2011 LEAF won't start, reboot didn't fix the problem

This afternoon, I went out to run an errand and got into my car to start it up. Put my foot on the brake, pressed the ON button. The brake pedal immediately became "soft" and it sank even further to the floor, almost touching the floor. At the same time, I got a rather foreign looking display on the dash (see image), I got some beeping noise and the normal startup music didn't happen.

Overnight, I had charged the car to 100%, and had just unplugged the EVSE from the car prior to attempting to start it. The first thing I had my husband do is pull the 12 volt battery and check to see if it was undercharged (it wasn't), and then he left the negative battery terminal undone for about 20 minutes in hopes of rebooting the electronics on the LEAF. That didn't work either.

One last thing, after I push the round ON button to turn off the car, I get a series of short beeps and then when I open up the door to get out of the car (while holding my keys), I get this warning on the dash (see second pic)

Any ideas on what the problem may be? Any suggestions for things to try before we have to call Nissan for a tow truck? Thanks in advance. Excuse the dust on the dash pictures, the pollen is insane out here right now.

If you have LeafSpy you could see the error codes the computer is putting out. That may help you determine the type of problem, but I doubt it would change the end result: calling the tow truck. You've already done what I would do, check the 12v battery and reboot.

Holland

I have Leaf Spy Pro for iOS. But I don't know how to look at the error codes.

Perhaps the battery in the fob is dying. Try holding the fob against the ON button when you press it.

Vicki,

I have the android version, probably iOS version is similar. Turn on car, turn on LeafSpy, be sure it is connecting w car. Go to settings, scroll down to Enable Service Screen, then pick "Read DTCs" When you get the error codes, either do a screen capture (press the on-off button at top of phone and the menu button at bottom of phone at the same time), or use another phone to take a photo of the DTC codes.

Holland

Reg, tried your fob idea. When I put the fob close to the button, the light went out on the button. Then I pushed it to turn on the car and I got nothing on the display except a red icon of the car at the bottom left area of the dash with a little picture of a key inside the red car icon. That and a red hazard looking icon at the top left. Other than those two icons, the entire dash is black. When I turn off the button, I no longer get the warning about the key not being detected. It's like the 12 volt battery is dead now. Will have my husband try to juice it back up with a battery charger.

If the 12v battery whith the EVSE unplugg and car OFF is less than 12v the battery is propably defective. IF it is more than 12v whith or without load it should be OK. Then: Disconnect the 12v battery for a few minutes (at least ten to be sure).

Vicki,

It sounds to me like a very weak/dead 12-volt battery. When the 12-volt battery died in my 2011, I had to try several times to get it to boot up. The brake pedal felt funny each time I attempted to start the car until I finally got a successful boot up. I had a dash full off lights and a bunch of DTC error codes to read and clear with Leaf Spy. I even had the key not detected error during one boot attempt.

Gerry

vrwl said:

Put my foot on the brake, pressed the ON button. The brake pedal immediately became "soft" and it sank even further to the floor, almost touching the floor.

Click to expand...

This is the main symptom of a weak 12 volt battery. What made your husband say the battery was OK? Have you tried putting it on a charger?

keydiver said:

vrwl said:

Put my foot on the brake, pressed the ON button. The brake pedal immediately became "soft" and it sank even further to the floor, almost touching the floor.

Click to expand...

This is the main symptom of a weak 12 volt battery. What made your husband say the battery was OK? Have you tried putting it on a charger?

Click to expand...

12V batteries, as I understand it, need to be tested using a load test. I have a 12V lead acid battery in a car that had good voltage, but didn't have enough juice to power the printer on the tester they attached to it... Given the age of my LEAF, I am of mind to go get mine tested right now...

Hope it's a simple fix of getting a new 12V aux battery...

keydiver said:

vrwl said:

Put my foot on the brake, pressed the ON button. The brake pedal immediately became "soft" and it sank even further to the floor, almost touching the floor.

Click to expand...

This is the main symptom of a weak 12 volt battery. What made your husband say the battery was OK?...

Click to expand...

LOL! Because my husband knows nothing about cars! :lol:

Thanks for everyone's help last night! I insisted that we put the 12 volt battery on the charger overnight, despite my husband's proclamations that the battery was fine. Lo and behold, this morning, he put the battery back in the car and the car started up fine. So thanks to all for your advice, at least I've got my car up and running again today.

I am pretty notorious about leaving the car plugged in on the EVSE well past the time it's finished charging (like all the day the following day). And I know from this forum that doing so can cause a 12 volt battery to run down and not get fully recharged from the traction battery. As a result, this is essentially all my fault, it had just never happened in the past 3 years and so I didn't give it much thought. So ok, I'll be good and unplug the EVSE from the car when it's done charging to avoid future problems like this. But, on the bright side, I have an insanely well balanced pack!! :lol:

One final question to wrap this up.... can I buy a 12 volt battery for the LEAF from any auto parts store, or do I need to purchase one specifically from Nissan?

There is nothing special about the Leaf 12 volt battery.

keydiver said:

There is nothing special about the Leaf 12 volt battery.

Click to expand...

Agreed - you can buy any 12v car battery that fits in the mount.

Now, if you want to complicate things, I do believe that some folks here have suggested that a deep cycle/marine type battery may have some benefits given the way that the Leaf uses the 12v battery. I don't know if it is worth the premium....

I kept it simple and replaced by battery recently with an Exide brand replacement that I purchased from Home Depot...

It is a smaller battery than the typical 12v car battery, but it stocked by most of the usual outlets. Here is a thread I wrote up about the replacement. Of course, in true MNL style, it was soon overtaken with discussion of other types of replacement batteries that are either more expensive or with spotty track records. I'm happy with the purchase and the replacement...

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=19169" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thx for the link Randy, I'll go read that thread.