Unable to Restart after using AC (was AC causes failure)

[leafwing]

Just curious. Because the A/C is apparently driven by the main battery and not the 12V, and because the QC charges the main battery directly, is there any correlation with those that have had the problem and whether they have the QC port? I can imagine that the software could be different versions depending on whether you have the QC option or not. If there is a correlation, then maybe those of us without the QC option can relax. Can those that have had the problem post whether they have the QC option or not.

I have never used the QC on board.

 

[mark]

The following is my information, BTW: before I picked up my Leaf, interestingly I had read the thread and wondering what was going on (before the title was changed to AC "over...), and now that I've had a moment to review the thread, I'm feeling much better now that my problem wasn't something unique. I'm also impressed with the dealer and Nissan, they have been very responsive, thanks Boardwalk Nissan, Brendan and the Nissan owner customer service.

After picking up the Leaf, on the drive home relatively slow highway speeds (35-65mph commute speed on highway 101)
I had turned on the AC, may have turned off and on, and while driving, I
Noticed the Master Warning light (Red - not the yellow version) and
EV system warning light

Was nearing home, about 7 miles from dealer, and pulled onto the expressway (an expressway has stop lights)
When stopped at my first and partially long light, I did power down the car, then attempted to power up
at that point I was stuck with only Park and Neutral, as mentioned in the discussion the car went into it's safe mode

Key take-away, if you do see the Master Warning light and EV system warning light, do not press the power switch button until you are somewhere where you can safely sit.

Again, thanks to Nissan for their quick response. The carwings call connected me with the dealer, Brendan was quickly on his way to meet me and then the tow truck. They did refresh the AC the next day and test drove (don't have the specific numbers, but the service report is detailed). No problems so far into day three, did hear that the this was a very active discussion at the dealer, and got call backs from the Nissan Owners number.

- Mark

White vin 837 SL-QC delivered 3/30

 

[LindaK]

Leafwing,
Drink an extra glass for me! I've got to drive my ICE car tonight, and throughout this weekend!
Linda

 

[TomT]

But at least you'll be cool!

Leafwing,
Drink an extra glass for me! I've got to drive my ICE car tonight, and throughout this weekend!
Linda

 

[smkettner]

, the technician told em, that the A/C pulls more power from the battery than it should, as the test results show.

Could it be the compressor motor itself? Is it a ~300v DC motor?

Battery voltage would seem to vary quite a bit... Any chance it is more prone to cause an issue with a full charge or when charging?

I so hope this is resolved in the next three weeks

 

[abasile]

Engineering is working on this, and will release updated software to solve this problem.

Thank you for the information. That is what we have been hoping to hear. Hopefully you'll get your LEAF back, with a real fix in place, before long!

The technician at the dealership was with Nissan on the phone; they re-programmed the vehicle, wireless-ly.

I would be skeptical that "reprogramming the vehicle" actually involved installing a real software fix; more likely, it seems that they probably just cleared the error codes. Thanks for keeping us posted.

 

[ERG4ALL]

Carlos is an SL-E as well. Mine is an SL w/o the QC option. It got up to 98 degrees today and I was running all over town doing errands with the A/C on and starting and stopping the car several times, sometimes with the A/C left on with the EV off and other times with the A/C on and the EV on, and sometimes shutting it all down and restarting. The car worked flawlessly.

So far the forum shows at least 9 cars with the QC option that are having trouble and at least two without QC that are not. My VIN is #404. Because the issue seems to be centered around main battery current draw, I still wonder if the QC option might have something to do with it. Perhaps the option draws just a tiny bit of current which throws it over the top. The service manager that I talked to today indicated that it really was an issue of load on the battery. He said NIssan has a temporary fix and will be sending out a TSB when they have the final fix.

When asked if I should bring mine in to be checked out, he said that the regional rep. said not to bring it in if it wasn't having trouble. They're going to mention my QC question to the engineers to see if they think it could have anything to do with the problem.

 

[davewill]

...The service manager that I talked to today indicated that it really was an issue of load on the battery. He said Nissan has a temporary fix and will be sending out a TSB when they have the final fix.

My thoughts go more to marginal A/C units on this batch that are drawing more than they should. A temporary fix for that might be software, but a permanent one might require new A/C units.

 

[leafwing]

...The service manager that I talked to today indicated that it really was an issue of load on the battery. He said Nissan has a temporary fix and will be sending out a TSB when they have the final fix.

My thoughts go more to marginal A/C units on this batch that are drawing more than they should. A temporary fix for that might be software, but a permanent one might require new A/C units.

It is very possible. 10 cars are a small number compared to the whole number of cars delivered so far.

 

[leafwing]

Engineering is working on this, and will release updated software to solve this problem.

Thank you for the information. That is what we have been hoping to hear. Hopefully you'll get your LEAF back, with a real fix in place, before long!

The technician at the dealership was with Nissan on the phone; they re-programmed the vehicle, wireless-ly.

I would be skeptical that "reprogramming the vehicle" actually involved installing a real software fix; more likely, it seems that they probably just cleared the error codes. Thanks for keeping us posted.

That might explain the I-have-no-idea-what-are-you-talking-about Nissan's rep.

But I told him, that I would return the car to the dealership had this issue occurred again.
I have not called a towing company in 12 years, but I did that twice in the past week.
Life is two (too: may be too many glasses of wine already) short.
Cheers

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

Multiple fixes is not good.. Getting close to CA lemon law too:

Presumed if, within 18 months after delivery to the consumer or 18,000 miles on the odometer,
whichever occurs first:
(1) The same nonconformity results in a condition that is likely to cause death or serious
bodily injury if the vehicle is driven, and the nonconformity has been subject to repair two
or more times, and the consumer has at least once directly notified the manufacturer of the
need for repair;
(2) The same nonconformity has been subject to repair four or more times and the consumer
has at least once directly notified the manufacturer of the need for repair; or
(3) The vehicle is out of service by reason of repair of nonconformities for more than 30
calendar days since delivery.

Has anyone been able to confirm that a 12v reboot is sufficient to get the car running again? It would be good to have an alternative to a flatbed.

 

[davewill]

Multiple fixes is not good.. Getting close to CA lemon law too:
...
Has anyone been able to confirm that a 12v reboot is sufficient to get the car running again? It would be good to have an alternative to a flatbed.

The dealers certainly know the lemon law, and won't keep sending a car out with band-aids...not that anyone here is likely to cry "lemon" as it will certainly greatly delay getting a vehicle.

As far as the reboot, I think there's been only one actual report of it...it's certainly worth a try before resorting to a tow.

 

[sdbonez]

I wonder whether there will be a recall or they will call individuals and ask them to get their Leaf checked ...

IMHO, it would be prudent (and easy to do) for Nissan to contact all Leaf dealers and owners ASAP; explain in simple terms what the problem really is, and what steps are being taken to correct it. All this speculation just makes things worse, and will result in a significant loss of confidence regarding this car. I'm just happy I don't have mine yet. My Prius keeps humming like the finely tuned machine it is. :? :? :?

My service manager at the very least was definitely aware. Was down there this afternoon and when I mentioned it he new *exactly* what I was talking about even though they haven't had to service any vehicles with the issue as of yet.

 

[Gonewild]

Engineering is working on this, and will release updated software to solve this problem.

Thank you for the information. That is what we have been hoping to hear. Hopefully you'll get your LEAF back, with a real fix in place, before long!

The technician at the dealership was with Nissan on the phone; they re-programmed the vehicle, wireless-ly.

I would be skeptical that "reprogramming the vehicle" actually involved installing a real software fix; more likely, it seems that they probably just cleared the error codes. Thanks for keeping us posted.

I have a scan gauge wonder if it would clear the code. I am going to be a beta test for scan gauge II company they get me a free scan gauge II and scanned the codes from my car. I hope they got some good data so I can get my device program for a Leaf.

 

[azdre]

So, Nissan failed to give my dealer the whole story the first 2 times it was in. The refrigerant level change was a stop-gap to try to pull the draw down until they could figure out what settings to change in the software. There are two distinct draw issues, one during pre-cool and another during driving that both required distinct settings changes. I'll pick up my car again tomorrow and hope for the best. I don't need a 34,000 paperweight. This will make 5 days in a row pulling into the Service Drive at the dealer. Please let it be the last! I am probably not using the right terminology here, so please don't flame me. I've had a really, really bad day and didn't totally hear everything the service advisor told me.

This last time the car threw the error while I was driving my cat to an emergency vet appointment, I left the car on in the parking lot while in the vet, drove my cat home, left it on as I got him settled back in, and then successfully drove myself to the dealer.

So, as others have stated, if your car throws the exclamation point car error with the yellow triangle, don't turn it off, drive to your nearest dealer or risk requiring a tow.

 

[LindaK]

Hi all, I'll make this brief as I am typing from my phone....my car is fixed with software upgrade. Dealership told me 200 cars were affected, but I don't know that the total is US or worldwide. Seems like they've gotten a handle on this issue....at least I hope so. I can't pick up ly car til tomorrow at this point, so will wait till then to verify all is well.

 

[evnow]

Hi all, I'll make this brief as I am typing from my phone....my car is fixed with software upgrade. Dealership told me 200 cars were affected, but I don't know that the total is US or worldwide. Seems like they've gotten a handle on this issue....at least I hope so. I can't pick up ly car til tomorrow at this point, so will wait till then to verify all is well.

What we need really is a message from Nissan that tells which cars are affected. My guess is cars manufactured between particular dates - or they could probably convey this by vin number range.

We have probably 4 months to go before we need to use AC here in the NW - but I'd like to know whether I should get that firmware upgrade. But people of the south need this info ...

 

[smkettner]

Anyone know the spec? Anyone put a clamp on meter to the feed wire?
Might be interesting to find how close it is and the draw under different conditions.

 

[palmermd]

What we need really is a message from Nissan that tells which cars are affected. My guess is cars manufactured between particular dates - or they could probably convey this by vin number range.

We have probably 4 months to go before we need to use AC here in the NW - but I'd like to know whether I should get that firmware upgrade. But for people who for some unknown reason need to use AC right now, it will be useful :lol:

I'm curious how long it will take for me to get the call from my dealers service department. Why are only the last 200 deliverys effected? What software changes did we get that the earlier models did not get, along with the new "feature"?

 

[cyellen]

I had the same problem today...presumably caused by the AC. It was towed to the dealer. They had another similar incident. Apparently, the AC is not coordinating with the engine, causing an EV system failure that shuts down the whole thing as if I had an accident. They have to reprogram the computer system. The dealer tried one fix on a car before mine, but it didn't work...they contacted an engineer in Japan and determined the problem and the solution. He said I'll have mine back before noon on Monday when the techs come in...in the mean time, I'm in an Altima. I can't really complain, but I would have thought a problem as simple as this would have been uncovered in early testing.