Fob Unlock Inop

[ebill3]

Wife called and reported that she can not get into the LEAF. Fob doesn't work. Our son is with her, so he obtained a fresh battery for the fob from a nearby shop. Still no go. Wife knew of the mechanical key hidden in the fob - wouldn't unlock the door.

I remembered this thread: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=11011, and thought, Oh crap, dead 12 volt battery.

Grabbed the second LEAF fob and drove to where she was parked - only about 20 minutes. Second fob didn't work. Mechanical key unlocked the door. When you turn the key clockwise, there is a slight detent that you must pass in order to unlock, and I guess they were concerned about turning the key too far and breaking the key or something.

Car turned on normally - seven bars. I keep an el-cheapo VOM in the LEAF, so turned the car off, popped the hood, and read 12.3 volts. Not great, but that is normal for my LEAF when it is just "sitting" not turned on. Also, others have reported similar readings at idle.

Drove home, and 15 minutes after shut down, the 12 volt battery once again reads 12.3. Everything works normally - buttons on the fob and button on the door handle.

Made sure Nissan and USAA Roadside numbers are programmed in her phone and put a card with all appropriate info (Telephone #'s, VIN, USAA #, etc) in the glove box. Had wife use the mechanical key to unlock by going past the slight detent. Asked if she was sad we sold her Buick - absolutely not, she loves the LEAF. All this electronic wizardry is great, except when it isn't.

 

[RegGuheert]

It seems that both times you measured your battery voltage, you had recently run the car, which means it was just being charged. I recommend you open your hood, unplug the EVSE and let the LEAF sit for an hour or so and then test the battery voltage (without ever opening the doors or pressing any buttons). If you read below 12V, I suspect you may have a failing 12V battery. There have been a few of these so far.

 

[ebill3]

I recommend you open your hood, unplug the EVSE and let the LEAF sit for an hour or so and then test the battery voltage (without ever opening the doors or pressing any buttons). If you read below 12V, I suspect you may have a failing 12V battery. There have been a few of these so far.

Yes, a failing 12 volt battery was my first inclination. Left the hood up and not plugged in overnight. This morning, 12.37 volts. I think that is a bit low, but is normal for me ever since I started monitoring it when the 12 volt battery problems first started showing up on the forum. All lock/unlock functions are normal.

Guess I'll have to chalk it up to Gremlins. :lol:

As I said, this electronic wizardly is great when it works. A couple of days ago I had a problem with the Tesla locking system. It appeared to be locked, but all anyone without a fob had to do was touch a handle, and it unlocked. A computer reboot fixed that, but now I'm paranoid that it will slip back into that condition, for whatever reason.

 

[RegGuheert]

Hopefully your wife has learned how to open the car with the key now.

You might want to go over how to start the car when the fob battery is dead. I tried all this out by removing the fob battery and locking/unlocking the car and starting it. I did this after reading the other thread about the owner who got a physical key that did NOT work the locks.

Unfortunately, none of this is really obvious, including the fact that there is a physical key inside the fob.