140 degree Leaf roast

There have been several comments on curing a freshly painted Leaf. As I remember suggestions ranged from removing the battery before the operation to heating no higher than 120F for the half hour. This is what recently happened to me:

Three panels had to be painted (don't ask ) so I suggested that the body shop call Nissan for instructions which they may or may not have been done. I picked it up a few days ago and was told that the curing included a half hour at 140F. Fear set in. The total body shop job was excellent. My leaf is 2 years old with 15K miles on it. A quick check with Leaf Spy showed an SOH of 97 and HX of 94. So far so good. Then yesterday I made a 60 mile trip to Nissan for the yearly check and a couple of recalls. The Nissan conclusion was that everything is fine including very little brake wear. I love my Leaf!

On the way home I set it up to measure range using the Leaf Spy SOC, dash SOC and % GIDS and an average of all 3. For some reason the dash SOC and GIDS track nicely but the Leaf Spy SOC always gives a higher range calculation. Anyone know why? The temperature averaged 60 degrees and the speed varied between 55 and 60. The calculated range for the 60 miles was 94, a couple of miles above my average for that temperature and speed. So I conclude that the 140 degrees did no measurable harm.

The pack has a lot of mass and warms slowly. If it was nice and cool before the bake, it wouldn't have gotten too hot.

The battery warranty statement contains the exact specification with the temperature and time limits. IIRC the traction batter warranty is void after 24 hours at 120 degrees. If they are only going to heat the panels being painted and not the whole car and its for less than an hour then you should be fine. A fan setup to blow ambient air under the car to prevent heat buildup from the paint lamps may not be a bad idea. To play it safe one might set up blowers to cool underneath the car once the paint is baked off to bleed off any residual heat too.

A good paint shop should be willing and able to do the job right without impacting the battery.

That you are located in Maine and the job is being done as we close in on November then just parking it in a breezy area outside will probably be sufficient to cool it off afterwards.

I needed painting done, and when I explained to the guys at the body shop about the battery, they painted the car on Friday and left it in the booth (at normal ambient temperature) to air dry until Monday.

Half an hour? that ain't long enough time to do much of anything....

DaveinOlyWA said:

Half an hour? that ain't long enough time to do much of anything....

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30 minutes at 120 to 140 degrees is all that's specified for baking many mordern automotive paints to flash off the paint and enhance overall durability. Yes there are some specialty paints that require more but one would not be wise to choose them on a Leaf or really any other car that still has the upholstery, tires, glass, etc still installed on it.

Back in the day I saw paint shops set up a baking oven using a gas pipe (with a back flash valve feeding it) all around the inside of a refractory block room, drill small holes with a numbered drill bit in the pipe just on the long sides of the room and after the initial flash off roll the car in (gas tank removed) and with a lit propane torch in hand turn on the gas and run around the room lighting the gas as it just started coming out of the holes in the pipe. That would not be OSHA approved today to say the least and someone would have to monitor the temperature gauges adjusting the gas flow manually for the entire bake.

Most days here in Tampa Bay you could probably get away with just closing the doors and windows along with the ventilators in the paint booth and let the sun warm things up to 120 or so.