Seeking Advice Regarding My Damaged LeaF

I have a 2013 Leaf SL that has major problems. The "brake unit internal shorted" according to the dealer. They want $2800 to fix it. The traction battery has only 8 bars and I missed the degradation warranty by 5 months. I'm also way overdue for new tires. I think it still has the original Michelin Energy Saver tires with about 44,000 miles and they look terrible. I still owe around $6,500 on my loan.

It doesn't seem worth repairing or getting new tires for it mostly because the traction battery is terrible. It only has about 63% of its original capacity. I would have to refinance the loan and/or get a new credit card to pay for the $2800 repair. If I were to get rid of the car, I don't have any idea how. I don't think anyone would even take it on a trade in. Do you think I'm stuck having to repair this car? Should I fork out the money for new tires? If your opinion is that I dump this car, how do I accomplish that? I'm sick of having to press super hard on the brake pedal all the time and am very worried about the tires.

Thank you for your advice!

(I also posted this on reddit/r/leaf but am not sure how many users here also use Reddit.)

If it weren't for being underwater on the loan, I'd suggest getting it repaired and then selling it quickly for about $3500. As it is you have a difficult choice. You were unfortunate enough to get an early build 2013 that uses the same terrible battery chemistry as the 2011-2012 Leafs. I assume that you aren't a really good shadetree mechanic? Getting it fixed and then swapping in a later (after March of 2013) build used pack might then be an option, as would fixing the car yourself. Does the car still more or less meet your driving range needs?

That's a tough situation. There's no realistic way anyone will buy your car in its current condition, much less with a lien. You could bring it to one of those shyster lots that claim they give some outrageous trade value, then roll that amount into a high-interest loan on another POS. I think your only real option is to suck it up and catch up on the deferred maintenance and repairs.

There's no realistic way anyone will buy your car in its current condition, much less with a lien.

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If you can pay off the the lien, all you need is a release of lien form from the lender to sell the car. Anyway, get a quote from an independent, reputable mechanic to have the car fixed. You can almost always do better than a dealership's price for repairs.

With that condition battery and what you own on the car, you'd be lucky(probably not possible considering battery state) to get what you owe on the car($6500) + ($500) new tires + ($2800) cost to fix your brakes, for a total of ($9800). I haven't been following prices lately but I know someone who purchased a '13 SL w/full bars(and almost new tires) 2 years ago for a bit under $10k. I also purchased a '12SL 3?? years ago with 10 bars for $7.5k. Of course a '12 is worth several thousand less than a '13 but still, we're talking 2 or 3 years ago.
I'd guess in its current condition it's almost junk value so to get anything out of it, you may need to spend a bit(in your case $3300) but I'd think junk value might be even less than that??

Junk value is usually no more than $300. "Fix & drive" seems to be the best option, especially if they can get a lower repair cost. Dealerships aren't always right when they diagnose a problem, and they sometimes even lie.

I think you're going to have to repair the car. Do try and find someone to do the repair cheaper. Get as much detail from the dealer as you can what exactly the repair consists of. Maybe a third party shop using rebuilt or salvaged parts can get the repair cost down to something you can handle.

Keep in mind that Nissan mechanics are way too often incompetent when it comes to the LEAF so you risk paying $2,800 for the brake repair and not ending up with them fixed.

Sorry, but you have a money pit. Get rid of it.

If the car can be repaired for, say, $1500, then the market value, depending on options and mileage, is maybe $6k. That would mean eating about $2000 to get rid of the car. If it only needs minor work, maybe as little as $1000...

The early build 2013 Leafs are a good example of Nissan's usual failure to build a good battery from Day One of a new model. The original Canary packs were built in Japan so there were few build issues, but the chemistry was Crap and they kept using it for all the Japanese-built cars. Then they had to get rid of leftover battery "guts" so they used them for three months in the new 2013 refresh - in the new battery case, no less. Then they had build problems with the early 30kwh packs, and it seems that, yet again, there are cell failure problems with the early (pre-March) 40kwh packs...

Most dealers aren't very good a fixing cars, they will usually replace the whole thing that they thing is wrong and they will keep trying until your wallet is empty, the first thing I would do is to find a local mechanic, ask for advice to friends or family that may know a honest mechanic, then try to see if they may fixt it for cheap, if they are unable to fix it I would try looking for the part online maybe a junk yard, in none of that works out then try to see if you can sell it, in more extreme case you can sell it part by part, or just stop making payments and let the bank have it.

Ebay is also a good source of new and used Leaf parts.

Thanks everyone for your replies. It sounds like it might be best to first have a trusted local mechanic diagnose the car and give me a repair quote. If I can get it fixed for a reasonable price, it might be worth fixing. Unfortunately the only mechanic I knew I could trust died a couple years ago. The time has come for me to find a new mechanic. Hopefully a local mechanic can be more specific for me than the Nissan dealer who wrote "brake unit internal." I'm not sure what exactly the dealer means by that statement. My best guess is something I found on eBay called "power brake booster master cylinder."

TLeaf13 said:

Thanks everyone for your replies. It sounds like it might be best to first have a trusted local mechanic diagnose the car and give me a repair quote. If I can get it fixed for a reasonable price, it might be worth fixing. Unfortunately the only mechanic I knew I could trust died a couple years ago. The time has come for me to find a new mechanic. Hopefully a local mechanic can be more specific for me than the Nissan dealer who wrote "brake unit internal." I'm not sure what exactly the dealer means by that statement. My best guess is something I found on eBay called "power brake booster master cylinder."

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Probably. There may also be a control module that failed. How much is the (hopefully new) part on Ebay? Labor for a new booster/master cylinder unit installation, including a brake line flush, shouldn't be more than $500, done away from a dealer. It could be less.

Deoc said:

or just stop making payments and let the bank have it.

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And then be a credit pariah for 7 years or so.

Yeah, that is going to work out well for him.

TLeaf13 said:

Thanks everyone for your replies. It sounds like it might be best to first have a trusted local mechanic diagnose the car and give me a repair quote. If I can get it fixed for a reasonable price, it might be worth fixing. Unfortunately the only mechanic I knew I could trust died a couple years ago. The time has come for me to find a new mechanic. Hopefully a local mechanic can be more specific for me than the Nissan dealer who wrote "brake unit internal." I'm not sure what exactly the dealer means by that statement. My best guess is something I found on eBay called "power brake booster master cylinder."

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You are asking for more trouble if a generic mechanic messes around with the brake system without Nissan LEAF diagnostic/repair software.

Bad, bad, BAD idea

SageBrush said:

Bad, bad, BAD idea

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The right answer is to buy a $120,000 Tesla. :twisted:

SageBrush said:

TLeaf13 said:

Thanks everyone for your replies. It sounds like it might be best to first have a trusted local mechanic diagnose the car and give me a repair quote. If I can get it fixed for a reasonable price, it might be worth fixing. Unfortunately the only mechanic I knew I could trust died a couple years ago. The time has come for me to find a new mechanic. Hopefully a local mechanic can be more specific for me than the Nissan dealer who wrote "brake unit internal." I'm not sure what exactly the dealer means by that statement. My best guess is something I found on eBay called "power brake booster master cylinder."

Click to expand...

You are asking for more trouble if a generic mechanic messes around with the brake system without Nissan LEAF diagnostic/repair software.

Bad, bad, BAD idea

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What can a dealership do here that a good independent mechanic with a code reader and LeafSpy Pro can't...?

LeftieBiker said:

SageBrush said:

TLeaf13 said:

Thanks everyone for your replies. It sounds like it might be best to first have a trusted local mechanic diagnose the car and give me a repair quote. If I can get it fixed for a reasonable price, it might be worth fixing. Unfortunately the only mechanic I knew I could trust died a couple years ago. The time has come for me to find a new mechanic. Hopefully a local mechanic can be more specific for me than the Nissan dealer who wrote "brake unit internal." I'm not sure what exactly the dealer means by that statement. My best guess is something I found on eBay called "power brake booster master cylinder."

Click to expand...

You are asking for more trouble if a generic mechanic messes around with the brake system without Nissan LEAF diagnostic/repair software.

Bad, bad, BAD idea

Click to expand...

What can a dealership do here that a good independent mechanic with a code reader and LeafSpy Pro can't...?

Click to expand...

Control the valves in the system

Control the valves in the system

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You mean the ABS valves?

The master cylinder and control module is one assembly that Nissan calls the intelligent brake controller and $2800 is about the cost for replacement at a competent Nissan dealer. The unit on my 2015 was recently replaced due to intermittent internal problems causing communication errors on the CAN Bus (which caused very abrupt brake application along with very loud, continuous ABS operating noises when depressing brake pedal). It might be possible to buy a used unit cheaper, but the decision maker for my extended warranty finally gave up searching and authorized the dealer to install a new unit. I know that associated DTCs can be cleared with Leaf Spy Pro because I was able to reset mine several times over the past few months before finally taking it to the dealer. Resetting required clearing codes, disconnecting/reconnecting 12-volt battery, and clearing codes again (sometimes required repeating the process two or three times). Therefore, a competent independent mechanic should be able to replace the unit, bleed the brakes, and then use Leaf Spy to clear the DTCs.