2011 48k miles - car won't charge

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Pipcecil

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 14, 2011
Messages
810
Location
Midlothian, TX
So I have read a few people who have had problems charging their car. Friday I came home from a long trip with 5 miles to spare - nothing new, nothing out of the ordinary, no warning lights on the dash, no nothing.

Plugged in, light came on, EVSE clicked, car clicked on to charge. It about 5 seconds the car shut off charging like the battery was full (only one light was blinking - I was low!). I tried multiple times, waited some time to let the car rest - no dice. I reset the breakers and even tried my wife's 240 voltec - no dice (my AV unit charged her volt, so its the car not the EVSE). Even my portable EVSE (unmodded), didn't work.

Needless to say I have to take my car into the dealership on Monday. The leaf person there was completely dumbfounded. Worst yet - with 5 miles I can't make it the 20 miles to the dealership, so it will be towed - poor car.

Anyways - I will give people updates on what they figure out the problem is. I have not had a chance to try CHAdeMO since the closest charger is near the dealership. I had the battery gauge update (p1337?) done in June, so that is non-issue. No other mods have been done (no bursa charger or anything). Wish me luck with good news when I take it in on Monday!
 
ok I thought I would give an update. It's not going well. The 12v disconnect just cleared the code, but the issue remained. It appears I have the same issue as GregH had with is 2012 leaf. The car is overcharging. My Level 1 is charging fine now, but it does it really quickly - 15 miles per couple of hours, waaaay faster than it should. The car leaves a fault when I plug in at home and the OBC reports an overcharge @ 295+ volts, way more than it should. Again, this mirrors exactly the issue GregH had. AND the dealership is being impossible. The EVSEs at the dealership work, but they are at 208 volts, so the overcharge isn't enough to cause fault. And because it charges "just fine" at the dealership there is no problem they have sent me home, TWICE!

The dealership claims my EVSE at home is the problem and refuses to work on the car until I have my unit checked out. Yet this is despite: my wife's 240 Voltec doesn't work, Blink public evses don't work, and the Level 1 is charging too fast (and overheating - I get electric smell/burning when I use it). In addition, when I charge on the Level 1, carwings reports its a "normal" charge not a trickle charge. Finally, the car's estimation of time to charge is extremely off. Six-seven bars of use (standard now for me to go to work) results in a 2:30-3:00 estimate of charging time for 240v and 7:30-8:00 hours tickle, triple of the 240v so - normal. Now the car shows 5 hours @ 6 bars on the Level and 6:30 on the Level 1 - its extremely overestimating the level 2 and the level 1 is way way off.

Now the dealerships is completely ignoring all this information saying its irrelevant and says my EVSE is the problem. I still argue its not my evse since I have tried multiple ones, but, again they ignore those facts. Worst part, I know and the leaf tech should know EVSE are just "dumb electrical sticks" they just have simple protocols to insure the plug is connected and dumps electricity. the OBC is what regulates voltage, amps, etc. So even if the EVSE is faulting it would cause this problem (or could it? someone chime in that knows better than me).

So nissan (now coroporate) refuses to authorize any work on my car unless I produce a full technical check on my EVSE. The refuse to check public charging or read the voltage off my Level 1 (all which would prove my point). And the fact my wife's Voltec doesn't work either means, MY evse is bad (yes, try and explain that logic). So I am now waiting on a technician to come and do a full diagnostic on my EVSE and waste my time to give a clean bill of health (remember it works on my wife's volt just fine). To make matters worse, now my leaf assistant won't call me back or won't answer when I call. WHAT THE HELL. Nissan just seems to try to avoid admitting there is any problem what-so-ever. I am so frustrated.

Well we shall see what they find. I think its an easy solution - with all the problems: the OBC is bad. But, like GregH, its looks like its going to be pulling teeth to get Nissan to realize this.
 
Same suggestion I had over in the other thread...Any way you could find a nearby owner with an Aerovironment EVSE to demonstrate the failure on? That should nail it down for even the most stubborn tech.
 
Find a different dealer, even if you have to pay extra for towing. This dealer is not doing their job.
 
Here is the last we heard from GregH:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=15198&start=26" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Probably what you need to pursue with Nissan dealer to see if it is the same problem.
 
Wow! Somehow missed this post. Sorry to hear about this issue -- I hope they get it corrected soon. Is Don Davis your dealership?
 
Pipcecil said:
ok I thought I would give an update. It's not going well. The 12v disconnect just cleared the code, but the issue remained. It appears I have the same issue as GregH had with is 2012 leaf. The car is overcharging. My Level 1 is charging fine now, but it does it really quickly - 15 miles per couple of hours, waaaay faster than it should. The car leaves a fault when I plug in at home and the OBC reports an overcharge @ 295+ volts, way more than it should. Again, this mirrors exactly the issue GregH had. AND the dealership is being impossible. The EVSEs at the dealership work, but they are at 208 volts, so the overcharge isn't enough to cause fault. And because it charges "just fine" at the dealership there is no problem they have sent me home, TWICE!

The dealership claims my EVSE at home is the problem and refuses to work on the car until I have my unit checked out. Yet this is despite: my wife's 240 Voltec doesn't work, Blink public evses don't work, and the Level 1 is charging too fast (and overheating - I get electric smell/burning when I use it). In addition, when I charge on the Level 1, carwings reports its a "normal" charge not a trickle charge. Finally, the car's estimation of time to charge is extremely off. Six-seven bars of use (standard now for me to go to work) results in a 2:30-3:00 estimate of charging time for 240v and 7:30-8:00 hours tickle, triple of the 240v so - normal. Now the car shows 5 hours @ 6 bars on the Level and 6:30 on the Level 1 - its extremely overestimating the level 2 and the level 1 is way way off.

Now the dealerships is completely ignoring all this information saying its irrelevant and says my EVSE is the problem. I still argue its not my evse since I have tried multiple ones, but, again they ignore those facts. Worst part, I know and the leaf tech should know EVSE are just "dumb electrical sticks" they just have simple protocols to insure the plug is connected and dumps electricity. the OBC is what regulates voltage, amps, etc. So even if the EVSE is faulting it would cause this problem (or could it? someone chime in that knows better than me).

So nissan (now coroporate) refuses to authorize any work on my car unless I produce a full technical check on my EVSE. The refuse to check public charging or read the voltage off my Level 1 (all which would prove my point). And the fact my wife's Voltec doesn't work either means, MY evse is bad (yes, try and explain that logic). So I am now waiting on a technician to come and do a full diagnostic on my EVSE and waste my time to give a clean bill of health (remember it works on my wife's volt just fine). To make matters worse, now my leaf assistant won't call me back or won't answer when I call. WHAT THE HELL. Nissan just seems to try to avoid admitting there is any problem what-so-ever. I am so frustrated.

Well we shall see what they find. I think its an easy solution - with all the problems: the OBC is bad. But, like GregH, its looks like its going to be pulling teeth to get Nissan to realize this.

Sounds like you need someone from Nissan to help resolve this issue. On the Nissan LEAF Facebook page people often post about problems and the people who run that page will private message them and, in most cases, work behind the scenes to get someone within Nissan to resolve the issue. You might want to try that route.
 
Wow!! Same issue with me.. I haven't heard from the dealer in 10 days or so.. I made a heavy duty 14-50 to 120v (one leg) adapter to use my 2kW L1 EVSE at home.. And 208v charging on the upgraded EVSE at work works so until I need to use 240v I guess I'm not in any hurry. Of course neither is Nissan and that is problematic. You might call the head service manager at Tustin Nissan in California who has at least witnessed this with his own eyes (and has consult printouts to prove it). I'm on vacation and away from the Leaf until Jan 2.
 
It's certainly not a long term solution! I'd much rather have a functional OBC and just charge at 3.3kW @240V. I'll go back to bugging the Tustin Nissan guys when I get back on the 2nd. I feel sorry for the OP but in a strange way it feels good not to be alone on this. And.. Like I said, at least on this side the head service manager eventually confirmed the problem. (After one of the sub-service managers giving me the same run around "well, it charges here (208v).. So it must be your EVSE at home." Argh!!)
 
There was an update for this problem, you probably didn't get the software update:

http://www.automd.com/tsb/bulletin_b359412/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2013 Nissan Leaf Electrical System Service Bulletin 359412

TSB Reference
#NTB-13-069

NHTSA: Action Number: 10052513 Service Bulletin Number: 359412
Report Date:
Jul 12, 2013Component:
Electrical System
Summary: Nissan: the hv battery charger will not charge or will not fully charge. Stored dtcs p316c, p3170, p3171, and b29c1.

http://www.nissanproblems.com/tsbs/Leaf/2013/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TSB Reference
#NTB-13-105

Description: NISSAN: PEP CHARGING STATIONS IN OPERATIONS BUT NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH ALL SAE J1772 STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS FOR ERROR FREE CHARGING THAT FAILS TO START AND EV WARNING LIGHT ILLUMINATES (DTC P3171, P3170, P316C FOR PD MODULE SYSTEM) OR CHA
 
Wennfred said:
There was an update for this problem, you probably didn't get the software update:

http://www.automd.com/tsb/bulletin_b359412/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

2013 Nissan Leaf Electrical System Service Bulletin 359412

TSB Reference
#NTB-13-069
He has a 2011, this doesn't apply.
 
Yes this is Don Davis in Arlington. I have gotten all the software updates (dealership also confirmed it). I got ahold of AV for my unit and they laughed the entire time because they know its not the units fault. They couldn't believe Nissan was pulling this B.S. A tech will come out Monday to give the official "all clear" from my unit.

All in all I am extremely disappointed in Nissan, something simple that even a moderately Leaf person understands Nissan refuses to acknowledge. This just piles on my horrible battery loss and range.

Maybe Nissan will finally wake up. Because right now the dealership is even claiming this won't be under warranty (electrical components are covered to 60k which this is obviously one). Hopefully good news will be forthcoming.
 
Following your posts pretty closely, as frankly, we all should be.
This is how Nissan treats us / this is how well Nissan understands the vehicle and electrical systems in general.
How can they not know that their EVSE is putting out 208Vac?

Sure there are a bunch of people at Nissan who know exactly what this problem is, but because of the way this system is set up, we cannot get to them.

So, now my stupid question.
With 48K miles, is this out of warranty?
If yes, how is Nissan handling this?

There is more to my question than meets the eye.
When my OBC went last year, My dealer KNEW what the problem was.
(Frankly, like your problem, It doesn't take a Rocket Surgeon to figure it out)
Rather than let my car sit for 3 months while the Nissan mothership figured out what we already knew, my dealer ordered a charger from Nissan.

They REFUSED to sell my dealer a charger.
They refused to sell them a control board, and FORBADE them to even crack it open.

They did ship us a replacement OBC pretty damn skippy after this, but refused to tell us what had failed.

(Loughead Nissan: Leaf loaner the whole time !)

I wrote to Nissan' EV group, stating this was my car; it wasn't going to be under warranty forever, and I'd like to know what failed for future reference.

My reply was " We fixed it, and you won't have this problem again".
What arrogant BS!

So, are you going to have to buy an OBC out of pocket?
Will they sell you the control portion, or are you going to have to buy the whole shebang?
If you have to buy the whole shebang, and you are out of warranty, why is this taking so long?

Sorry if this comes off as a rant, but Nissan's attitude just pisses me off to no end.

Read sarcastically, with a sing song voice:
"It must be your EVSE putting out the wrong voltage!"
"Our's works just fine!"

Cause EVSE's are not just a big light switch, they can apparently increase AC voltage!

Expecto Transformerium! :ugeek:

Please keep us posted.
 
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