Leaf maintenance (or how to avoid being ripped off)

I just brought my Leaf in for a 3-year checkup. The weasels at the dealership recommended that I have the coolant system flushed ($197). I'm glad that I did not do it. The Leaf maintenance manual says:
"The recommended service interval of the factory-fill coolant is 125,000 miles (200,000 km) or 15 years, whichever comes first."

At the first annual checkup I let them do the air filter. I later wised up and bought the filter on Amazon for $10 and replaced it myself. The dealership is now charging $137 to replace the air filter!

What maintenance do you all recommend be done at the dealership? Is a battery check required once a year to keep the battery warranty active?

I've been getting the brake fluid flushed ($184 this time) each year. I put on about 10k miles/year. Can this be done less frequently or should I be on the safe side and keep doing it every year?

Thanks for your input.

I'll have to look it up, but I'm pretty sure that my brake fluid flush was in the $80-85 range. Sounds like your dealer is King Of The Overcharge!

I have a 2011 with 20k miles. I have not been to the dealer since my year 2 battery check. I have not had brake fluid changed and do not plan to. I changed air filter myself and rotate tires myself every 5k miles.
I can see no practical reason to do any maintenance. Nissan would love for people to come in every six months to have their oil changed .
Save your time and money, just drive.

OK, I found an answer to the battery check requirement in the warranty book:

"You are required to perform
annual EV Battery Usage Report at intervals of 12
months, 24 months, 36 months, 48 months, 60 months,
72 months, and 84 months. These EV Battery Usage
Reports can be performed by a Nissan LEAF certified
dealer or any qualified repair shop facility. The 12 and
24 month EV Battery Usage Report will be performed at
no charge to the customer, provided the work is done at
a Nissan LEAF certified dealer. Any damage or failure
resulting from a failure to have these required services
performed, or that could have been avoided had these
services been performed, is not covered under warranty."

Yeah, I don't want to visit the dealership (or spend) any more than I have to, but I need the annual safety inspection anyway, so I'll have them do what makes sense while I'm there.

As I did when I acquired the LEAFs, I shop around dealerships for lowest price on service. I won't drive an extra 20 miles to save $5, for example, but I will avoid dealerships which do crazy overcharges. Most dealerships are happy to put you on an email list (or even snail mail, if you actually get service there once) with lots of coupons. Yes, I ignore the oil change/lube coupons, but a dealership that quotes me a reasonable price on necessary maintenance and lets me apply a 15%/$20 off coupon as well will get my repeat business.

In this way I've paid less than $20 to have the air cabin filter replaced and $15 for tire rotations on my LEAFs. Soon I'll do the same shopping for the brake fluid flush and in a year for the 3rd year battery check.

In terms of what's required, the maintenance manual is your guide. Sadly every car manufacturer has some dealers who will literally lie to you about what is required (well, except Tesla), so follow the manual, not what the dealer says.

downeykp said:

I have a 2011 with 20k miles. I have not been to the dealer since my year 2 battery check. ...

Click to expand...

If you did not have the third battery "test" done within three months of 31May2014, you will likely have a very difficult time with Nissan on any battery warranty issue. :shock:

Grant said:

...
What maintenance do you all recommend be done at the dealership? Is a battery check required once a year to keep the battery warranty active?

I've been getting the brake fluid flushed ($184 this time) each year. I put on about 10k miles/year. Can this be done less frequently or should I be on the safe side and keep doing it every year?
...

Click to expand...

Battery "check" is required annually.
Nissan expects that to be within three months of the in service date.

Nissan interval on brake fluid flush is two years for normal service.
The dealer has been charging too much for it.
Most people are charged something in the $85 to $110 range.

My regular warranty is expired. I use it very gently (8000 mi. a year), I live in the Pacific Northwest, I only charge at home. There is not a snowbalsl chance in hell that I will lose 4 bars in the next five years. So why would I waste my time having useless battery checks and brake fluid replacements done?

TimLee said:

downeykp said:

I have a 2011 with 20k miles. I have not been to the dealer since my year 2 battery check. ...

Click to expand...

If you did not have the third battery "test" done within three months of 31May2014, you will likely have a very difficult time with Nissan on any battery warranty issue. :shock:

Click to expand...

The brake fluid should need to be flushed at most, in a very hot or wet climate, once every three years. It should not need it the first year, regardless. Typical driving and weather would make the interval more like 5 years. Just have the battery check and if it coincides, safety inspection once a year at the dealership. Tire rotation is sort of a grey area with the Leaf: some argue that it makes more sense to just let the pair that wears the most wear out and get replaced first. Most have it done wherever it costs the least.

downeykp said:

My regular warranty is expired. I use it very gently (8000 mi. a year), I live in the Pacific Northwest, I only charge at home. There is not a snowbalsl chance in hell that I will lose 4 bars in the next five years. So why would I waste my time having useless battery checks and brake fluid replacements done?
...

Click to expand...

The LEAF battery does have a much longer 8 year / 100,000 mile functional warranty if I recall correctly.
By the end of eight years the battery may fail the CVLI test horribly.
That might be worth doing the annual battery test.

But the brake flush, no benefit.
Although the braking system components are extremely expensive.
Does need to be flushed on some interval to protect the system.
But two years is very conservative most places and uses.

For brake fluid, I bought a bunch of testing strips, similar to these: Phoenix Systems (PHOFASCAR-1-100) Brake Fluid Test Strips (100 / Tube)
I paid $20 for 100 strips on eBay.
It's been 2.5 years for my Leaf, and the brake fluid isn't even close to needing to be replaced.

how much time do they charge to do the annual battery test?

Time? Dunno. But the test was $58 at my dealer.

Just a plug for alternate options - excluding the battery check - all other maintenance can be done anywhere. If you have a preferred/trusted car service center (I do, go Goodyear) they can provide a reasonable suggestion to the non-battery servicing of your Leaf.

I got tires a couple weeks ago and the guy kinda rolled his eyes when I said what some of the posts here were putting about brake flushes. While he agreed it can't hurt but it certainly wasn't 'required' at the lower mileages/months reported frequently on the forum.

I will say with my high mileage I do the severe schedule. I put ~20k per year on my leaf. That said - I still use the dealership for my work. Yes I know, they can rip you off, but it more situations that not, they have been right on my side so I throw them a bone for those potential times may occur.

Brake flush (which happens every 15k so less than a year for me for it) is usually around 100 bucks after everything. The air filter runs around 80ish after everything. i know I can replace it by myself but almost broke something when I tried it once, so I don't try anymore.

The dealership gave me the 3rd battery check for free (it really was a mistake though), so I don't know how much it actually is. Usually it takes almost a full day to do (or that they allot for it). Mostly because the car HAS to be at a specific low level to do the diagnostic and they will usually need to run the battery down to get to that point via climate control.

Oddly fun fact: going by BOTH severe maintenance of my wife's volt and my leaf - the volt is actually cheaper. Mostly because there is no break flush or filter every 15k. Oil is usually done every 2 years (so ~30k). Now granted there is more belts, wires, and hoses to break on the volt. But while there is little to break on the leaf, when it does (like the OBC) it gets expensive.

Pipcecil said:

I will say with my high mileage I do the severe schedule. I put ~20k per year on my leaf. That said - I still use the dealership for my work. Yes I know, they can rip you off, but it more situations that not, they have been right on my side so I throw them a bone for those potential times may occur.

Brake flush (which happens every 15k so less than a year for me for it) is usually around 100 bucks after everything. The air filter runs around 80ish after everything. i know I can replace it by myself but almost broke something when I tried it once, so I don't try anymore.

The dealership gave me the 3rd battery check for free (it really was a mistake though), so I don't know how much it actually is. Usually it takes almost a full day to do (or that they allot for it). Mostly because the car HAS to be at a specific low level to do the diagnostic and they will usually need to run the battery down to get to that point via climate control.

Oddly fun fact: going by BOTH severe maintenance of my wife's volt and my leaf - the volt is actually cheaper. Mostly because there is no break flush or filter every 15k. Oil is usually done every 2 years (so ~30k). Now granted there is more belts, wires, and hoses to break on the volt. But while there is little to break on the leaf, when it does (like the OBC) it gets expensive.

Click to expand...

you are wasting lot of good brake fluid. on hybrid and electric cars brakes do much less work. with your annual mileage I would change it every 2 years and even that is overkill.

Pipcecil said:

... Usually it takes almost a full day to do (or that they allot for it). Mostly because the car HAS to be at a specific low level to do the diagnostic and they will usually need to run the battery down to get to that point via climate control.
...

Click to expand...

That may be what your dealer is doing, but that is surprising and markedly different than what most dealers do for the annual battery "test".
The annual "test" does not require a certain battery status of charge. It can be done at any level and only pulls existing information from the LEAF and sends it to Nissan and generates the cute stars rating report.
That can be done in about 15 to 25 minutes.

If they are dropping status of charge to a very low level they are doing the Cell Voltage Loss Inspection (CVLI) test. A few really nice and generous dealers have done that and given the result to the customer.
Most have not.
When I asked my dealer, they will do it, but as you have pointed out it takes a lot of time to discharge it. Unless you arrive at the dealer with the vehicle below Low Battery Warning and nearing Very Low Battery Warning. My dealer would charge around $150 for CVLI.

If you have LEAF Spy Pro you can get CVLI information with it and without the dealer.

NasGoreList said:

you are wasting lot of good brake fluid. on hybrid and electric cars brakes do much less work. with your annual mileage I would change it every 2 years and even that is overkill.

Click to expand...

There has been some discussion that Nissan used cheaper brake controllers than other vehicles and it causes the brake fluid to wear quicker regardless if you use the friction brakes since the fluid may be cycled through the system causing wear. My grandparent was a mechanic and my dad always tinkered with cars. From all that I concluded that: Any "recommendations" for maintenance by repair places was more or less bogus (oil every 3k, the 30k tuneup, etc.). But the factory recommended stuff was usually fairly close (mostly because they manufacturer and the dealership are different owners). I always tend to lean that way. My theory was semi-validated by a friend working as a vehicle engineer and while there is a process to come up with those dates/miles/maintenance, its always starts with the engineers. How much fluff that is added at the final recommendations in the book has some management massaging, but sometimes its very little and sometimes isa bunch.

Taking all that information, I have never had a car really require bleeding the brakes. So the fact that its called out makes me think there is at least some validity to it (especially on such a short timeframe). I could always just ignore it, but I am not a car engineer or a break engineer so I don't know the finer specifics on this break system. In addition, the second I second guess it - ANY maintenance on ANY car becomes just as invalid if you can justify not to do it - and you can talk yourself out of anything.

I just rather be safe than sorry. Maybe if I didn't drive as hard as I do I would reconsider. But its a low cost anyways. Its the same argument - how much insurance? You can completely over insure everything or you can insure nothing. Its a risk and a gamble. Its how much risk you want to take.

TimLee said:

That may be what your dealer is doing, but that is surprising and markedly different than what most dealers do for the annual battery "test".
The annual "test" does not require a certain battery status of charge. It can be done at any level and only pulls existing information from the LEAF and sends it to Nissan and generates the cute stars rating report.
That can be done in about 15 to 25 minutes.

If they are dropping status of charge to a very low level they are doing the Cell Voltage Loss Inspection (CVLI) test. A few really nice and generous dealers have done that and given the result to the customer.
Most have not.
When I asked my dealer, they will do it, but as you have pointed out it takes a lot of time to discharge it. Unless you arrive at the dealer with the vehicle below Low Battery Warning and nearing Very Low Battery Warning. My dealer would charge around $150 for CVLI.

If you have LEAF Spy Pro you can get CVLI information with it and without the dealer.

Click to expand...

Honestly I don't know if they do a CVLI test. Since day one they always required me to bring the car in at low charge for battery test and said it was what was given to them when told how to perform one (since I was one of the first for them to do one - you can tell they were reading everything off the book). When I had my battery replaced, the had to have the battery drained to confirm loss (by Nissan's requirement). My guess is for capacity. If they are requiring a low SoC to determine "true" capacity of the battery - and I think this is part of the standard battery test - then I can see why it would be needed.

Maybe my dealership is giving me something for free? Maybe other dealerships are half-a$$ing it. Who knows.

mwalsh said:

Time? Dunno. But the test was $58 at my dealer.

Click to expand...

mike,
whose your dealer?