A/C Fix or Workaround???

This was posted in the 90 page April Deliveries thread. I decided to start a new one in case anyone missed this significant piece of information.

BrendanDolan said:

I have no clue on which firmware is going into the car. I've been told by Nissan that you have to wait until it's happened, and then they'll address it. Supposedly it's on a smaller percentage of cars than we all think.
If it does happen it's an evac, refill and a firmware update.

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smkettner said:

garygid said:

So, WE have to test for "the problem"?

Then, I guess I will drive to a dealer on one of the next hot days, park in the sun but out of any breeze, put the car in ACC mode 2 (Nav & Dashboard screens ON), set the A/C On and the CC temperature low, open the windows a bit, and let the A/C "do its thing" for ... about 30 minutes?

I guess that should work.

Maybe I should choose a dealer that actually knows about "the A/C problem"?
And, call them to make sure that they can fix the problem if it occurs (or give me a "loaner" to get home?).
Perhaps Connell Nissan in Costa Mesa would be good, only about 20 miles away.

I would be VERY helpful to know about the firmware version first.
I have "B" (3NA0B) now.

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What if it works? Then what will you do? I would not try to invent problems. Just drive the car and if there is an indication it needs service then take it in. Nissan knows the fix and will send a tow if needed.

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Bottom line... too costly to recall them all... can't determine which ones have the problem... fix them as they break.

I still think they don't really know what the problem is. They are pushing a workaround when the car becomes a brick.
(see previous post where I quoted WopOnTour: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3340&start=20)

I'm planning to ignore it until my 6mo service.

Roll down the windows.

jcesare said:

This was posted in the 90 page April Deliveries thread. I decided to start a new one in case anyone missed this significant piece of information.

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Interesting that they called mine in for a preemptive fix and did only the software update, not the "evac and refill".

I would rather "discover" the problem when I have the time to deal with it,
not on some hot day when I have some time-sensitive commitment.

But, knowing the "new/fix" firmware version number would be a big help.

Apparently firmware version "B" is not really the answer,
since one member with version "B" had "the problem", as I recall.

Maybe "C" is the more-offensive version, and PERHAPS
boomer23 had version "C" (he has "B" now).

garygid said:

Apparently firmware version "B" is not really the answer,
since one member with version "B" had "the problem", as I recall.

Maybe "C" is the more-offensive version, and PERHAPS
boomer23 had version "C" (he has "B" now).

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Gary, if you've been following along... http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3300&start=0&view=viewpoll ...you'd note that all the responses of trouble came from cars with ver B.

garygid said:

I would rather "discover" the problem when I have the time to deal with it,
not on some hot day when I have some time-sensitive commitment.

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Exactly how I feel...especially since I feel my car is squarely in the range of impacted vehicles. My norm has been driving with windows cracked or rolled down with now climate control on. When I can afford the mishap (often, when I'm leaving work, have plenty of range, and 20 miles ahead of me before passing the nissan dealer), i use the climate control. No issues but I know if I have one, then I just detour to the nissan service manager on the way home.

I'm still betting it's got to heat up a bit and I still haven't pre-cooled. So, for Friday, I'll be hyper-miling it in, parking on the top of one of the parking garages in the blazing sun, pre-cooling the car 30mins or so before I leave, and hoping for the best.

garygid said:

I would rather "discover" the problem when I have the time to deal with it,
not on some hot day when I have some time-sensitive commitment.

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I agree too, Gary. I'd like to test the system. So what's the best way, precool on a hot day or start in ACC mode and run the AC for a while?

sdbonez said:

So, for Friday, I'll be hyper-miling it in, parking on the top of one of the parking garages in the blazing sun, pre-cooling the car 30mins or so before I leave, and hoping for the best.

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I would not do the precooling thing if you want to swing by the dealer on the way home. It wont start from the get go. I'd just get in and turn on the A/C and watch for the EV warning light, and if it comes on, Do Not Turn OFF the Car, head to the dealership.

garygid said:

But, knowing the "new/fix" firmware version number would be a big help.

Apparently firmware version "B" is not really the answer,
since one member with version "B" had "the problem", as I recall.

Maybe "C" is the more-offensive version, and PERHAPS
boomer23 had version "C" (he has "B" now).

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palmermd and Azrich had the problem; they had version 'B'. At least, that's as far as I can tell. It's gotten much more difficult to keep track of who had what when with which version.

Boomer23 said:

I agree too, Gary. I'd like to test the system. So what's the best way, precool on a hot day or start in ACC mode and run the AC for a while?

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You can try precool if you are in a spot where the car can sit and wait for a tow, or you can drive the car and turn the A/C on to Max (this way you can drive it to the dealer yourself and let it "lock up" on their lot). It seems the effected cars will do it either way. There are some theories that it may happen easier if the car is plugged into an EVSE at the time, but at this point is still a theory. Mine did it with the AC on and the car just sitting idling (is that a term for an ev?) not plugged in but on and ready but still in park.

palmermd said:

sdbonez said:

So, for Friday, I'll be hyper-miling it in, parking on the top of one of the parking garages in the blazing sun, pre-cooling the car 30mins or so before I leave, and hoping for the best.

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I would not do the precooling thing if you want to swing by the dealer on the way home. It wont start from the get go. I'd just get in and turn on the A/C and watch for the EV warning light, and if it comes on, Do Not Turn OFF the Car, head to the dealership.

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k. won't be precooling. strategy changed to turning the car on, maxing the A/C while sitting in the hot sun finishing a conference call or something, and watching for warning lights before driving to the dealer

If I don't have it in Drive, (just Park), will I be able to put it in Drive with the vehicle powered on? (that was my read based on symptoms reported)

sdbonez said:

If I don't have it in Drive, (just Park), will I be able to put it in Drive with the vehicle powered on? (that was my read based on symptoms reported)

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Based on the report from another person who was running errands while the car was in the alarm state (and just left it on while she was inside the stores), yes, you can put it in park and then to drive and reverse, you just cant turn the car back on once you power it back down.

palmermd said:

Based on the report from another person who was running errands while the car was in the alarm state (and just left it on while she was inside the stores), yes, you can put it in park and then to drive and reverse, you just cant turn the car back on once you power it back down.

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What I've read is that you can just disconnect the battery for a few minutes, then the car will reset which will enable it to start the car again.

LEAFfan said:

palmermd said:

Based on the report from another person who was running errands while the car was in the alarm state (and just left it on while she was inside the stores), yes, you can put it in park and then to drive and reverse, you just cant turn the car back on once you power it back down.

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What I've read is that you can just disconnect the battery for a few minutes, then the car will reset which will enable it to start the car again.

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I have a wrench in my armrest But *IF* I have the issue, I'd prefer to be able to drive it into the service driveway, show the service manager the lights, put it in park, and then watch as it gets pushed...

palmermd said:

sdbonez said:

If I don't have it in Drive, (just Park), will I be able to put it in Drive with the vehicle powered on? (that was my read based on symptoms reported)

Click to expand...

Based on the report from another person who was running errands while the car was in the alarm state (and just left it on while she was inside the stores), yes, you can put it in park and then to drive and reverse, you just cant turn the car back on once you power it back down.

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I think the behavior is slightly different (but with the same effect!) in that you can turn the car back on, but the transmission selector will only select 'N' or 'P', no 'D'.

Of 41 answering the poll, only 1 reports that they had the A/C problem with "B".

5 others report the problem, but all have "B" now.

Nobody reports knowing that they have (or had) "C".

Those with "A" have not reported the problem.

What version is installed by the Nissan Tech guys?

Yes, only P and N. My car first acted up when I decided to stop at the dealer, I had the AC on a bit and off before I arrived at the dealer, I plugged into the AV dock at their waiting area and it had the issue. We cleared the codes and all was well and I left as the dealer who had no idea what the issue was, I had no AC related codes. A few days later I drove 80 miles on the freeway and never used AC, stayed over night and drove several times with the AC. The day after I drove a bit and parked for an hour and remotely initiated the pre-cool and when I got to the car it would not start, I disconnected the battery and turned on the lights for a minute and it started. That was a few weeks ago and I now have about 600 more miles and have used the AC and pre-cool and many times and it has never had an issue yet. I'm going to take it in when I get to it but I have no concerns at the moment since I can fix it if it happens again, no big deal.

garygid said:

Of 41 answering the poll, only 1 reports that they had the A/C problem with "B".

5 others report the problem, but all have "B" now.

Nobody reports knowing that they have (or had) "C".

Those with "A" have not reported the problem.

What version is installed by the Nissan Tech guys?

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Thats correct. There are only reports of version B with the error. The poll is not very well organized. I normally don't do polls, but I would have done that one if there was an answer that fit my situation. If you take the time to read through the responses you'll see that the same problem occured for the others. I had mine "fail to start" on version B and I still have version B. That choice is not there. I suspect that the people who filled out "I was on ver ? and stopped and I am now on B" selected that because it was the closest choice. Anyhow on the poll there are 6 people reporting the problem and all on version B, if you read throught the posts you'll see the same thing, if you read through the other long thread you'll see the same thing.

I'm still not certain that the version of the software is the only problem. All the effected cars were delivered at about the same time (last week or two of March). There are theories of a voltage leak alarm setpoint that is too low. I like this idea, but why is the problem around the cars delivered in March and not all the cars? I think it is possible that they put the wrong A/C refrigerant into the systems and this caused the voltage leak. Lots of good ideas as to how and why, but I've not seen a final resolution on this issue yet.

For me, I'm not too worried about it, though I'd like to see this resolved so we can move on to bigger and better things. If my car stops again, I'll disconnect the battery and get going and report it to my dealer. So far, my car has worked just fine since they flushed and refilled the A/C system on day 1.

Yes, I could deal with the "12v-Reboot", but I don't want my wife to have to deal with a "stuck" car.

So far, I have NOT heard of a real test, OR a real cause, OR a real fix.