2018 leaf heating issues

Hi ,

Hope this is not a repeat question. I have 2018 leaf since last 8 months. From last 2 weeks i am experience strange heating issues. I usually drive 80 miles. My interior temperature has been set to 71 for last 5 months. After driving for 20+ minutes i see lukewarm air coming out from vent. On some cold days( below 40's) its even cold air. Even if i raise temperature all the way up to 80 after some time again its lukewarm air is coming from vent.

btw when there is lukewarm air from vent energy usage for climate control is totally 0.

I have taken twice to nearest dealer and they say eveything is normal. In fact i was told its feature of car that is not running heat all time , its sensing smartly and shutting off heat as inside cabin adventure is above 71. But my response was if it detects inside temperature has gone below 71 why isn't heating back on ?

Has any one experience similar issues ? should i try another dealer ?

Raj

With electric cars you almost never have actual hot air coming out, as that takes a ton of power. i always have luke warm air coming out of my vents. is the cabin not getting to 71F? if not, then you have a case, otherwise, it is just another difference between ICE cars and EVs.

The only time i feel warm air coming out is if i warm the car up with it still plugged into the wall, it blasts the heat on max in that case since it doesn't have to worry about draining the battery.

also, dont have the vents blowing on you, as that will cool you off, i usually (when heating) set the vents to blow on the window and the floor and let it mix in the cabin.

Marko

This sounds a lot like a PTC (resistance heater) failure. The heat pump is providing some heat at milder temps. Is this car equipped with the All (or Cold) Weather Package? It is optional on the SV, and not available on the S with a heat pump.

estomax said:

With electric cars you almost never have actual hot air coming out, as that takes a ton of power. i always have luke warm air coming out of my vents. is the cabin not getting to 71F? if not, then you have a case, otherwise, it is just another difference between ICE cars and EVs.

The only time i feel warm air coming out is if i warm the car up with it still plugged into the wall, it blasts the heat on max in that case since it doesn't have to worry about draining the battery.

also, dont have the vents blowing on you, as that will cool you off, i usually (when heating) set the vents to blow on the window and the floor and let it mix in the cabin.

Marko

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I understand difference between ICE and EVs. What i m experiencing is that this was not like 2 weeks before. i have had this car for 8 months and entire winter it was fine. Cabin temp does get to 71f but after 20+ minutes its just throws luke arm air .

Yes and Vents are not blowing on me. I l also usually set vents to blow on window and floor.

LeftieBiker said:

This sounds a lot like a PTC (resistance heater) failure. The heat pump is providing some heat at milder temps. Is this car equipped with the All (or Cold) Weather Package? It is optional on the SV, and not available on the S with a heat pump.

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I have Leaf SL. I m taking it to another dealer and see what they find.

estomax said:

With electric cars you almost never have actual hot air coming out, as that takes a ton of power. i always have luke warm air coming out of my vents. is the cabin not getting to 71F? if not, then you have a case, otherwise, it is just another difference between ICE cars and EVs.

The only time i feel warm air coming out is if i warm the car up with it still plugged into the wall, it blasts the heat on max in that case since it doesn't have to worry about draining the battery.

also, dont have the vents blowing on you, as that will cool you off, i usually (when heating) set the vents to blow on the window and the floor and let it mix in the cabin.

Marko

Click to expand...

A lot of the reason you feel warmer air when not moving is due to a slower loss of heat. When car is moving, you are dealing with cold air rushing in to be heated. Closing vents will help get you warmer air but will fog up your glass in much less than a minute on nearly every Pacific Northwest day that is not in the middle of Summer.

OP; you have a problem. I get warm air within 2 mins during all kinds of temperature ranges and I drive in Eco ALL the time.

Dave, you are describing frigid weather. The OP is not getting heat in 40 degree weather. I'm fairly sure the PTC heater unit has failed. If the heat gets warmer in 50 degree temps, and virtually stops in 20 and colder temps, it's the PTC (or its fuse).

LeftieBiker said:

Dave, you are describing frigid weather. The OP is not getting heat in 40 degree weather. I'm fairly sure the PTC heater unit has failed. If the heat gets warmer in 50 degree temps, and virtually stops in 20 and colder temps, it's the PTC (or its fuse).

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Agreed which is what I said...

Does your Leaf have Heat pump? If it does, then it should use heat pump as primary source for heating.
You will hear fans whirring under the hood when you switch on climate control (active HEAT or AC button).
Go try and listen, do you hear fans running?
If you do, then push AC button so HEAT and AC are BOTH lit at the same time.
Stay in the car and wait few minutes. Crank the heat pump. You should feel warm air coming. Warm dry air.

If that is not the case and air is cold but fans outside are still whooshing then I believe it is PTC heater failure.
To confirm this.. switch off AC and keep HEAT active. If it gets warm then you have confirmed this.


Keep the door ajar so interior doesn't heat up a lot. We want to exclude cabin temperature sensor.

Does your Leaf have Heat pump? If it does, then it should use heat pump as primary source for heating.

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The PTC heater is primary when the climate control is first started. Both run, usually, but the PTC provides most of the heat, especially at first. Then when the cabin is warmed up the heat pump takes over fully. That's why the above symptoms are so indicative of a non-working PTC.

Not true. Heat pump starts running immediately. heat is felt within 20-40 seconds. PTC heater heat starts within 5-10seconds and heat is also felt fast.
If it is above freezing PTC heater runs at low duty cycle even in the beginning of commute. Heat pump handles almost everything above freezing.
I've been observing LeafSpy for years.
Also in chilly weather PTC overheats itself after 30-50 seconds. And usually almost doesn't come back.
Though maybe the first blast of hot air comes from PTC, it is not what the symptoms are talking.

Whatever, man. We agree that this is likely a PTC failure, and that's what matters.

Sorry for late reply. Went to another dealer and they kept my car 2 days and could not repeat the issue. So came back with out getting any fix as soon as i was on road i was able to reproduce this issue so what i m going to do is wait for winter again and hope problem is easily discovered by techs then. Thanks again for all the help.