Unable to Restart after using AC (was AC causes failure)

Very sorry to hear about your day, palmer. I picked my LEAF up today and I know that I would have been very disappointed had I gone home in a loaner. On delivery day, we're excited, our friends and family are excited for us, we're planning to give test drives and have fun with the car. When that comes to an unexpected halt, we're quite disappointed.

Hopefully this will be a clue to Nissan and a quick fix will be found for you guys and, perhaps a preventive update will eliminate it for new owners. This is the kind of thing that happens in a new car introduction, especially one that is so very new, and we early adopters usually find ourselves part of the solution.

Sorry about your issues sdbonez....When Vic, Malcolm, and I picked up our Leafs from Fontana that day in January, all 3 of our cars got upgraded software and we were able to get Carwings going fine after that. I never heard much about it later on the forums as different people took delivery of their cars, so maybe the new software was being installed at the factory or at Long Beach?

Either way, they should be able to figure it out for you pretty quick...

Randy

So I think the interim answer is to resist the temptation to run the A/C either remotely to pre-condition or even in the car while it's just sitting there and off. At least enough vehicles have now exhibited the problem that we can reasonably expect that a tech can recreate it.

Perhaps a thread title change is warranted? "A/C pre-cool vehicle start failure issue", maybe?

i have to say on my Leaf;

** the dealership experience was far less than stellar. i am paying waaay more for my lease than any other pre-order customer and whats worse...i probably have a higher credit rating than 90% of them**

**my car was not completely setup or verified. Carwings had registered the wrong VIN (not Nissan's fault) and it took a few weeks to discover and rectify that situation which should have been caught at the docks (what else were they doing for 2+ weeks) the dealership, etc. but luckily i caught it**

** the order and waiting pro... oh wait...i forgot. since other than publicity deliveries for December, i was first in WA to get one so...**

**after several miscommunications with my insurance company i finally realize that the Leaf costs more for coverage**

**my state which used to be in the forefront for EV promotions but now trying to "renig" a bit on that by adding a tax on EVs....i am already calculating how many hours i will have to plug into their free charging stations to make that up and it aint pretty**

**realization that charging at 120 volts is no better than 75% efficient...which is really not all that bad since its still 35 cents on the dollar cheaper than driving my 50 mpg Prius**

now, the amount of dis-satisfaction from all of the above....56/100th of a percent....after all, nothing is perfect

leafwing said:

The salesman told me the factory overcharged the A/C.

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Can't imagine what that means.

There is a whine of the motor as you accelerate - but shouldn't be any noises while turning.

mwalsh said:

So I think the interim answer is to resist the temptation to run the A/C either remotely to pre-condition or even in the car while it's just sitting there and off. At least enough vehicles have now exhibited the problem that we can reasonably expect that a tech can recreate it.

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Isn't this just a problem with the latest batch of cars? You folks in the Southwest that have had your cars for a while, you've used the A/C, correct? Up here in Seattle, we haven't seen a temperature with a "6" in front of it yet this year. Tell me I'll be okay if Spring ever gets here.

I suspect it is a recent software update that they were instaling during the prep of the cars delivered in the last couple of weeks. I also suspect that there will be another newer software update on all cars that got that version and all newer cars.

sproqitman said:

Isn't this just a problem with the latest batch of cars? You folks in the Southwest that have had your cars for a while, you've used the A/C, correct?

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Entirely possible. I have personally only used the A/C after getting the car. And I'm REALLY reluctant to try the other way unless I have no place special to be that day OR am sitting in the lot of my friendly Nissan dealer with a tech ready to work on my car! :lol:

I have an early car (#182) and I have used my A/C in all the modes described in this thread without any issues. I am also in AZ where it is starting to warm up and will be in the upper 90's tomorrow. I even did a precool yesterday while not plugged in without an issue, just to test it out.

The fact that all the cars with the issue were delivered in the last week tells me it is something new. I'm sure they will find it and update the software. There will probably be a handfull of recalls to update the software in all the cars that have this software version. Pure speculation, but it is the only thing that makes sense to me. I might know more when I get a call about my car later today.

well actually it has apparently been much warmer in Olympia than Seattle since we hit the mid to upper 60's a few times. but i tested my A/C when the temps were about 40º so not much of a test, but also tried it when it was about 68º one day about a week and half ago and i had no issues

Well, the bug hit me this morning. To make a long story short, the car was in the driveway, turned on in accessory mode, in park, and with the AC running (it had been heated soaked). When I got in about 10 minutes later and changed to On mode, I could not select Reverse. I turned it off and restarted it but still could not select Drive or Reverse... All other attempts were equally fruitless. At this point I had two options: either have it towed to a Nissan Dealer - and the dealers around me are all crap - or see if I could reboot it somehow. On a whim, I disconnected the 12 volt battery and let it sit for about 10 minutes. I then reconnected the battery and tried it again. Success! It once again operated completely normally. Moral of the story: Until we know definitively what is causing this, I will not use the AC unless the car is On and in Drive. My car is about a month old so it apparently is not restricted to just the most recently delivered vehicles...

This has certainly been by far the most interesting week of Leaf ownership for me, starting with my little problem on Monday night (which was not the car's fault)!

Thanks for the heads up I have not tried pre cooling. only tried it while I was driving. Both time for only a brief moment. Just had it on long enough to check the energy consumption screen to check the differences between running heat and ac. since there is no need for A/C I think I will wait and see what happens of all this.
But funny that are arizona cars have not reported this earlier

**edit** sorry above was dictated while driving. have had so little issues with translation on my droid i was not even looking at what it was writing. because my font size is so big, i can only see the last half dozen words or so...

DaveinOlyWA said:

Century is no need for 80

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Since there is not need for it ?

DaveinOlyWA said:

But funny that are arizona cards have not reported this earlier

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the arizona cars?

Are you using voice to text? I've used it a bit and these seem to be similar to my results.

mogur said:

To make a long story short ... I then reconnected the battery and tried it again. Success!

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Yikes. I guess I'd better start carrying a suitable socket wench in the car. What settings (if any) did you lose in doing this?

Thanks!

Huh? Did I miss something?

DaveinOlyWA said:

Century is no need for 80

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I had to reset the dash clock. Other than that, everything else seemed to be nonvolatile. It did take the Nav a few minutes to refind my position and acquire the time though... We'll see if there is something else that I have not yet discovered.

GeekEV said:

mogur said:

To make a long story short ... I then reconnected the battery and tried it again. Success!

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Yikes. I guess I'd better start carrying a suitable socket wench in the car. What settings (if any) did you lose in doing this?

Thanks!

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mogur said:

I had to reset the dash clock. Other than that, everything else seemed to be nonvolatile. It did take the Nav a few minutes to refind my position and acquire the time though... We'll see if there is something else that I have not yet discovered.

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Nice! Good to know...

GeekEV said:

mogur said:

To make a long story short ... I then reconnected the battery and tried it again. Success!

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Yikes. I guess I'd better start carrying a suitable socket wench in the car.

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Mogar - did you have to use a wrench, or does the LEAF have quick releases on the aux battery? I have the quick releases on one of my hybrids and they sure are nice.

Nope, no quick disconnects, just standard battery clamps.

LakeLeaf said:

Mogar - did you have to use a wrench, or does the LEAF have quick releases on the aux battery? I have the quick releases on one of my hybrids and they sure are nice.

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