Starting Problems

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Rockyracoon

Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2021
Messages
5
Hello, I am a newbie here. Currently I own a 2015 Leaf. I’ve had it for about 5 years. Anyways I’ve had a few odd occurrences lately.
Twice while trying to charge the three blue lights started flashing. After a couple of attempts at connecting to charge, it stopped.
Now for the past several days I’ve been having trouble starting the car. While stepping on the brake and pushing to start the dash lights came on but I couldn’t put it in gear to drive. It’s done this intermittently this past several days. Then yesterday it started and when I put it in D to leave yet I notice that the D now says B. I have no idea where that came from. However I drove home from work fine; stopped and started it again and it was fine. Then after turning it off, I started it again and again it was fine. Started it a third time and although power to the accessories I couldn’t put the car in gear. When I shut it off this time an annoying alarm sounded. This is the second time for that. The alarm turned off after around 15 minutes later and I went to start the car, and it started.
I’m rather confused and anxious as to what is happening, has happened to my car.
Will appreciate any ideas or input into how I can get this fixed.
Thank you
 
Welcome. I made the title a bit more informative. Anyway, the number one suspect here is the little 12 volt accessory battery, which can cause all sorts of strange problems if it gets depleted or fails.
 
In other words: how old is your 12v battery...and can you provide some (resting) voltage readings?
If it is the 12v battery, all those "start/stop" cycles won't help it much.
 
If you haven't replaced the 12V aux battery during the past 5 years, then you got your money's worth out of it, and it's probably time for a new one. A weak, old or worn out 12V starter battery can cause a multitude of faults such as you as seeing.
 
I haven’t done anything with or to the 12 volt battery. I’ve had the car almost six years.
If that’s the issue. What kind of battery is needed? And do all auto parts dealers carry them?
Thank you for your reply
 
I recommend an "AGM" type battery from an auto parts store. Just make sure they fully charge it BEFORE installing it, as the Leaf can be lax in charging the accessory battery. The group number is "51R" and the "R" is important, as the cables won't reach a plain group 51 battery's terminals.
 
Thank you all for your advise. Tomorrow after work I’ll look to buy the battery leftiebiker suggested. Today after very briefly stepping on the brake pedal and letting off quickly the car hesitated for a fraction of a second then fired up as it normally does and ran fine. Also I forgot to mentionI have intermittently seen the EV warning light go on, and then off. Today it didn’t light up.
However being that things don’t necessarily fix themselves I’ll go with getting a new 12 volt. I’m getting the feeling that the current one is warning me of its impending doom.
Was wondering if anyone else experienced the same thing.
Anyways thanks for the input. I appreciate it immensely.
 
i just bought a 51R today at WalMar. It had a 3/21 sticker on it for March 2021, so likely sat there on the shelf for 4 months.

Got it home and the voltage was only 12.5; opened the lids and the fluid level was below the bottom of the fill tube. Added 1.5 oz of water to each cell and it's still barely half filled in the tubes. Have it charging now, its at 13.9 at about a 1 Amp charge. Gonna take it to 14.4 for awhile to see if some of that gray film gets cleaned off the plates, if not then it's going back and i'll get a fresher one, e.g. 6/21.

So buyer beware with "new" lead acid batteries--things are not always what we expect.
 
That's another reason to buy an AGM: they are sealed and better tolerate partial discharges.

Was wondering if anyone else experienced the same thing.

Oh, yes indeed! This is the number Two design flaw of the Leaf, after poor battery cooling.
 
Okay so the past three times I go to start the car I push the button while simultaneously stepping on the brake, releasing my foot quickly, and it starts and drives no problem….none this morning. While trying to start it when leaving work I’m having immediate issues and I see a flashing red light on the lower left hand side of the dash. Anyways I wait a few minutes trying to start it, and it starts…no flashing red light no other warning lights on, on the dash.
I’m wondering if something is wrong with the pressing of the brake pedal and pushing the start button. It seems so much more touchy than ever. I mean I’m definitely going to by a new 12-volt battery, but am concerned that it may not be the problem. It may lay elsewhere.
If anyone is going thru the same thing 8 hope this helps them as well.
 
If after replacing the accessory battery with a fully charged one the problem persists, THAT is the time to worry. The odds favor it being just the battery.
 
Not sure about quickly releasing the brake, may be trying to beat the switch?

For starting i first press the brake pedal, then press the start button, then after the sequence starts i release the button, then release the brake. i don't know if it matters the sequence but i don't try to rush any of the steps.

You are booting up a computer so best bet to just give it some time for the sequence.
 
Rockyracoon said:
Okay so the past three times I go to start the car I push the button while simultaneously stepping on the brake, releasing my foot quickly, and it starts and drives no problem….none this morning. While trying to start it when leaving work I’m having immediate issues and I see a flashing red light on the lower left hand side of the dash. Anyways I wait a few minutes trying to start it, and it starts…no flashing red light no other warning lights on, on the dash.
I’m wondering if something is wrong with the pressing of the brake pedal and pushing the start button. It seems so much more touchy than ever. I mean I’m definitely going to by a new 12-volt battery, but am concerned that it may not be the problem. It may lay elsewhere.
If anyone is going thru the same thing 8 hope this helps them as well.

So far these behaviors seem consistent with weak 12V battery. A difficult start, followed by running ok throughout the day, and then the problem returns again in the morning. What happens is once you do get the car started, the 12V battery gets enough of a charge that it survives for some time, but the weak batttery dissipates its charge when sitting for a longer period of time.

A weak 12V can cause no end of weird behaviors in the car. I wouldn't overthink it at this point. You could get the battery tested at some place like Autozone, but really at 6 years on the OEM battery replacement is not unreasonable.
 
LeftieBiker said:
That's another reason to buy an AGM: they are sealed and better tolerate partial discharges.

Was wondering if anyone else experienced the same thing.

Oh, yes indeed! This is the number Two design flaw of the Leaf, after poor battery cooling.

At least some of us think that the a passive cooled battery is at least a mixed blessing, and might well be the future of non-performance EVs.

Battery chemistry for the 2011-mid 2013 would have been a failure with or with battery cooling.

2018's seem to be holding up very well. I've still not heard of a bar loss.
 
I got a new battery, which I haven’t installed yet. But the Leaf is starting, with the old one, again, like it normally does. This is a bit odd. However I’m not knocking it’s success. I’ll accept it. Anyways this has come as a relief, and I’ll install the new one soon enough. It’s good to have a backup.
Thank you all for your generous time and input. Hope this helps anyone else who may experience a similar issue.
 
Back
Top