3 coolant reservoirs ?

2012 Nissan Leaf

Not sure which model , it does have the small solar cell at the back to trickle charge the 12 VDC battery .

Apparently it has 3 coolant reservoirs ?

1 - Motor coolant ?

2 - Heater coolant ?

3 - Do not know . Help me out herh , please ?

God bless
Wyr

The solar panel indicates that the car is an SL. Are you sure that you aren't counting the windshield washer reservoir? That would have an icon that vaguely resembles a windshield on the cap.

I'm going from memory, but it should be:
1) Windshield washer fluid
2) Brake fluid (dealer flush every couple of years...at the most...less than $100)
3) Some kind of engine/inverter coolant (don't touch)

No , found brake fluid , did not need topping off .

Found windshield wiper fluid , topped it off .

Will try to take photo in the AM .

God bless
Wyr

2) Brake fluid (dealer flush every couple of years...at the most...less than $100)

Click to expand...

Here they try to charge $189 for a service that includes the flush, and not much else.

It looks like Blue Coolant 1 and 2 plumb to overflow into the A/C coolant reservoir ?

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/2i7xsl6vqocr8xj/AADwHGi_goFn5ThTLIJN7uKra?dl=0



God bless
Wyr

Instead of guessing, why don't you look in your owner's manual? You can d/l it from https://owners.nissanusa.com/nowners/navigation/manualsGuide.

The '11 Leaf manual is gone, for some reason, but the '12 Leaf is the same under the hood. I see a diagram for the '12 Leaf on page 0-9 (page 22 of the PDF) pointing out what's what.

(The '13+ Leaf is VERY different under the hood.)

The 2011..12 model year Nissan LEAFs re-used the conventional type heaters that were made to tap off heat from an ICE's engine coolant; apparently, substituting a small electric-powered fluid heater for the "engine" part of the conventional heater was cheaper or faster than designing a proper direct-to-air electric heater. One of the reservoirs you've found is probably for the water-based heat exchange fluid for that cobbled-together heater system.

FWIW the most forward tank on the driver side (blue fluid) appears to be the heater.(only fluid to get hot on a cold car with heater on).

Lambtron said:

FWIW the most forward tank on the driver side (blue fluid) appears to be the heater.(only fluid to get hot on a cold car with heater on).

Click to expand...

It says refrigerant coolant . I suppose it is possible the A/C cools the blue coolant & that is circulated through a cooling coil for the actual cool air ? Same may take place for heat . A heating element may warm the blue coolant & that circulate through a heating coil ( which may or may not be the same coil as the cooling coil ) .

I think I read the Leaf used DOT 3 brake fluid ? Is DOT 4 brake fluid backwards compatable to DOT 3 ?

God bless
Wyr

What year is your Leaf again (it should be in your profile signature!)? When they replaced the fluid-air heating system with the air-only heating system in 2013, they dropped one reservoir, I assume.

DOT 4 brake fluid, is, AFAIK, backwards-compatible. DOT 5 may not be.

2012 Model

God bless
Wyr