No heat - troubleshooting, and a missing "under cover" below radiator area

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pmc

Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2017
Messages
24
Location
Central Wisconsin
[UPDATE: Mechanic still has the missing "under cover", was left off for a reason, I will return to Nissan for a check-up...]

Hopefully I can explain this one correctly, it's a long, sad story with a question at the end...

We have been having trouble with no heat in the cabin of our 2013 Leaf SV.

I took it to Nissan expecting them to tell me that the PTC heater was bad (LeafSpy shows the car throwing codes B2773 and B2774 DVAC PTC Heater Circuit 1 (and 2) HAC-75)

However, the mechanic found the system to be leaking refrigerant due to bad O-ring seals, he replaced the O-rings and added .6L of refrigerant back into the system, and said "heater works now."

I had my doubts, but picked up the car, and sure enough, we had heat again. Not an amazing amount, but since it was 22F (-5.5C) at the time I'm thinking that just the heat pump was working, I had about 2.2kw draw on the energy meter on the dash. I thought I should see closer to 4kw if the PTC / ceramic heater was working, please correct if I am wrong.

[Note: Now that it is really cold again I need to check to see if the PTC heater is kicking in (it has been around -10F / -23.3C in the mornings this week).. this is DW / college kid commuter car, so I don't drive it much.]

Anyway, all this thinking about our Cold Leaf reminded me that I could put some packing tape or something in front of the grill on the bumper to block the cold air when driving, in an effort to keep the "refrigerant" in the radiator warmer (please correct me if I am wrong, I think I read that tip here someplace).

I went out to the Leaf last night to look at the grill and discovered that there is a large, plastic "under cover" that is missing from below the radiator cavity. I can see where there are holes for those plastic push-pegs to mount it, and two or three screw holes in the center by the bumper. Putting packing tape on the grill to block the wind isn't going to do me any good if that whole cavity is open behind it. :roll:

I bought this car used back in April, and I honestly haven't crawled around underneath it to see if all the plastic covers were present underneath... My suspicion is that the piece has been missing for a while, I never noticed...

I can't imagine that the mechanic removed it and forgot to replace it when doing the work on the heating/cooling system... this shroud is in the area in front of & below the radiator, so I don't think removing it would have given him access to what we was working on. (Regardless, I did make a friendly call to see if the mechanic remembered anything about the job, and if he noticed the giant missing shroud. :) )

This leads me to my question.

Has anyone had to replace this shroud / "under cover", due to damage or something? I'm shopping around for a replacement but I'm getting confused as to which part to order, based on drawings I'm finding online.

Secondly, is there another shroud / "under cover" that sits below the "engine bay", or is that supposed to be open below the vehicle? (Something I also can't tell from the exploded drawings I'm finding online.)

In the meantime, there is a Leaf that parks at the local school ... I may ask the driver if I can take a peek under their Leaf and observe first-hand.

Thanks in advance! --Paul

TL;dr: I'm missing a big plastic shroud / "under cover" below the radiator, behind the front bumper, I'm trying to find the correct replacement part.

Edit: To update that mechanic has the missing part :)
 
Yes, there is a shroud that is supposed to be under the main drive motor, at least there is one in the MY2011 that we have. Regarding the space under the radiator, I'm not sure. What WE have there is a rigid piece of plastic that is there to support the bottom of the bumper in case you are driving through heavy snow. This was not there from the factory, but Nissan made it available to those in snowy areas after some bumpers collapsed. They said I didn't qualify for the "upgrade", but I insisted and they installed it. I don't recall if there was a plastic shield there before or not.
 
Update ... Nissan does have the part... apparently I was to bring the car back in to make sure the repair was still good (??) and they never told me. The mechanic was like, yeah, we've got it right here with the screws and everything. D'oh!!
 
pmc said:
Update ... Nissan does have the part... apparently I was to bring the car back in to make sure the repair was still good (??) and they never told me.
Rrrriiiightttt!!!!! :roll:
 
pmc said:
Update ... Nissan does have the part... apparently I was to bring the car back in to make sure the repair was still good (??) and they never told me. The mechanic was like, yeah, we've got it right here with the screws and everything. D'oh!!

I can't imagine that the mechanic removed it and forgot to replace it when doing the work on the heating/cooling system...

I was originally going to respond to the second quote with "I can." But it seemed kind of snarky so I didn't. Never underestimate the incompetence of a dealer tech.
 
To verify air PTC heater - switch on HEAT and AC simultaneously. Draw should be between 1-4kW, depending on fan speed and temperatures.

Glycol coolant has nothing to do with air PTC HEATER :?
If you have old Leaf then there is no heat pump function available.
 
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