The Battery Replacement Thread

[derkraut]

Memoryisram: IMHO, you should tell us who this clue-less dealer is. If you don't want to "out" him, please PM me with the info; I live in SAN, and I want to make sure I never go to that dealer for any service. :roll:

 

[Valdemar]

Any opinions what will happen if one were to take Nissan to a small claims court on their 80% after 5 years "estimate" if s/he:
a) opted out from the capacity warranty and currently under 60k miles
b) opted out from the capacity warranty and currently over 60k miles
c) not opted out from cap warranty and currently over 60k miles

 

[memoryisram]

Memoryisram: IMHO, you should tell us who this clue-less dealer is. If you don't want to "out" him, please PM me with the info; I live in SAN, and I want to make sure I never go to that dealer for any service. :roll:

Pacific Nissan in PB. A strongly worded Yelp review would be calling them out, plus I'd love to save others from the hassle I got. They did loan me a car in the meantime while my Leaf sat in their service bay though so I wasn't totally screwed.

I even asked their service manager point blank, "Do you have experience with servicing this car?" His response, "Sir we deal with Nissans of all types" so basically no. The Nissan rep I spoke to was extremely frustrated with the experience I had too. The shop is 'Leaf certified' but that apparently doesn't mean much.

 

[DaveEV]

I have a 2011 Leaf I purchased about 6 months ago that was off-lease. Battery pack is original had only 1 bar missing (32000) miles. In the time I've owned it I've lost 2 bars of capacity giving me barely 40-50 miles of range with the most conservative driving.

Very odd that you lost 2 capacity bars so quickly. Is that 40-50 miles to the low battery warning? That range is typical of having 3 bars lost and yes, you do need to lose another to qualify for warranty battery replacement.

 

[memoryisram]

I have a 2011 Leaf I purchased about 6 months ago that was off-lease. Battery pack is original had only 1 bar missing (32000) miles. In the time I've owned it I've lost 2 bars of capacity giving me barely 40-50 miles of range with the most conservative driving.

Very odd that you lost 2 capacity bars so quickly. Is that 40-50 miles to the low battery warning? That range is typical of having 3 bars lost and yes, you do need to lose another to qualify for warranty battery replacement.

I don't even use this car to commute daily. I work from home so I only use it to go around town and run errands.

After a full charge overnight, I can get around in ECO mode, text book conservative driving, no highway and get about 40-50 miles before I have 2 bars left and the light comes on. Those next two bars seem to go *quickly* and I've never driven it down to no bars because I'm terrified of being stranded somewhere without a plug. I've never seen the car 'turtle' so I'm guessing I still have more distance than I assume after the low battery light.

 

[keydiver]

It sounds to me like another Leaf that had its BMS reset by the dealer. No Leaf on here has gone from 1 bar lost to 3 bars lost in 6 months of light driving. The good news is that at that rate, you should lose that 4th bar soon. Nissan will never tell you if it was a 3 bar loser 6 months ago, but I wonder if by chance your VIN was one that has been tracked by our database?

 

[dhanson865]

It sounds to me like another Leaf that had its BMS reset by the dealer. No Leaf on here has gone from 1 bar lost to 3 bars lost in 6 months of light driving. The good news is that at that rate, you should lose that 4th bar soon. Nissan will never tell you if it was a 3 bar loser 6 months ago, but I wonder if by chance your VIN was one that has been tracked by our database?

if it is a VIN ending in 2335 it wasn't showing on http://www.electricvehiclewiki.com/?title=Real_World_Battery_Capacity_Loss" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[pchilds]

It sounds to me like another Leaf that had its BMS reset by the dealer. No Leaf on here has gone from 1 bar lost to 3 bars lost in 6 months of light driving. The good news is that at that rate, you should lose that 4th bar soon. Nissan will never tell you if it was a 3 bar loser 6 months ago, but I wonder if by chance your VIN was one that has been tracked by our database?

Wrong!!! I lost 2 bars in 4 months and 2600 miles, 3 bars in 10 months and 5500 miles.

Lost #12 12/03/13, 17550 miles, 28 months owned. AHr=55.45, SOH=84%
Lost #11 06/15/14, 21493 miles, 34 months owned. AHr=50.70, SOH=77%
Lost #10 10/08/14, 23020 miles, 38 months owned. AHr=47.44, SOH=72%

 

[mirko]

It sounds to me like another Leaf that had its BMS reset by the dealer. No Leaf on here has gone from 1 bar lost to 3 bars lost in 6 months of light driving. The good news is that at that rate, you should lose that 4th bar soon. Nissan will never tell you if it was a 3 bar loser 6 months ago, but I wonder if by chance your VIN was one that has been tracked by our database?

Wrong!!! I lost 2 bars in 4 months and 2600 miles, 3 bars in 10 months and 5500 miles.

Lost #12 12/03/13, 17550 miles, 28 months owned. AHr=55.45, SOH=84%
Lost #11 06/15/14, 21493 miles, 34 months owned. AHr=50.70, SOH=77%
Lost #10 10/08/14, 23020 miles, 38 months owned. AHr=47.44, SOH=72%

I actually had my Capacity Loss Data reset (BMS reset) in my LEAF. I lost four capacity bars and took my car in to Autonation Nissan of Delray Beach. They ran the battery report that showed only 8 capacity bars remaining. Then the ran the Consult CLEAR BATTERY GRADUAL CAPACITY LOSS DATA command. Then the "Certified LEAF Technician" told me that my car was not eligible for the battery warranty replacement, and that the LEAF now had 14 capacity bars. YES... "Certified LEAF Technician" said 14 capacity bars!!! I asked them to show this to me. They went back to my LEAF and counted only 12. What a surprise. After almost three months of going back and forth with support at 1-877-no-gas-ev and a different Nissan dealer, I FINALLY had my battery replaced under warranty.

Anyway, the reason I started responding to this is that after the capacity loss data was deleted the LEAF lost capacity bars much like memoryisram and keydiver are describing. IMO, dealers should face the same penalties for deleting capacity loss data without having replaced the battery as they would for turning back an odometer.

memoryisram, as keydiver pointed out, you will eventually lose that 4th capacity bar.

 

[mwalsh]

I actually had my Capacity Loss Data reset (BMS reset) in my LEAF. I lost four capacity bars and took my car in to Autonation Nissan of Delray Beach. They ran the battery report that showed only 8 capacity bars remaining. Then the ran the Consult CLEAR BATTERY GRADUAL CAPACITY LOSS DATA command.

Thank you for the inside phraseology. Now we know exactly what we should tell the tech to definitely NOT do.

 

[keydiver]

Wrong!!! I lost 2 bars in 4 months and 2600 miles, 3 bars in 10 months and 5500 miles.

Lost #12 12/03/13, 17550 miles, 28 months owned. AHr=55.45, SOH=84%
Lost #11 06/15/14, 21493 miles, 34 months owned. AHr=50.70, SOH=77%
Lost #10 10/08/14, 23020 miles, 38 months owned. AHr=47.44, SOH=72%

Sorry, but I'm not seeing it. You went from 1 Bar loss to 3 Bar loss in 10 months.

 

[pchilds]

Wrong!!! I lost 2 bars in 4 months and 2600 miles, 3 bars in 10 months and 5500 miles.

Lost #12 12/03/13, 17550 miles, 28 months owned. AHr=55.45, SOH=84%
Lost #11 06/15/14, 21493 miles, 34 months owned. AHr=50.70, SOH=77%
Lost #10 10/08/14, 23020 miles, 38 months owned. AHr=47.44, SOH=72%

Sorry, but I'm not seeing it. You went from 1 Bar loss to 3 Bar loss in 10 months.

I went from no bars lost to 3 in ten months and 5 days. If I sold the car in early June, with 11 bars, it would still have lost 2 more bars in 4 months.

 

[keydiver]

I went from no bars lost to 3 in ten months and 5 days. If I sold the car in early June, with 11 bars, it would still have lost 2 more bars in 4 months.

That may well be correct, but that does not make me wrong!!!, no matter how many exclamation points you put after it. You need to reread my post. I said "No Leaf on here has gone from 1 bar lost to 3 bars lost in 6 months of light driving." I admit that there probably are some Leafs that have done that, particularly in Arizona, and by some Leaf owners who commute long distances every day, but it took you 10 months to go from 1 Bar loss to 3 Bar loss, so, at least in your case, I was not "wrong!!!".

 

[scubasandy]

For anyone curious (if not already posted), search :"Chief Judge Kozinski and Nissan Leaf". I'm not a lawyer, but I did opt out. I did get a new battery after the updated warranty came out when I hit 8 bars. I never paid for any battery checks. Anyone with a B0133 exclusion that is being denied a battery replacement (if they fall under warranty details) should file with their BBB lemon law claim that Nissan is not upholding their updated warranty- regardless of the settlement. I doubt Chief Judge Kozinski would allow a worse settlement (could there even be a worse settlement?)

As I think I said in the B0133 thread, you likely got in under the wire, before the exclusions were applied to our cars. You initiated your warranty claim in May, and we didn't become aware of the exclusions until early July. It would be very handy to know EXACTLY when the exclusions were applied, but I don't think we'll ever know that unless it comes out in the discovery from a new lawsuit. You'll remember that we had to opt-out by the end of October, so there is an apparent 8 month gap (that we know of) between opt-out and exclusion.

What would be interesting, if you've a mind to do it, is finding out if your car NOW has an exclusion against it. That way, any of us who have to go back to court with Nissan can say to the Judge, "Look...here's a guy who opted out, has the exclusion against his car, and got a battery under warranty anyway." Regardless of any time lapse in applying the exclusions, I think it shows yet more inconsistency by Nissan that could be used against them.

Are you aware of anyone that is down to 8 bars, has the exclusion on their car, filed a BBB claim stating Nissan is not honoring their warranty since the battery loss to 8 bars is a warrantable defect, AND didn't get a replacement? The BBB was free and a lot easier than a lawsuit if you just want a battery replaced.

 

[pchilds]

I went from no bars lost to 3 in ten months and 5 days. If I sold the car in early June, with 11 bars, it would still have lost 2 more bars in 4 months.

That may well be correct, but that does not make me wrong!!!, no matter how many exclamation points you put after it. You need to reread my post. I said "No Leaf on here has gone from 1 bar lost to 3 bars lost in 6 months of light driving." I admit that there probably are some Leafs that have done that, particularly in Arizona, and by some Leaf owners who commute long distances every day, but it took you 10 months to go from 1 Bar loss to 3 Bar loss, so, at least in your case, I was not "wrong!!!".

You are wrong, I went from 1 bar lost to 3 bars lost in 4 months of light driving. Either correct your post to 0 bar lost to 3 bars or admit you are wrong. You can't change the fact the on June 13th, I had 11 bars and on October 9 th, I had 9 bars, under 4 months.

 

[derkraut]

Can't we all just get along?

 

[keydiver]

OK, I'm wrong.

 

[mwalsh]

Are you aware of anyone that is down to 8 bars, has the exclusion on their car, filed a BBB claim stating Nissan is not honoring their warranty since the battery loss to 8 bars is a warrantable defect, AND didn't get a replacement? The BBB was free and a lot easier than a lawsuit if you just want a battery replaced.

I just took a look at the BBB website. This does seem like a reasonable course of action IF all you want is a replacement under warranty and the likely path of least resistance.

 

[Valdemar]

Any strategy for trying to get a replacement outside of warranty? Small claims court seems to be the way to go. I'm considering this as I have nothing to lose. I have access to legal counseling at work that can help with preparation. Probably should do it sooner than later before they reach an agreement in the class action suit.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I have a 2011 Leaf I purchased about 6 months ago that was off-lease. Battery pack is original had only 1 bar missing (32000) miles. In the time I've owned it I've lost 2 bars of capacity giving me barely 40-50 miles of range with the most conservative driving.

Very odd that you lost 2 capacity bars so quickly. Is that 40-50 miles to the low battery warning? That range is typical of having 3 bars lost and yes, you do need to lose another to qualify for warranty battery replacement.

I don't even use this car to commute daily. I work from home so I only use it to go around town and run errands.

After a full charge overnight, I can get around in ECO mode, text book conservative driving, no highway and get about 40-50 miles before I have 2 bars left and the light comes on. Those next two bars seem to go *quickly* and I've never driven it down to no bars because I'm terrified of being stranded somewhere without a plug. I've never seen the car 'turtle' so I'm guessing I still have more distance than I assume after the low battery light.

Ya we had a lady bought a used 2011 with 12 capacity bars. she lost 4 bars in 5 months. her new battery is on its way. Funny thing is that she bought her "12 capacity" car in July 2014 and its the same car that was reported as a 3 bar loser in Nov 2013...

I think you need to do some investigating cause I strongly suspect your capacity was not as much as you were led to believe when you bought the car

http://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2014/11/buyers-beware-this-is-must-read.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2014/12/update-saga-of-vin-222-resolved.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;