Leaf won't operate. Warning - Service EV System, Warning - Service EV System Unable to restart after power off

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
My Leaf displayed Warning Service EV System, Warning Service EV System Unable to restart after power off. tonight. Battery is 100% charged according to the dash display but the Battery symbol at the top right side of the dash is illuminated as are the warning lights for front and rear hazards.
The vehicle is a 2021 Leaf S Plus. I have 88K on the odometer and have never had anything other than tires installed. My battery pack does seem to be degraded and only shows 180-190 miles range when fully charged. (New was 230 Miles). Any advice on what to do here?
Put a voltmeter across the two terminals of the 12 v battery. If the voltage is below 13 volts you have a bad 12v or bad battery cable.. also check voltage across 12v battery cables.. 12v battery is in the front of motor compartment near the drivers headlight.

my 12v battery lasted 6 years but then the car told me I had a catastrophic failure and have the car towed to dealer immediately... Instead I tested the 12v.. it was bad.
I called my supplier, removed the 12v. Cleaned the corrosion with water and baking soda. An hour later, my (much better) 12v battery arrived. Had to power it up three (3) times and then everything was normal. That was a year ago.
 
I was contacted by the service manager at my Nissan Dealership after they had a chance to diagnose my EV charging system faults (P0AA6 and P31E7). He had bad news .... and good news and then more bad news. The Battery has bad modules. The battery has to come out of the car to determine how many modules are bad. Nissan will replace modules if the number of bad modules is below a certain amount. They will replace the entire battery if the amount is higher. Good news, its still under warranty so no cost to me. Bad news, battery modules and complete batteries are 6 to 12 months? That's crazy.
I am awaiting news from the service folks on how bad the battery is and I'm also waiting to hear what Nissan Consumer Services will do for me to provide transportation while I'm without the EV.
Anyone who's gone through this and has advice, I'd appreciate it.
 
I was contacted by the service manager at my Nissan Dealership after they had a chance to diagnose my EV charging system faults (P0AA6 and P31E7). He had bad news .... and good news and then more bad news. The Battery has bad modules. The battery has to come out of the car to determine how many modules are bad. Nissan will replace modules if the number of bad modules is below a certain amount. They will replace the entire battery if the amount is higher. Good news, its still under warranty so no cost to me. Bad news, battery modules and complete batteries are 6 to 12 months? That's crazy.
I am awaiting news from the service folks on how bad the battery is and I'm also waiting to hear what Nissan Consumer Services will do for me to provide transportation while I'm without the EV.
Anyone who's gone through this and has advice, I'd appreciate it.
That is what I feared when I saw the POAA6 code show up. If I were in your shoes I'd want the car fixed, IF Green Tec can match cells you'd think Nissan could. Its not like they don't have a lot of re purchased Leafs to work with!
Since I am out of warranty, if I were facing that, I'd be weighing a LRN new battery vs. a Green Tec refurb'ed one.
I have to wonder what will happen to all the re purchased Leafs? Will the be shipped overseas where consumer laws aren't as stringent and re-sold. will Nissan repair and re sell?
 
Some one correct me if I'm wrong but POAA6 is HV (traction battery) isolation fault. This is a serious fault because it means that somewhere the HV battery is making contact with the chassie. THIS IS NOT the 12 volt battery.
You said it powered up and started. That is good, as long as the POAA6 doesn't come back.
Hopefully it is gone and doesn't come back.
That's true, but a dying 12V battery can create false DTC codes. If you replace the 12V battery, clear all the codes and continue to get the isolation fault, that means you should take it seriously. Unfortunately, all the false DTC codes make it hard to pinpoint when you have a failing 12V battery. I just replaced a 12V battery in a relatives Leaf (2018) that was getting the same errors. After putting a new 12V battery in, clear the codes, everything starts properly, the same code has not been generated since last year when I did the replacement. So either the battery magically fixed itself (unlikely) or the dying 12V battery was causing computer havoc.
 
As I said, clear the code and see if it come back. A HV isolation fault can CAUSE a no charge 12 volt problem. SO replacing the 12 volt battery will not solve it if there is a HV isolation problem.
If you clear the code and charge the 12 volt, and the POAA6 code come back right away, you know you have a problem. When it is linked to a start interlock code, it is more likely to be an honest HV isolation problem.
When the HV battery is making contact with the chassie, and the 12 volt battery is grounded on the neg side to the chassie, you have a situation where the DC-dc converter can't work (or at least not properly) and can cause either a draw or at best not recharge the 12 volt.
Trying to solve problems by throwing parts at it, isn't productive, Even if the codes are caused by a failing 12 volt, you should re-charge the 12 volt and look for DC-DC charging and trouble codes before "just replacing the 12 volt battery" because you don't understand the problem and it "might fix it"
I worked on heavy diesel trucks for years, and every engine that had a coolant leak into oil sump, the owner said it needed a oil cooler, and almost never did. oil pressure exceed coolant pressure when the engine was running so oil would leak into coolant if that was the cause, only leaking coolant back when the engine was shut down hot. Most often it was liner issues requiring a full teardown and re machining or liner replacement. I mention this, because people wish for the problem to be simple and waste money on "hope" rather than proper diagnoses. I also saw countless battery changes for bad charging systems and charging system replacement for bad wiring and/or batteries.
Any vehicle I have with trouble code, I clear and see if they return, and note the conditions under which that happens.
Continuing to push 'bromides" as the only cause, can make people throw good money after bad, that they could put toward the repair if they instead diagnosed properly.
This case is one that proves my point, it was a HV isolation problem all along.
I have 3 vehicle that use the small group 51 battery, One is a diesel tractor and has the oldest battery, I don't know its age because it came (used) with it when I bought it 5 years ago, the other is at least 4 years old and starts a Saab, these batteries shouldn't need replacement every few years. I don't know the age of the one in my Leaf, but it "started" the car in -20F temps.
I am not saying that a low battery can't throw a strange code, but a low battery is already something that should be diagnosed before replacing the battery, then once the problem is proved to be a battery that can't hold a charge (by recharging fully, then testing, only then replace and clear codes, re check the DC-DC charging system, and see in a few day if codes resurface.
 
I was contacted by the service manager at my Nissan Dealership after they had a chance to diagnose my EV charging system faults (P0AA6 and P31E7). He had bad news .... and good news and then more bad news. The Battery has bad modules. The battery has to come out of the car to determine how many modules are bad. Nissan will replace modules if the number of bad modules is below a certain amount. They will replace the entire battery if the amount is higher. Good news, its still under warranty so no cost to me. Bad news, battery modules and complete batteries are 6 to 12 months? That's crazy.
I am awaiting news from the service folks on how bad the battery is and I'm also waiting to hear what Nissan Consumer Services will do for me to provide transportation while I'm without the EV.
Anyone who's gone through this and has advice, I'd appreciate it.
How did Nissan respond? Are they taking care of it?
 
How did Nissan respond? Are they taking care of it?
Dealer still hasn't fully diagnosed the issue because they still have not taken the battery out to check how many modules are bad.
Nissan Consumer services has responded that any loaner cars will be from the Dealer. The Dealer has no cars for that and no incentive to find and loan one. When asked about rental cars, consumer services initial response is that I can go get a rental or other form of transportation and pay for it myself. After this is over and the vehicle is fixed, they might think about some sort of compensation.
 
I had this happen twice with my 2021 SL+. First time, I had it towed to the dealer but they could not reproduce the problem. Second time, I drove it to the dealer without turning it off; they found a bad module in the HV battery which was replaced under warranty.
 
I had this happen twice with my 2021 SL+. First time, I had it towed to the dealer but they could not reproduce the problem. Second time, I drove it to the dealer without turning it off; they found a bad module in the HV battery which was replaced under warranty.
If a friend or relative of mine (or even myself) encounters the same issue with the HV isolation error, I could probably put together a video of how to test if it is really true and not an artifact of a dying 12V battery since it can be done easily with the center disconnect on the traction battery. Provided one has the correct tools to test with, but multi-meters than can test voltages of at least 200V should be fairly cheap now and protective gloves as well.
 
DTC's are going to be the key to solve this. Without them there are only guesses.
I love 3 letter acronyms. They can mean so many things. DTC

In this case my suspicion is it stands for Diagnostic Trouble Code, which is to say someone has to plug a thingie into the port to find out what is going on. You may have one already if you have LeafSpy though. I don’t know whether LeafSpy will do what you need of not.
 
Last edited:
I love 3 letter acronyms. They can mean so many things. DTC

In this case my suspicion is it stands for Diagnostic Trouble Code, which is to say someone has to plug a thingie into the port to find out what is going on. You may have one already have one if you have LeafSpy though. I don’t know whether LeafSpy will do what you need of not.
Yep. There are far too many TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) with too many meanings.

LeafSpy can read and clear DTCs. In fact, when my Leaf developed this problem (Service EV System, Car will not restart after power off) for the second time (first was two years ago), I was about 350 miles into a 500 mile trip from Denver to Salt Lake City, and I used LeafSpy to clear the codes several times to make it to Salt Lake (where it has been at a dealership for three weeks for diagnosis and service!)
 
Working on any vehicle in the last 25-30 years really requires at least a code reader if not a full scanner. Gone are the days you can count flashy lights to find the code. If there is one tool I would recommend anyone who is thinking of working on their car, something to read a clear codes would top the list.
 
I haven't posted since my vehicle was towed to the local dealership for diagnosis January 20. It's been a real experience!!
Dealer Service Advisor calls and tells me we have good news and bad news. Good news is its covered under warranty. Bad news is I need a new Drive battery and Nissan is way backed up. (wait times of 6-12 months are normal). Advisor had previously told me that if Battery modules were bad, Nissan would replace up to 3. If 4 or more Battery modules were bad Nissan would replace the entire Battery unit. Now that he tells me we have 7 of 8 large modules failed, all of a sudden Nissan is changing their mind and they are going to find 7 modules. I told them I would be happy to get my vehicle back but strongly objected to the idea of leaving one module in place and sealing the unit back up. Told them it was similar to having a plumber come over and finding 7 rotted, rusting pipes in your wall and one that didn't have any holes in it yet but certainly wasn't new and deciding to save a few dollars and leaving it in place, then sealing the walls back up. I believe that since the vehicle has 88,000 miles they are betting the patched up battery will last to 100,000 miles and then they are not responsible anymore. Well they found 7 modules and replaced the bad ones in a matter of days but then had about 3 attempts to seal the case back up.
I got the vehicle back with 230 miles indicated on the Range with a battery charge of 80%. I was excited. I drove 65 miles to work and thought i was going to have to walk the last 10 miles. Range dropped so fast on the interstate I though that I had a huge hole in the battery and it was pouring out miles. I managed to get to work with 30 miles of range.
An angry call to the Dealer / service tech gets me the answer that the battery should be OK if i just drive it and charge it fully every day for 7 days.. It's been 3 days and things are better but certainly not right. Can't wait to see what new tricks they will ask from me next.
 
I hate to be a pessimist, but I feel there is still a bad module or two in there. Document everything, keep a call log of when you called the dealer and who you spoke with. If you can document you have been trying to get Nissan to fix the problem from well before the warranty had run out, and that they had not fixed, even thought they said they had, it will not matter if it goes beyond, they can't just run out the clock and get away free.
65 miles is just over 1/4 of the shown range. By any stretch, that is a fail. My 2015 with 9 bars, shows between 60-70 miles and may only go 1/2 that or more, I have never run below about 20% in the dead of winter. Yours is not much better than a tired 24Kwh pack at this point.
Thank you for reporting back.
 
On Jan 2 I had the same issue on my 2017 8 bar 30 Kwh I wound up Towing it to the Nissan dealer who put in for a new traction battery. apparently the bad cells can cause that symptom. They've got the car & waiting for batt.
 
I haven't posted since my vehicle was towed to the local dealership for diagnosis January 20. It's been a real experience!!
Dealer Service Advisor calls and tells me we have good news and bad news. Good news is its covered under warranty. Bad news is I need a new Drive battery and Nissan is way backed up. (wait times of 6-12 months are normal). Advisor had previously told me that if Battery modules were bad, Nissan would replace up to 3. If 4 or more Battery modules were bad Nissan would replace the entire Battery unit. Now that he tells me we have 7 of 8 large modules failed, all of a sudden Nissan is changing their mind and they are going to find 7 modules. I told them I would be happy to get my vehicle back but strongly objected to the idea of leaving one module in place and sealing the unit back up. Told them it was similar to having a plumber come over and finding 7 rotted, rusting pipes in your wall and one that didn't have any holes in it yet but certainly wasn't new and deciding to save a few dollars and leaving it in place, then sealing the walls back up. I believe that since the vehicle has 88,000 miles they are betting the patched up battery will last to 100,000 miles and then they are not responsible anymore. Well they found 7 modules and replaced the bad ones in a matter of days but then had about 3 attempts to seal the case back up.
I got the vehicle back with 230 miles indicated on the Range with a battery charge of 80%. I was excited. I drove 65 miles to work and thought i was going to have to walk the last 10 miles. Range dropped so fast on the interstate I though that I had a huge hole in the battery and it was pouring out miles. I managed to get to work with 30 miles of range.
An angry call to the Dealer / service tech gets me the answer that the battery should be OK if i just drive it and charge it fully every day for 7 days.. It's been 3 days and things are better but certainly not right. Can't wait to see what new tricks they will ask from me next.
I wanted to update my issue I've been experiencing. I've done exactly what the dealer that did the battery repairs to my 2021 Leaf told me to. I've charged it and driven it every day for a week and then some. During this time I took a picture of my dash showing Battery charge %, anticipated range in miles, Odometer reading at the start of my commute to work, when I arrived at work and then the reverse on the way from work to home in the evening. My understanding was that this would even out my batteries capacity, range. My results were as follows:
Average anticipated range at 100% battery 206 miles in the morning and 181 in the evening. Average anticipated range at the end of the commute of 65 miles is 69 miles in the morning and 103 miles in the evening. Using these figures would indicate that my commute avg distance in the morning is 206 - 69 = 137 miles and 181 - 103 = 78 miles in the evening. Another weird thing is my odometer reads 69 miles elapsed after my 65 mile commute. This mornings commute was really interesting. I started with 182 miles range @ 88% battery charge. Outside temps were cool 42-39F, As I drove, initially everything looked about how it usually is. When I was about 40 miles into the drive I looked down and the anticipated miles to empty was rapidly ticking off at 1 mile every 2 seconds. At the end of my commute I had 17 miles anticipated to empty and 10% battery capacity. So in a 65 mile trip I had gone from 182 to 17 miles and 88% to 10% battery charge.
I reached out to the Dealer and provided the pictures of the Dash with the information from my trip and they never got back to me. I guess I'll go pay them a visit in the morning
 
If a friend or relative of mine (or even myself) encounters the same issue with the HV isolation error, I could probably put together a video of how to test if it is really true and not an artifact of a dying 12V battery since it can be done easily with the center disconnect on the traction battery. Provided one has the correct tools to test with, but multi-meters than can test voltages of at least 200V should be fairly cheap now and protective gloves as well.
If testing the isolation at the center disconnect on the HV battery shows no issue, can there still be another possible isolation problem? My 2022 leaf keeps throwing the same start inhibition and HV battery isolation codes (P31E7 and P0AA6 EVC157) every time I charge my car and it reaches 86%. The EV Service warning message only comes on at that point, otherwise I can drive and charge my car normally once I clear the codes with my leafspy. I won't get the errors until I charge my car again and it hits 86%. My husband tested the voltage at that back seat access point and found no isolation issue, the voltage reading dropped steadily as normal. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as we live in The Bahamas and there is no Nissan EV service available.
 
Back
Top