New Leaf 2016 SL, Bad Battery?

[Cryptizard]

As far as the Bolt; they released a time table for distribution. out of state sales are no longer allowed, etc. where are you? again a forum that does not require location is simply STIPID... (sp is fine)

I'm in Maryland. Every dealership around here is getting one or two bolts in around March they say but are either pre-sold or not available for sale because they are keeping them for test drives. They say it will be closer to May when they start to get a regular supply of them, and I am not sure I can go that long without a car.

I am sort of tempted to let Nissan just replace the battery (which they said they will also do) and keep the Leaf until the end of the lease. Besides this crazy battery issue I really like the car. What are the chances that I could go 2.5 more years without having another issue with it? Because if I ever have to deal with Nissan again it is probably going to kill me.

 

[jhm614]

The person assigned to my case at Nissan corporate just randomly called me and said that they are approving a buyback. I have no idea what changed, I was still preparing my BBB arbitration form and I hadn't contacted them for weeks. Either way, finally getting somewhere. Now I just have to figure out what car I want instead. Would like to get a Bolt but the Chevy dealers near me say they won't have them until next year :-(

Congrats! Sorry to see that you are having to give up your LEAF but it is good to see Nissan do the right thing here. For what it's worth, I will cross the 100,000 mile mark this week. Other than a warranty battery replacement in 2013, my Leaf has been trouble-free.

 

[sendler2112]

Good for you on the buy back. If you are shopping in the price range of a Bolt but don't want to wait, go take a spin in a new Volt.

 

[LeafMuranoDriver]

Congrats on starting to get it resolved!!

If you want to steer away from Nissan, definitely look at the Volt. If you're already used to only 50-60 miles of EV range, the Volt will do that and you'll never have range anxiety.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

As far as the Bolt; they released a time table for distribution. out of state sales are no longer allowed, etc. where are you? again a forum that does not require location is simply STIPID... (sp is fine)

I'm in Maryland. Every dealership around here is getting one or two bolts in around March they say but are either pre-sold or not available for sale because they are keeping them for test drives. They say it will be closer to May when they start to get a regular supply of them, and I am not sure I can go that long without a car.

I am sort of tempted to let Nissan just replace the battery (which they said they will also do) and keep the Leaf until the end of the lease. Besides this crazy battery issue I really like the car. What are the chances that I could go 2.5 more years without having another issue with it? Because if I ever have to deal with Nissan again it is probably going to kill me.

Well there is a guy in Maryland who is driving his Bolt around town. had it shipped from CA before they changed the rules banning out of state sales. you can still buy it in CA and ship it but now you have to pay CA Sales tax.

for a few months? I would have waited

 

[jlv]

I am sort of tempted to let Nissan just replace the battery (which they said they will also do) and keep the Leaf until the end of the lease. Besides this crazy battery issue I really like the car. What are the chances that I could go 2.5 more years without having another issue with it? Because if I ever have to deal with Nissan again it is probably going to kill me.

If you've leased it, then the buy-back doesn't really get you anything other than out of the remaining lease payments on a lemon. Thus, this sounds like an even better option (and it's what Nissan should have done to begin with). The LEAF really is a nice little car.

 

[Cryptizard]

I am sort of tempted to let Nissan just replace the battery (which they said they will also do) and keep the Leaf until the end of the lease. Besides this crazy battery issue I really like the car. What are the chances that I could go 2.5 more years without having another issue with it? Because if I ever have to deal with Nissan again it is probably going to kill me.

If you've leased it, then the buy-back doesn't really get you anything other than out of the remaining lease payments on a lemon. Thus, this sounds like an even better option (and it's what Nissan should have done to begin with). The LEAF really is a nice little car.

We haven't worked out the details but I am pretty sure they would give me back by down payment and trade-in money at least.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

my opinion; it would be a HUGE mistake to refuse a new battery pack...

 

[SageBrush]

I am sort of tempted to let Nissan just replace the battery (which they said they will also do) and keep the Leaf until the end of the lease. Besides this crazy battery issue I really like the car. What are the chances that I could go 2.5 more years without having another issue with it? Because if I ever have to deal with Nissan again it is probably going to kill me.

You should be fine once a non-defective battery is in the car.

Advice ? if the lease deal was good, carry on.

 

[sub3marathonman]

all the "good" cells are within 15 mV or so of each other while the bad one is 680 mV lower. The other two cells that are also weak are noticeably lower than the good cells, but still substantially higher than the one extremely weak one. The battery still has 25% charge left but is not capable of using it because the one cell is dead.

I haven't been able to check with LEAFspy on my replacement (24kwh) battery pack recently installed in my 2011 LEAF, due to the Konwei OBDII reader turning to junk just before the one year anniversary, but I'm starting to think I'm in a similar situation based on the behavior of the GOM. I know people don't like the GOM, but even with my degraded original pack it was still a decent indicator if you lived with its parameters.

So, on the new pack, it is spectacular, I'll see 125 miles on the GOM. I'll drive it maybe 5 or 6 miles, and it will be down maybe even under 100 miles, I admit I haven't paid the closest attention. But now, on the low end, I'm also noticing with 30 miles on the GOM that it is rapidly dropping down to 20 or even less after what seems like just a few miles. Even with a 7-bar lost original pack, when I had 30 miles on the GOM it seemed that the rate of decline per mile would go slower, and I really didn't hit LBW very often with it. Now, with the replacement pack, I've never hit LBW except once with feet to go to the charger, but it seems that I'm getting a lot closer than a pack with 12-capacity bars should get with the miles I've driven.

Is such GOM behavior consistent with a bad cell? I'm working on getting another different OBDII but I'm also thinking of reporting it to Nissan sooner. This replacement pack is just over four months since installation.

 

[Deathwater]

Hey all. I was asked to post here.

Just purchased a 2017 SL a month ago. H
Leafspy showing the same issue, one really low bar.

 

[GerryAZ]

I haven't been able to check with LEAFspy on my replacement (24kwh) battery pack recently installed in my 2011 LEAF, due to the Konwei OBDII reader turning to junk just before the one year anniversary, but I'm starting to think I'm in a similar situation based on the behavior of the GOM. I know people don't like the GOM, but even with my degraded original pack it was still a decent indicator if you lived with its parameters.

So, on the new pack, it is spectacular, I'll see 125 miles on the GOM. I'll drive it maybe 5 or 6 miles, and it will be down maybe even under 100 miles, I admit I haven't paid the closest attention. But now, on the low end, I'm also noticing with 30 miles on the GOM that it is rapidly dropping down to 20 or even less after what seems like just a few miles. Even with a 7-bar lost original pack, when I had 30 miles on the GOM it seemed that the rate of decline per mile would go slower, and I really didn't hit LBW very often with it. Now, with the replacement pack, I've never hit LBW except once with feet to go to the charger, but it seems that I'm getting a lot closer than a pack with 12-capacity bars should get with the miles I've driven.

Is such GOM behavior consistent with a bad cell? I'm working on getting another different OBDII but I'm also thinking of reporting it to Nissan sooner. This replacement pack is just over four months since installation.

What you are describing sounds typical for a 2015 "Lizard" battery (which is what you should have received as your warranty replacement. I had been used to the relatively accurate GOM on the 2011 (accuracy of instrumentation was greatly improved by P3227 software update) so I was surprised by the erratic behavior of the GOM in the 2015 when I started driving it. After two years, it still exaggerates the range at full charge and drops suddenly around LBW or between LBW and VLBW. I ignore it and pay attention to other instrumentation (GID Meter displaying pack voltage and also LEAF Spy Pro). I suspect you will find that your battery is fine once you get LEAF Spy working again.

Gerry

 

[jbuntz]

Hey all. I was asked to post here.

Just purchased a 2017 SL a month ago. H
Leafspy showing the same issue, one really low bar.

Check it again when the charge is below 20%

 

[cwerdna]

As far as the Bolt; they released a time table for distribution. out of state sales are no longer allowed, etc. where are you? again a forum that does not require location is simply STIPID... (sp is fine)

I concur on the latter. I've asked for it to be mandatory at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=9260. That obviously didn't get anywhere...

EV forums really should require them due to range limitations, charging infrastructure, and limited (or no) availability in some states.

 

[Deathwater]

Hey all. I was asked to post here.

Just purchased a 2017 SL a month ago. H
Leafspy showing the same issue, one really low bar.

Check it again when the charge is below 20%

It was the same. Brought charge down to 14% and it showed the same low spot. Charged to 100% and it's still there. Only a .2 variance from the rest though.

 

[jbuntz]

To my uneducated view it looks bad. Mine is generally between 10-20 mV variance between high an low cells.

It is also unlikely that Nissan will acknowledge there is an issue until it gets much worse.

My range generally tracks 1 mile for 1% of battery level. Have you noticed a drop in range? It might not show up until the battery gets very low