2011 Leaf turned on on its own, says "I-Key system fault" and won't turn off

[Anitza]

Hi all. So I looked outside and saw my car's rear tail lights were on. When I went to investigate the panel showed "I-key system fault. Visit Dealer". I tried to turn the car off, but this only turned it more fully on, and I am unable to turn it off.

At the time it was plugged in but not charging, not driven for maybe 4 days, and it's been dipping past -10 degrees celsuis lately.

I unplugged the car, cursed, and am now hoping someone has suggestions. Otherwise, I will wait until morning and call the dreaded dealer (who just replaced my 12V battery a few months ago, so it darn well shouldn't be that.)

I read another thread about i-key malfunctioning, but it didn't involve a car spontaneously turning itself on (which is freaky!) The car will lock and unlock so the battery in my fob is likely fine.

I only have one Fob as I lost the other a while ago. Maybe it's in the snow, controlling my car from a distance???

UPDATE: i got it to turn off by clearing the error message (boxy button). But there's still a warning icon on the dash.

 

[nlspace]

Good that it turned off, it shouldn't ever turn ON for driving while plugged in to the EVSSE. Pressing the start button may have confused it for awhile.

Which warning icon was left showing?

Even a "new" 12V starter/aux battery will self discharge in a short time in cold weather; a trickle charger for the aux battery might be a good investment to keep it fully charged.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Your practice of leaving the car plugged in for long periods while not charging is draining the 12 volt battery. The car keeps periodically checking the connection to the charging cable while plugged in, and it doesn't charge the 12 volt battery to make up for the loss. Charge the new battery up again with an external charger, cross your fingers that it isn't ruined, and either unplug within a few hours of the end of charging, or add a hardwired battery maintainer lead so you can plug in a maintainer while the charging cable is plugged in for long periods.

 

[GerryAZ]

Yes, 2011 will discharge the 12V battery when plugged in and not charging. I suspect the i-key error is due to a deeply discharged 12V battery. If you have an external 12V battery charger, make sure the J1772 cable is unplugged from the car and try charging the 12V battery with the external charger. Then try turning the car on and off a few times. I suspect it will function normally, but you may need to clear diagnostic trouble codes by using LEAF Spy or disconnecting the 12V battery negative cable for a few minutes.

 

[Anitza]

Hi all. Thanks for your help. This morning I tried to turn the car on and it did, and after clearing the i-key error code I drove around my neighbourhood streets for a while to send more juice to the 12V battery. All seemed to operate normally with one exception: the li-ion battery temperature gauge was completely blank, i.e. no reading. It's only just a bit below freezing right now, so not extreme cold at all.

So this seems to me like a very odd "quirk".

I take the point about leaving it plugged in for 4-days was too long. HOwever, my service tech said I'm supposed to since it gets so cold here (Qeubec) and the pre-heat for the battery needs to kick on. I'm not always doing that anyway though, just how the last few days unfolded.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Keep in mind that the battery heater only starts when the battery temperature - NOT the air temperature - drops below about -13C. That means it requires sustained frigid temps to get the pack so cold that the battery heater starts. If you do need to leave it plugged in for that reason, then you need a battery maintainer on it as well. Or you can charge to about 90%, with the expectation of losing at most about 30% charge per day to the battery warmer.

 

[Anitza]

Arg. It turned itself on again. More specifically just the head and tail lights.

I tried all kinds of permutations. I can either turn off the 'engine' but the external lights flick on. Or I can turn off the lights but the car is in "idle". I chose to latter figuring it was using less of the 12V.

Into Nissan I will go.

 

[alozzy]

You mentioned in your first post in these forums:

I just had it 'certified' at a Quebec inspection place that only certifies used vehicles from out of province, so wouldn't get many EVs

I almost guarantee that they screwed up the DRL installation. Rather than take it to a Nissan dealer, I would take it to the "Quebec inspection place" and ask them to check the DRL wiring.

 

[Anitza]

You mentioned in your first post in these forums:

I just had it 'certified' at a Quebec inspection place that only certifies used vehicles from out of province, so wouldn't get many EVs

I almost guarantee that they screwed up the DRL installation. Rather than take it to a Nissan dealer, I would take it to the "Quebec inspection place" and ask them to check the DRL wiring.

It came from another province that also requires daytime running lights, so I don't think they had to do anything different.

 

[Anitza]

Nissan said the relays were stuck. Hard for them to reset. Car is running but they can't guarantee they won't get stuck again. Recommending a complete replacement of the IPBM relay (for engine control) at a cool $1K.

I just sank a grand into replacing the control arms, on top of other stuff. I'm questioning whether I sink more money into this, try my luck with it as is, or give up on this car and harvest the old battery as a backup 'generator'.

I know I've come onto this forum more when I've had problems than otherwise. Thank you all for your thoughts.

 

[alozzy]

For a $1000, I think they must be proposing a replacement of the entire IPDM module, rather than the relay. Car dealerships are just parts swappers these days...

You should be able to find the correct relay. This place sells lots of relays. Not sure if this one is correct for a 2011 Leaf, but the correct one will be very similar:

https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/panasonic-electric-works/CM1A-R-12V/647140

$6 is a lot more palatable than $1000!

 

[Anitza]

For a $1000, I think they must be proposing a replacement of the entire IPDM module, rather than the relay. Car dealerships are just parts swappers these days...

You should be able to find the correct relay. This place sells lots of relays. Not sure if this one is correct for a 2011 Leaf, but the correct one will be very similar:

https://www.digikey.ca/en/products/detail/panasonic-electric-works/CM1A-R-12V/647140

$6 is a lot more palatable than $1000!

Thank you so much for this.

When I asked Nissan about just replacing the relay they said the relays "are not identified" and they wouldn't recommend changing it as it could fry the whole module. Given your link above, this sounds suspect. But then again i called DigiKey directly and they couldn't advise either for automotive applications.

(I do not have enough electrical experience to consider tinkering with any of this myself.)

So I'm going to watch and wait. After pushing Nissan they did find a used IPDM module that's half the price, and if the thing self-starts again then I will go that route. But that option was only presented after they clued in that this girl was investigating options!! Thanks again all.

 

[alozzy]

If it happens again, you might want to post back. There are some very technically skilled people who occasionally visit these forums and they might be able to provide a spec on the proper replacement relay, or know where to find that information. Good luck, hopefully the issue is resolved.