problem with 12v battery?

A few days ago several warning indicators lit up when I attempted to start my 2014 S model. The red battery light and red PS light came on. Car would not go into Drive or Reverse. I recall both the red and yellow master warning lights were on. I then applied and disengaged the parking break. This seems to have reset the warnings. When I drove it yesterday all appeared normal, except for the red master light which now comes on for a minute or so, and then goes out.

This is a new car for me. I'm not sure I understand everything about powering on etc. There is a chance some things were 'left on' for several hours one evening. I'm assuming that the 12 volt battery went low on charge and what remains is a warning to have it serviced and checked out. Or the battery is simply failing at 38,000 miles.

You can read the million battery posts on this site...or just replace your 12v battery.
Your Leaf is exhibiting classic 12v battery issues.

Stanton said:

You can read the million battery posts on this site...or just replace your 12v battery.
Your Leaf is exhibiting classic 12v battery issues.

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It's under warranty so I'll have it checked out.

It would be good to have the 12-volt battery checked, but the symptoms you describe could also happen if the car does not recognize that your foot is on the brake pedal when you press the start button. If your foot is not on the brake, the car goes into accessory mode and does not close the main high-voltage contactor. In that case, the car is not in ready mode so it is not charging the 12-volt battery and you cannot engage drive or reverse, but you can still shift between neutral and park.

GerryAZ said:

It would be good to have the 12-volt battery checked, but the symptoms you describe could also happen if the car does not recognize that your foot is on the brake pedal when you press the start button. If your foot is not on the brake, the car goes into accessory mode and does not close the main high-voltage contactor. In that case, the car is not in ready mode so it is not charging the 12-volt battery and you cannot engage drive or reverse, but you can still shift between neutral and park.

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Thanks this is helpful. I'm wondering if I screwed up in attempting to turn the car off, or on. I came home late the prior night, and let's just say I may have been careless. Hope to soon run it to the dealer where I bought it 2 months ago.

I'd like to tag onto this thread. I had the same issue , locking my car up yesterday. It's a 2014. I replaced the battery but it still wouldn't start. Had it towed to the dealer where they apparently input a code that allowed it to start. They say this is a code I can't have, and needs special equipment to apply. I smell a rat. Someone is telling me that only the dealership can change my battery. Has anyone else heard of this?

DanDietrich said:

I'd like to tag onto this thread. I had the same issue , locking my car up yesterday. It's a 2014. I replaced the battery but it still wouldn't start. Had it towed to the dealer where they apparently input a code that allowed it to start. They say this is a code I can't have, and needs special equipment to apply. I smell a rat. Someone is telling me that only the dealership can change my battery. Has anyone else heard of this?

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The traction battery? Yes: only the dealer can replace it.
The 12v battery? Anyone can replace that.
The only thing I don't understand is: replacing the 12v should have "cleared" any error codes (since you obviously had to disconnect it), but yet there was some "code" they entered that wasn't previously cleared? I'd like to know what that was...

DanDietrich said:

I'd like to tag onto this thread. I had the same issue , locking my car up yesterday. It's a 2014. I replaced the battery but it still wouldn't start. Had it towed to the dealer where they apparently input a code that allowed it to start. They say this is a code I can't have, and needs special equipment to apply. I smell a rat. Someone is telling me that only the dealership can change my battery. Has anyone else heard of this?

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I had the 12-volt battery get completely discharged on the 2011 (due to Bluetooth adapter left in OBDII port) and 2015 (due to incomplete shutdown sequence error which I suspect was caused by upgraded telematics module). I also replaced the battery in the 2011 after it failed. None of these events required dealer intervention so I think you should ask for more explanation from your dealer.

GerryAZ said:

It would be good to have the 12-volt battery checked, but the symptoms you describe could also happen if the car does not recognize that your foot is on the brake pedal when you press the start button. If your foot is not on the brake, the car goes into accessory mode and does not close the main high-voltage contactor. In that case, the car is not in ready mode so it is not charging the 12-volt battery and you cannot engage drive or reverse, but you can still shift between neutral and park.

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I've just had the 12v battery tested at the dealer where I purchased the car. I was told it is fine. Didn't get exact voltage. Best part of the visit was learning that the red master warning light stays on until the seat belt is engaged. That why I'd noticed it lit up for several seconds when driving; I sometimes buckle up as I'm getting underway. Looks like all is well and I hope it is.

rawlins02 said:

GerryAZ said:

It would be good to have the 12-volt battery checked, but the symptoms you describe could also happen if the car does not recognize that your foot is on the brake pedal when you press the start button. If your foot is not on the brake, the car goes into accessory mode and does not close the main high-voltage contactor. In that case, the car is not in ready mode so it is not charging the 12-volt battery and you cannot engage drive or reverse, but you can still shift between neutral and park.

Click to expand...

I've just had the 12v battery tested at the dealer where I purchased the car. I was told it is fine. Didn't get exact voltage. Best part of the visit was learning that the red master warning light stays on until the seat belt is engaged. That why I'd noticed it lit up for several seconds when driving; I sometimes buckle up as I'm getting underway. Looks like all is well and I hope it is.

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Some times I forget to put my foot on the brake first and the single push on the start button will cause the car to go into accessory mode.
On my previous Leaf 13 sl it would keep running until the 12V battery voltage got too low and possibly wouldn't start (go into run mode) , I have noticed that on my 16sl it will shut off the car after 10 minutes, obviously to prevent that from happening.
When this has happened recently I have been parked calling for heat on so I don't know if the same thing will happen in the summer with no heat and or A/C, wait and see.

Watch the break pedal/turn on and turn off. If you don't do it right you could leave it in accessory or be turning it on in accessory. If you step out of the car and shut all the doors and it beeps three times you know you left it on.

I had similar problems. I figured the battery was shot since it would charge up very fast at low amperage, so I got another one and replaced it myself.

This is bizarre to me. I grilled the service tech at the dealership and he swore up and down that he had to enter codes through his computer after changing the 12 volt battery. I was pretty frustrated, since I had let the car sit overnight without a battery and ended up having to have it towed to the dealer when I couldn't get it into gear. They covered the tow and the battery, so it cost me nothing but inconvenience, but why would the codes not clear themselves? I also every other day or so get the yellow warning light telling me that there is something wrong, but The dealer found nothing so I basically ignore it, or restart the car to make it go away.

Well, 4 days after getting my Leaf back it is dead again. same issue, will not shift into gear, only park and neutral. The dealer replaced the 12 volt under warranty last week. I checked it with my charger and it was almost fully charged. I had plugged in the night before, and the charging stopped at only 55 miles range, so I assume the battery somehow kicked off during the night. This is very frustrating.

The yellow EV warning light is an issue the dealer needs to address. The new 12-volt battery should take that variable out of the picture so they can focus on the real problem.

IssacZachary said:

Watch the break pedal/turn on and turn off. If you don't do it right you could leave it in accessory or be turning it on in accessory. If you step out of the car and shut all the doors and it beeps three times you know you left it on.

I had similar problems. I figured the battery was shot since it would charge up very fast at low amperage, so I got another one and replaced it myself.

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Any problems with the electronics from disconnecting the 12V battery?

John Kuthe...

JohnKuthe said:

Any problems with the electronics from disconnecting the 12V battery?

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Don't think so. See my post at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=489590#p489590.

I later noticed the auto up on my driver's side window didn't work until I re calibrated it, which is easy.

JohnKuthe said:

IssacZachary said:

Watch the break pedal/turn on and turn off. If you don't do it right you could leave it in accessory or be turning it on in accessory. If you step out of the car and shut all the doors and it beeps three times you know you left it on.

I had similar problems. I figured the battery was shot since it would charge up very fast at low amperage, so I got another one and replaced it myself.

Click to expand...

Any problems with the electronics from disconnecting the 12V battery?

John Kuthe...

Click to expand...

None whatsoever. I've done it several times by now. I even plan on disconnecting the battery tomorrow in order to install the PriorityStart battery saver I just got for the Leaf.

The only "problem" is that certain things reset to factory settings. For an example I keep my settings in Spanish and the startup sound off. But when I disconnect and reconnect the battery it all comes back in English and the miles-per-kWh resets and so do the resettable mileage counters and the startup sound comes back on.

Thanks for the replies. I hope this dealer can track down the problem. I'm disappointed because I think they lied to me once, and that makes me lose faith. I see many here have replaced 12 volt batteries without needing some secret code to get things working. It's odd to me that I'm having to rely on my 33 year old truck while my suddenly problematic high tech car doesn't run.

IssacZachary said:

JohnKuthe said:

IssacZachary said:

Watch the break pedal/turn on and turn off. If you don't do it right you could leave it in accessory or be turning it on in accessory. If you step out of the car and shut all the doors and it beeps three times you know you left it on.

I had similar problems. I figured the battery was shot since it would charge up very fast at low amperage, so I got another one and replaced it myself.

Click to expand...

Any problems with the electronics from disconnecting the 12V battery?

John Kuthe...

Click to expand...

None whatsoever. I've done it several times by now. I even plan on disconnecting the battery tomorrow in order to install the PriorityStart battery saver I just got for the Leaf.

The only "problem" is that certain things reset to factory settings. For an example I keep my settings in Spanish and the startup sound off. But when I disconnect and reconnect the battery it all comes back in English and the miles-per-kWh resets and so do the resettable mileage counters and the startup sound comes back on.

Click to expand...

Good to know, thanks! Yeah, that's a problem with all this newfangled whiz-bang technology as I see it. We need durable backups of everything so we can get everything back to the way we like it after we deprive our technology of the power which enables it to be useful to us.

I need to make a backup of the Alpine DSP I have in my 2006 Grand Caravan so the next time it's battery is disconnected I don't lose all the DSP programing which enables it to even function! Lost it once and have yet to make a backup of it's configuration!

John Kuthe...

In other cars in the past I have used a 9 volt battery Gizmo plugged into the lighter socket to hold radio settings while I changed the battery. Would that help with this, or is it a totally different animal?