour of labor to do so. Thankfully the service manager came over and he seemed more amiable. He made me an appointment to speak with the Leaf tech first thing the next morning, and in the meantime he promised to try charging the car on 110V (only tried 240 and CHAdeMO at the dealer).

I arrived at 8AM sharp on 10/3, but the service writer was a no-show (I suspect he realized he was outmatched). After waiting for half an hour, the service manager comes out. He had forgotten to put the car on 110 and the Leaf tech was busy. I asked that he still ask the tech a) what did they do to the car? and b) why won't the car charge? After several more minutes, he came back with 'answers'. Supposedly they did nothing to the car other than read the reported capacity from the computer. And the car won't charge because the car locks out charging once the battery degrades below 75% capacity for safety reasons.

Needless to say, I don't believe either answer. What he might have meant by the second one is that the car disables charging if the voltage of one or more cells drops too low. While one of the cells was significantly lower than the others (2.797V), LeafSpy still says 'All Cells OK'. Either way, he was adamant that there was nothing they did that would have cause this issue. He did promise to have the tech pull and charge the 12V battery then try charging the car on 110V, but I wasn't confident. I have been unable to reach them since.

So now my questions. Beyond the obvious 'what should I do?', I'd like to know what the capacity test procedure is. Are they required to drive the car or disconnect anything or was the service manager correct?

I'd also like to know what the chances might be of actually getting a new battery. Has anyone actually gotten one recently or is that a thing of the past?

Smells like lawyer time. (Though I am neither a lawyer nor do I know much about leafs) It would at least tell you how the dealer thinks they can get away with that. Remember, the dealer is not Nissan. Nissan probably doesn’t even like the dealer.

 

[RecklessMaker]

Howdy All!

I am extremely happy to report that my battery replacement saga is finally over! On Thursday (4/11) I got an email from my Nissan rep saying that the replacement battery was 3-4 weeks out. Naturally, the dealer called less than 24 hours later to say that the car was ready for pickup.

Even better: when I got the car I saw that it not only had all 12 bars back, but also had far more range than I had ever seen!



Sure enough, I checked in LeafSpy and the car is reporting a capacity of just over 38kWh! I cannot express how much of a relief it is to finally be done with this whole ordeal.

Well, mostly. Having sat for 8 months, the tires are flat-spotted and the interior is super dusty (as evidenced by the photo above), though the dealer did run it through the car wash which was appreciated. I also still have to fix the minor, unrelated issues that were present when I bought the car (namely missing floor mats and broken door handle chrome), and the answer the big question. That being which EV to keep.

With all the issues people have been having with even the latest Leafs, I'm not confident that the new battery will last any longer than the one in my 2012 Ford Focus Electric. That leaves range and fast charging as the only pros of the Leaf. The Ford is just a better driving experience overall; with better acceleration, a nicer (and quieter) interior, and more features. However, the new battery and fast charging are such big strengths that the margin by which I prefer the Ford is razor thin.

So, my question is this: can my Leaf be improved? Perhaps by adding some sound-proofing or retrofitting some features of the SL. The barren center console is probably the biggest pain point.

 

[FinnishCoffee]

So, my question is this: can my Leaf be improved? Perhaps by adding some sound-proofing or retrofitting some features of the SL. The barren center console is probably the biggest pain point.

A infotainnent system upgrade would geit you quite far, being an S trim it is actually possible. Also sound deadening will help for sure.