2011 Leaf will not charge Error codes P3196 and U1000 (x2)

My Leaf died two days ago. I live in Arizona. Outside temp is 110F. Went on trip across town. Charged for several hours and got on the road. The car displayed the amber triangle and limited my speed to 24 MPH. Stopped car and restarted... All systems GO. Returned from the long trip, plunged the car into my level 2 charger at home and it would not charge. I tried the level 1 charger and no response from the car. Dealership is about 1 mile from my home... Drove the car at 24 MPH with amber code on dash to dealer (with less than 2 miles on the charge). They produced P3196 and two U1000 codes. The dealer recommended replacing part: 296A03NA8A for $2.5K. What are my options? This car is so frustrating.

Michael

This is just unsubstantiated superstitious folklore, but facing those kind of repair bills, it wouldn't take too much extra time or money to speculatively test or replace the car's 12V battery. To judge by the anecdotes shared on this forum, the powersupplies for LEAF's computer systems seem to be poorly designed, and liable to exhibit almost any wierd symptom imaginable as a result of inadequate 12V power. Almost any symptom imaginable, that is, except plainly announcing, "Hey, my 12V power is bad". Who knows? Maybe your symptoms can be added to the lore, right after "right rear tire automatically depressurized".

Thank you for the input. It is worth a try.

MBryant15 said:

... They produced P3196 and two U1000 codes. The dealer recommended replacing part: 296A03NA8A for $2.5K. What are my options? This car is so frustrating.

Michael

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The dealer is advising the charger needs to be replaced.

One of the problems the 2011 and 2012 LEAF had was charger failures.
I have been lucky and mine is still working at 5 1/2 years.
But I have a seven year extended warranty just in case.

The failure may just be an inexpensive diode.
But dealers only replace the whole thing.
Their price does seem high.
A google search of the part # gave some suppliers offering it for $250 to $350.
I'm not sure time involved in swapping it.
Probably two hours.

In the case of the Prius some non-dealer shops developed the capabilty of replacing failed charger diodes.

I don't know if that has developed for the LEAF yet or not.

All 3 codes are data bus errors p 3196? make sure the 16 pin DLC is clear. power down let it sit for 10 min, then disconnect the battery both cables, connect the cables together, reconnect the battery. See if the code resets. hope it does. It is common for cars to fail to see a module on start up. good luck.

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/563533/Nissan-Electric-Power-Train.html?page=115#manual

Thank you. I'll try that.

Of of curiosity, what brand of EVSEs (aka charging stations/dock) are you charging on at home and wherever else?

They wouldn't happen to be GE Wattstations, would they?

It is a Legrand® Brand.

Went to the dealer to retrieve the car and it would not start. The tech put it on the charger (12v battery) and the vehicle came alive but died once the battery charger was removed. Charged the car battery for a few minutes and it stayed awake. Drove the car home and plunged it in and it began to charge using the level 2 unit. I'll charge it overnight. Meanwhile, went to Costco to get a new auxiliary battery (rookie mistake) and found out that new batteries are like unicorns (hard to find). So far disconnecting the battery seems to be a possible solution (will see over the next few days). Recommendations (other than the dealer) on a new battery?

Thank you all so much for your hypothesis.

MB

Autozone

As others have said... I speculate dead 12V. It is a cheap test compared to a traction charger replacement. You seem to have a sour attitude toward the car, is there something else going on in addition to this problem? I have 3 of them setting in front of my place and find them to be very reliable. Less traction pack degradation would be nice though... and a bit more range! Good luck! Contact me if you like.

MBryant15 said:

Went to the dealer to retrieve the car and it would not start. The tech put it on the charger (12v battery) and the vehicle came alive but died once the battery charger was removed. Charged the car battery for a few minutes and it stayed awake. Drove the car home and plunged it in and it began to charge using the level 2 unit. I'll charge it overnight. Meanwhile, went to Costco to get a new auxiliary battery (rookie mistake) and found out that new batteries are like unicorns (hard to find). So far disconnecting the battery seems to be a possible solution (will see over the next few days). Recommendations (other than the dealer) on a new battery?

Thank you all so much for your hypothesis.

MB

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Pop the top caps off and check the battery cells. Top them off with distilled water. If it still won't hold a charge, replace it with a maintenance free Optima Yellow Top. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013ZGZ9Q/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_10?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

If you prefer the standard style battery, check Sam's Club or Walmart.

NTB.
However, the 12v battery on this car is so small (capacity wise) that you should also try Batteries+ (if there are any in your area).
As mentioned, there are literally dozens of threads on the 12v battery (you can see what I have in my sig).

Walmart carries a 51R battery. Is it the original battery?

Phatcat73 said:

Walmart carries a 51R battery. Is it the original battery?

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I don't know the answer to that question, but I will say I think Costco's 51R is cheaper and has a better warranty.

Yes, was just inside Costco and they also carry 51R , group 11. They just don't list the leaf in baterry guide book.

Thank you all for your input. So far the distilled water in the battery has avoided battery replacement. I really thank you all for your advise. Other than my time, this problem was solved (so far so good) with a .97 cent bottle of distilled water. I hope this has ended my charging issues. Too soon to tell, but I think this has also resolved inadequate A/C cooling.

Be well.

Since you mention 2011 Leaf, it would be semi-surprising if the original 12 volt even held up that long (esp. in a hot climate), due the chatter here about the 12 volt charging algorithm being crap.

The 12 volt on my used '13 Leaf went bad at about the 2.5 year mark and the dealer replaced it for free. (I have a post about it. Build month was 5/2013.) My climate is not as hot as some (most? all?) of Arizona.

Since you have an '11 and are in Arizona, if you were the original owner, I'd imagine you've already lost 4+ capacity bars and had the big battery replaced within the 5 year/60K capacity warranty. If you have lost 8+ bars and haven't gotten it replaced yet and the capacity warranty hasn't expired yet, better get that done before expiration. (Sorry, if you've posted about these, I haven't read your posts carefully.)

I would be curious what Stealership you went to. They couldn't figure out it was your 12V battery? Or if they did, still tried to sell you up the river for a $2,500 repair. Obviously don't go back there and I would like to know which one to steer others away from.

Autonation on Gilbert and 202 SanTan. They were following their text book verbatim. Their problem solving stopped at the solution provided by their manual. I am thankful for the forum. As a consumer with a Leaf, you are stuck with few options other than listening to the Dealership. I will share my concerns with Nissan Corporate.