The Battery Replacement Thread

[Stanton]

Last year I had a chance to talk with the tech who handles my car and to read his training manual. The 2011/2012 LEAF battery modules have to be assembled and held in place by straps to be fitted back into the car. The 2013 modules were redesigned to lock together better and are a lot easier to assemble and load back into the car. That's one reason, I think, that replacements of battery packs in 2011/2012 LEAFs can't just use the newer packs, so they have to specially made from cells put the old-style cans.

That just doesn't make sense: why would they create a different "module" that would NOT maintain form/fit with ALL Leafs? That means they have to stock a different part/SKU depending on what year the Leaf was manufactured! Doesn't make an "upgrade" look very easy (if there ever is one)...

 

[GerryAZ]

I believe that the counts are stored in the BMS so it would make sense that it isn't updated. There is no controller of any kind in the pack itself.

[I was told that the complete sealed pack was replaced so the charge counts must either be transferred to the new LBC (lithium battery controller) in the new pack or stored in one of the other electronic control modules. I dropped the car off in the morning and received a call that it was ready to pick up in the middle of the afternoon.

Page EVB-19 of the 2011 LEAF Service Manual (June 2013 Revision) shows the Li-ion Battery Controller (LBC) located inside the sealed battery case at the left rear corner. The Battery Junction Box (which includes the main contactor) and the Battery Temperature Sensors are also enclosed within the sealed case so they were also replaced. There are instructions on page EVB-64 to save information from the old LBC and write that information to the new LBC using CONSULT.

Gerry

 

[TomT]

Yes, but the BMS contains the charging counts info... I don't know if there is a way to update or clear that via the Consult 3+...

There are instructions on page EVB-64 to save information from the old LBC and write that information to the new LBC using CONSULT.

 

[mksE55]

Just got call from my dealership. Battery is a 4 bar looser and they will replace it. stated battery shipping out of Dallas today. That was fast and strange. I guess they area stocking batteries some where. I hope New. I will get number when I pick the car up. Hopefully by Fri/Sat. Dallas is only 2 hrs away from my Dealership. They have never replaced a battery so lets hope that goes well for them.

 

[jhm614]

Just got call from my dealership. Battery is a 4 bar looser and they will replace it. stated battery shipping out of Dallas today. That was fast and strange. I guess they area stocking batteries some where. I hope New. I will get number when I pick the car up. Hopefully by Fri/Sat. Dallas is only 2 hrs away from my Dealership. They have never replaced a battery so lets hope that goes well for them.

You will enjoy the like-new range!

re: stocking batteries - I wonder if Nissan can use CarWings data to predict the number of warranty claims by region?

 

[mkjayakumar]

I hope it is not the 2BL battery from the Leaf I returned a few months ago..

 

[mksE55]

I hope it is not the 2BL battery from the Leaf I returned a few months ago..

I will be checking the battery with my BT reader and LEAF app. hopefully not.

I would love to see 70-80 mile range again. and us the AC with disregard. LOL

PS dealership didnt want to give me a loaner car, I pressed alittle and he said he would check into it but didnt commit. I just stated if you need it only a few days I was ok but if its a week before the battery arrives I will want on. I will see what happens friday, but not so happy about that, Should I make a stink?

 

[gbarry42]

Having read through this thread, I'm left with two nagging questions.

1. If the dealer installs P3227 in order to get a "good reading" on the battery health, how is this possible when the results are inflated for several weeks until it "learns" the proper values?

2. How did we go from Nissan warranting the battery at 9 bars or more, and then settling some lawsuit, basically for free, by agreeing to do a warranty exactly as before...to "Nissan was forced to come up with a warranty in response to being sued"?

 

[danmeljeff]

I received an email from Nissan Service at 8:30a this morning saying my LEAF is ready for pickup. Sadly, I was already at work. I then received a phone call from my Nissan Service rep, saying the same thing. I've arranged to pick up the LEAF tonight, and I too can just leave the rental car at the dealership (good deal).

The service rep said the car was done yesterday, but they wanted to charge to 100% and run one last diagnostic. He said everything appears to be working as it's supposed to.

I too received a VM from the NoGasEV 'case worker', saying the car is ready for pickup, and that he'll follow-up on Friday to make sure everything is okay.

I'll be excited to get my LEAF back, but unfortunately not before I have to swing by the gas station to fill-up the rental car before returning it.

I'll snap some pics of the LEAFDD after a full charge tomorrow AM, and post the data for the new battery. I'll too see if I can get to work and back on an 80% charge.

 

[danmeljeff]

I'll post pics later, but I did get some values from my LEAFDD on the new battery. After getting home last night and charging to 100%, here are the pertinent values I saw...

257 Gids
94.91 SOC
60.65 Pg 2 Ah

For others who've had their battery replaced, does it take a few charges before the full Gids (~281) are available?

 

[mkjayakumar]

On my new 2014 Leaf that I leased a few months, I was shocked that the car only charged to 255 Gids at pickup. I even complained to the service manager that if this doesn't get back to 281, I will be returning my Leaf. Two charges later it picked itself to 284 Gids.... and has stayed at 284 every day since (3+ months and 6500 miles).

So bring it down low and give it a couple of charges and hopefully you will see 280+

 

[TomT]

I suspect that there could be a few things in play here...

The BMS needs some time to adapt to the new battery (we know already that its algorithm updates slowly).
A few 100% charges are necessary to equalize the cells.
You may not have received a completely new battery (under the warranty, they do not have to provide one).

For others who've had their battery replaced, does it take a few charges before the full Gids (~281) are available?

 

[jhm614]

I'll post pics later, but I did get some values from my LEAFDD on the new battery. After getting home last night and charging to 100%, here are the pertinent values I saw...

257 Gids
94.91 SOC
60.65 Pg 2 Ah

For others who've had their battery replaced, does it take a few charges before the full Gids (~281) are available?

Mine started out about 272 and eventually worked its way up to 277 over a couple of weeks. Never got higher than that, though.

 

[danmeljeff]

Took my LEAF down to 30 gids yesterday, charged it up over night, and at 100% it now reads 259 gids. We'll see what another few charges does for the gid count.

 

[DaveEV]

Took my LEAF down to 30 gids yesterday, charged it up over night, and at 100% it now reads 259 gids. We'll see what another few charges does for the gid count.

How's the balance of the pack look when fully charged and discharged down near VLBW? Snap a pic of the 3rd screen on your LeafDD...

 

[scubasandy]

Took the car to the dealer today and they confirmed 4 bars lost. Dealer ordered a battery and said it will take about a week to deliver. Interesting I lost 3 bars the first 2 years (July 2011 to July 2013), then it took 11 months to loose the 4th bar (and that was after a "computer upgrade" at the dealer in July 2013).
The dealer today also said there was a "recall" that he needed to run and update on my car computer system. The invoice reads, "on board charger recall. reprogram onboard charger. HV battery verify recall performed" I'll search the blog to see what that's about.

Last month I got the Leaf App. and today it read after 100% charge cycle:
miles 25745, State: AZ Climate: HOT
94.8% SOC
14.0 kWh
93.8 F max
180 GIDs (64.1%)- this is a lot lower than 70% loss.

Thoughts? Does this seem reasonable to lose 3 bars in two years, and the 4 after another 11 months? My driving is the same- in fact, the last 11 months I needed to charge to 100% to even make my daily commute, and stopped using ECO mode since I couldn't tell a difference in range.

Thanks!

 

[GregH]

Thoughts? Does this seem reasonable to lose 3 bars in two years, and the 4 after another 11 months? My driving is the same- in fact, the last 11 months I needed to charge to 100% to even make my daily commute, and stopped using ECO mode since I couldn't tell a difference in range.

How big is that 4th bar? The first bar seems to be about 12Ah (from 66 down to 54?) and between 54 and 43 you lose the next 3 bars? If the 2nd, 3rd and 4th are the same size that makes the first bar bigger than the 2nd, 3rd and 4th combined! During a warm summer of 2013 it's perfectly reasonable to drop from 11 to 10 to 9 bars.. During the cool winter of the last 6 months it's reasonable that things would slow down. So it's not too hard to imagine that 4th bar taking its time during the winter.

 

[Valdemar]

Thoughts? Does this seem reasonable to lose 3 bars in two years, and the 4 after another 11 months?

Sounds like the "computer upgrade" may have been the infamous P3227 patch, which is supposed to improve the precision of the capacity gauge to Nissan's benefit and "slow down" bar losses in some cases, yours may be one of them.

 

[scubasandy]

Thoughts? Does this seem reasonable to lose 3 bars in two years, and the 4 after another 11 months?

Sounds like the "computer upgrade" may have been the infamous P3227 patch, which is supposed to improve the precision of the capacity gauge to Nissan's benefit and "slow down" bar losses in some cases, yours may be one of them.

Valdemar, I looked at the invoice from today closer and today is when they performed the P3227. So, guess it was the cool Fall, Winter weather in Az that slowed the 4th bar loss... But, I still wish the bars matched closer to under 70% as the 'upgraded' warranty states.

 

[Valdemar]

Thoughts? Does this seem reasonable to lose 3 bars in two years, and the 4 after another 11 months?

Sounds like the "computer upgrade" may have been the infamous P3227 patch, which is supposed to improve the precision of the capacity gauge to Nissan's benefit and "slow down" bar losses in some cases, yours may be one of them.

Valdemar, I looked at the invoice from today closer and today is when they performed the P3227. So, guess it was the cool Fall, Winter weather in Az that slowed the 4th bar loss... But, I still wish the bars matched closer to under 70% as the 'upgraded' warranty states.

There is also the yet to be proven theory that the rate degradation slows down over time, it may have been a factor as well.