New Leaf, no blue lights at all

[kpence73]

Ok, so I brought my Leaf home today after driving around as normal. Range says 67 miles and 71% charged. I plugged it in to trickle charge and notice there were no blue lights at all. EVSE says READY and CHARGING. There is a green "plug" button flashing on the console screen and my iphone app says it is charging. But no blue lights. The blue lights are supposed to flash if you open the charging door using the keyless remote: no blue lights. Moved to a different plug with the same effect. My online account says plugged in and charging. No blue lights. When I plugged the trickle charger in, I heard a click and a beep a pause and then two beeps. I can't find anything in the about the beeps for trickle charge in the manual, just reference to the blue lights. I will see what it says in the morning, but why no blue lights?

 

[Stoaty]

Do you have a timer set, or are you doing an immediate charge?

 

[kpence73]

No, there are no timers set. I set one so that it would NOT be time yet just so I could hit the immediate charge button. The button didn't seem to do anything. The #2 blue light is supposed to come on if you have a time set but tell it to immediate charge: no blue light. Do the blue lights not come on with a trickle charge?

 

[vrwl]

I trickle charge and I do have the blue lights come on.

 

[vrwl]

Get in your car after a couple of hours on the trickle, turn on the car and see if the miles on the GOM have gone up?

 

[kpence73]

I just tried two other circuit plugs and no blue lights. The EVSE says charging. So does iphone and nissan account. When I plug in the charger in, I get one beep....pause .... 2 beeps. The manual says that is means it is charging, but no blue lights. It is charging because when I started this an hours ago range was 65 miles....now it is 71 about an hour later.

Ok, just drove to a level 2 larger in my neighborhood. Plugged it in and heard a beep a pause and then two beeps (indicates charging)....no blue lights. The charging unit also showed charging was occuring.

 

[vrwl]

So maybe the blue lights need to be replaced then, cuz it sure seems like you're getting juice into it.

 

[Stanton]

The good news is you can charge your car, the bad news is you need to make a trip back to the dealer.
Tell them you need the 'blue light special'

 

[kpence73]

Yes it appears that I can. This morning it was at a full charge and is in plugged in status. Nissan is telling me I can only bring a leaf in during the weekday for service because Nissan corp is closed on the weekends and that means they can't really do anything.

 

[Ingineer]

This is likely a loose connector on the blue LED circuit board, should be an easy fix for the dealer.

-Phil

 

[jbrad4]

On a new Leaf, before charging, even though you THINK you don't
have a timer set. Hit the timer override button lower left of the
steering wheel. I learned. I always hit that button before charging
whether I think I have a timer set or not.

see photo:

 

[nosuchthing]

Seems to me those Smyrna Leafs have all kinds of weird quality control problems. I have a feeling they don't have all the production line bugs worked out.

 

[vsiev]

Seems to me those Smyrna Leafs have all kinds of weird quality control problems. I have a feeling they don't have all the production line bugs worked out.

Very true...my leaf rear bumper wasn't installed correctly (part of clip holding bumper was broken) and had a small blemish in the paint (tiny bumps almost like rust forming under the paint). Still waiting on Mossy Nissan to call me back for the warranty service I requested...

 

[nosuchthing]

Or is it -- dare I say -- American workmanship?

My last Am car i bought was a Dodge Caravan. To keep this long story short, I will never buy anything "Dodge" again.

Random tox screens, folks! That'll do it.

I've heard stories - albeit second hand - the stuff that was going on in the old Freemont GM plant. Alcohol, drugs and hookers.

 

[Bluebull]

No, there are no timers set. I set one so that it would NOT be time yet just so I could hit the immediate charge button. The button didn't seem to do anything. The #2 blue light is supposed to come on if you have a time set but tell it to immediate charge: no blue light. Do the blue lights not come on with a trickle charge?

I have blue lights with trickle. However my Leaf is a 2012(not made in Tennessee.

 

[cwerdna]

Or is it -- dare I say -- American workmanship?

My last Am car i bought was a Dodge Caravan. To keep this long story short, I will never buy anything "Dodge" again.

Random tox screens, folks! That'll do it.

I've heard stories - albeit second hand - the stuff that was going on in the old Freemont GM plant. Alcohol, drugs and hookers.

FWIW, the '93 Dodge Caravan (bought new in 93) that used to be in our family was actually pretty decent other than the transmission. We had the 3-speed auto instead of the notoriously bad 4-speed Ultradrive transmission. But, still the tranny eventually had problems. The rest of the vehicle was not terrible in reliability, much better than the GM junk we used to have.

Re: GM's old Fremont (not Freemont) plant which closed then was resurrected to as NUMMI (GM/Toyota joint venture), then closed again (when GM pulled out (related to bankruptcy) and then Toyota too) and got sold to Tesla, apparently alcohol, drugs and sex went on when it was a GM plant.

If you have some time, listen to http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/403/nummi" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. It is a MUST listen to for any car enthusiast. I've listened to it several times. I was initially amazed and had a very emotional reaction to it.

Read http://priuschat.com/threads/great-story-on-nummi-on-nprs-this-american-life.78530/#post-1097941" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for my comments. They talked to NUMMI workers who formerly worked under GM reign and talked about how screwed up it was back then vs. what they learned from Toyota and their method.

I started a thread about that ep at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=11371" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; but hardly got any response... :?

Nissan's quality and reliability is a bit hit/miss depending on the model (even ones produced in Japan), but Smryna has been doing it for a long time and appears to be able to put out reliable vehicles. You might find the article at http://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/19/business/detroit-struggles-to-learn-another-lesson-from-japan.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; from 1993 interesting. I brought it up at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=276765#p276765" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

 

[RonDawg]

Seems to me those Smyrna Leafs have all kinds of weird quality control problems. I have a feeling they don't have all the production line bugs worked out.

Very true...my leaf rear bumper wasn't installed correctly (part of clip holding bumper was broken) and had a small blemish in the paint (tiny bumps almost like rust forming under the paint). Still waiting on Mossy Nissan to call me back for the warranty service I requested...

I still remember the thread from the MNL member who bought a 2013 Leaf S or SV, brought it home, and discovered he purchased perhaps the only Leaf in the world with a mostly cloth interior...and a leather-clad rear seat cushion

 

[RonDawg]

Nissan's quality and reliability is a bit hit/miss depending on the model (even ones produced in Japan), but Smryna has been doing it for a long time and appears to be able to put out reliable vehicles.

While the cars are in different price points, my 2003 TN-built Altima I felt was not up to the quality standards of my Japanese-built '98 Maxima, especially in the interior.

I also owned one of the first Nissan Hardbody pickups, which was also built in Japan. Later models that were TN-built also didn't seem to have as high a level of fit and finish, and a lot of cheaper materials were used (like the headliner and sun visors).

 

[cwerdna]

Seems to me those Smyrna Leafs have all kinds of weird quality control problems. I have a feeling they don't have all the production line bugs worked out.

Very true...my leaf rear bumper wasn't installed correctly (part of clip holding bumper was broken) and had a small blemish in the paint (tiny bumps almost like rust forming under the paint). Still waiting on Mossy Nissan to call me back for the warranty service I requested...

I still remember the thread from the MNL member who bought a 2013 Leaf S or SV, brought it home, and discovered he purchased perhaps the only Leaf in the world with a mostly cloth interior...and a leather-clad rear seat cushion

Yep. Bizarre. That said, the pre-production '13 Smyrna Leaf we saw in the Bay Area (same car seen in Phoenix) had a broken passenger side front door. It couldn't be opened from the inside nor outside, despite it being unlocked. I know Ingineer (when he saw it Phoenix) mentioned he saw a bunch of problems w/that vehicle (but didn't say what) and figured that they (at the time) still had problems to work out. It happens.

Nissan's quality and reliability is a bit hit/miss depending on the model (even ones produced in Japan), but Smryna has been doing it for a long time and appears to be able to put out reliable vehicles.

While the cars are in different price points, my 2003 TN-built Altima I felt was not up to the quality standards of my Japanese-built '98 Maxima, especially in the interior.

I also owned one of the first Nissan Hardbody pickups, which was also built in Japan. Later models that were TN-built also didn't seem to have as high a level of fit and finish, and a lot of cheaper materials were used (like the headliner and sun visors).

Ahh, yeah, I know what you mean. The 02 Altima (which OTOH I believe was unchanged thru the 04 model) was quite revolutionary: big improvement in styling, a 240-hp V6 being offered when none was ever offered before, etc. but yeah, the interior bits were kinda cheap. I had an 04 Altima rental before. I suspect that part of it was due to Carlos Ghosn (aka "Le Cost Cutter") coming into power around the time of its design. They had to since they almost went bankrupt and he came into power in 1999 to turn the company around.

My 04 350Z (interior basically unchanged from the 03) was also a victim of that, w/a lot of cheap materials inside.

The Altima of the generation that spanned 07-11 model years is a huge improvement in interior quality. My mom has an 07 Altima Hybrid.

I know what you mean about that '98 Maxima. I had a rental 97 Maxima before and had always liked Maxima from the 90s until the end of the 03 model year. My 02 Maxima (also made in Japan) had a much better quality interior than the 02 Altima. 00-03 Maxima had basically the same interior. With 04 model year, the Maxima became Altima based and production moved to the US, for the first time. AFAIK, all US market Maximas all now US-made.

 

[nosuchthing]

The Japanese workers have to collectively spew out company slogans before they hit the production lines. That must make all the difference. :lol: