Leaf 2012 won't start or charge [SOLVED]

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.

digilog

Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2016
Messages
5
Made some test with getting power out of the hv-bus on a 2012 Nissan Leaf. The idea is to be able to us it for specific v2g purposes where its possible to feed 400v straight in to some 230v appliances which ie many smps can handle, but the tests got a bit wrong and we managed
to connect a 2kw heat fan at the inverter branch of the hv-bus while the precharge wasn't finished. Had some input that it should be possible to get power out of the hv-bus ie from this site even if it's putting power in and at a different end of the hv-bus and from a few people in to the industry. And hade some things running successfully before this happened.



Reading the dtc's with LeafSpy Pro shows following error codes
3 codes are not possible to reset

C118C 0109 ABS EV/HEV System BRC-126 occurs only in brc.pdf
C1A6E 0109 BRAKE EV/HEV System BR-146 occurs only in br.pdf
C1A70 0109 BRAKE Brake Control System BR-160 occurs only in br.pdf

2 codes are resettable but gets back on 'ignition cycle'

P3176 00C0 EV/HEV Inverter Condenser EVC-238 occurs only in evc.pdf
(All following systems are disabled due to: P3176
FAIL-SAFE PATTERN
Pattern A: Quick charge prohibited
Pattern B: Normal charge prohibited
Pattern C: READY OFF
Pattern D: High-voltage power supply stop

If DTC P3176 is displayed with DTC ..P311C.. perform diagnosis for DTC ..P311C..)

P311C EV/HEV High Voltage Sys EVC-204 occurs only in evc.pdf



Haven't find any info about this specific problems but two forum threads with similar symptoms;

mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=21508
where the precharge is blown and short out and as I understand a fuse in the dc/dc junctionbox is also blown.

elbilforum.no/forum/index.php?topic=18109
which got the same brake/abs errors but not the ev/hev and ends up changing a relay/contactor in the battery box and "sofware upgrade" a the nissan workshop.

Hope to get some helpful input even when the fault comes out of stupidity.
 
Bummer :(

It certainly sounds like you've damaged the pre-charge circuit. As I understand the VCM commands precharge, then waits for the inverter to report that the voltage across the HV caps/condensers has reached a certain voltage level before it closes the main contactors. The P311C and P3176 DTCs indicate that doesn't seem to be happening so the HV is never connected to the DCJB. That will prevent either ready mode or charging. You'll probably have to drop the battery and examine the junction box.

I suppose there is a slight possibility that its a 12V power issue resulting in the relays/contactors not operating correctly, but that seems unlikely to me. In the thread you referenced, I'm not sure there was actually anything wrong with the DCJB fuses. It seems the HV short at the compressor stressed the pre-charge resistors during start-up or charge initiation. Still, before dropping the battery it might be good to try and trace out the 12V power and check the fuses/relays.

The brake system errors are a little odd, although they both seem to be VCM related errors so may just be a result of the overall failure condition. I believe you can disconnect both the IBU and ABS units if you want to verify that these aren't somehow causing the problem though. I've been able to reliably get into both ready and charge modes with both unplugged.

Good luck!

Rob
 
Also since your HV is never connecting, the DC/DC converter won't be powered. So you'll want to be careful about running down your 12V battery while testing. It would probably be a good idea to keep a charger on it.
 
Really helpful input, thanks! And I really appreciate your videos.

The 12v battery have had some charging since the bricking so it's probably fine, and I've checked all visible fuses for termination and all seems to be working.

I guess it's more common for resistors to fail to open circuit than fail to short as in the post I referred to but if mine failed to oc I guess your explanation is possible. I have a 27ohm pre-charge resistor from a ford focus laying around, if I am lucky I might be able to use that, still haven't been able to find any pictures or drawings of the pre-charge components.

Do you think it can be to any help to do a check similar to this https://youtu.be/d0IozEyeGSk before getting any deeper or is there another way to determine the condition of the resistor from the outside?

At site 29-30 in the evc; https://ownersmanuals2.com/get/nissan-leaf-2012-repair-manual-ev-control-system-section-evc-43055
there is a nice schematic overview and the following pages declare all plug pinouts.
Doesn't seems to be much more in the way that can have been destroyed physically by my tests.

Good idea to disconnect abs and heater, will try it tomorrow.
 
This page has a good picture toward the bottom of the precharge relay and resistor, looks very similar to my 2012. Looks to be 30 Ohm / 40W in this case.
https://www.summet.com/blog/2015/04/17/how-to-open-a-2013-nissan-leaf-battery-pack-and-remove-the-modules/

A couple of things you could try:
- Tap the control signal for the pre-charge relay somewhere between the VCM and the battery connector to make sure its being activated at least momentarily during a startup. I think that's basically what the video is doing. That should answer the 12V power question, so you'd know for sure that the pre-charge relay is getting voltage to the coil.
- Measure the HV voltage outside the battery somewhere, to see if there is any voltage being supplied through the precharge resistor. If the voltage stays basically 0V even though the pre-charge relay is being operated that would certainly point to an open resistor. This is a bit tricky though. Your best bet might be to disconnect either the PTC Heater or the AC compressor HV connector, but then you will have to defeat the interlock. I don't believe either of these are switched anywhere in the DCJB, they should be supplied HV anytime the battery is connected. The other option would be to pop the cover off the DCJB itself, but not sure how feasible this is while its still in the car. Also note that you can't measure the HV+ to chassis ground, it has to be to HV-.

Rob
 
digilog said:
Good idea to disconnect abs and heater, will try it tomorrow.

Just to double check, the IBU is the brake master cylinder "intelligent braking unit" not the heater. The ABS and IBU should be responsible for all your Cxxxx errors. Both are mounted in the engine room on the firewall, one on the drivers side, one on the passenger side.
 
Nice! Have seen jay summers videos but not the blog, lots of explaining pics, the resistor is very similar but probably not slot in and seems to have some sensing wires on the leaf that ford doesn't.

You can see in the schematics linked in my last post, the hv-bus only have relays in battery box and for regular charge and QC. But I believe the easiest way to measure the hv-bus is the terminals at the inverter, was where I connected to get power out so that should not be a problem.
Good ideas!
 
Ok, now the car is running again, and all errors are reseted. Got a contactorbox including pre-charge for free from this guy.

image.png

for some reason the box i got was missing one 2pin connector, connected to hv. But both cars seems to be from 2012. So only th resistor got switched over.

jb_boxes.png

the faulty resistor (30ohm 40w), didnt look damaged but I wasn't able to measure any connection at all.

bat_out.png

a bit of work to get the batterybox out without a proper lift.
 
Awesome! Congrats on getting it sorted. My guess would be the missing connector is for the battery heater. The replacement probably came from a car without the winter package?

Rob
 
To prevent a repeat, you might be able to use the spare contactors you now have to keep your inverter disconnected until the SMRs both close? Looking at the circuit diagram in EVB, it looks like pin #17 at the battery is the 12V coil supply to SMR1 that you'd want to tap? If I'm remembering correctly, SMR2 and PRE close during precharge, then SMR1 closes once charged and PRE opens.

26121900975_fa46d46f16_z.jpg


Pin 107 off the VCM should be the same signal.

26453684472_75e01c89d8_z.jpg


Rob
 
Hi Guys,

I am facing the same issue after gone through a car service where they use the water to clean the engine area. :cry:
From the next charge onward the car stop going to Ready Mode & the same error codes displayed on the screen.

I have cleared the error codes but after 2 days the error again appears while I try the Fast Charge & prevent the car from charging.

Kindly suggest any solutions & I am happy if any one can repost the 3 images posted by digilog on "Re: Leaf 2012 won't start or charge
Wed Apr 20, 2016 7:29 pm" as I could view those images on the from.

I would appreciate your prompt reply.

You can even send the images via email / whatsapp.
+94771125093
[email protected]

Thank You.
 
Just bought a 2011 Leaf and it has the same fault codes as the OP. How was this solved?


My error codes are C118C, C1A6E, C1A70, P3176, P311C, same as the original poster......


C118C 0109 ABS EV/HEV System BRC-126
C1A6E 0109 BRAKE EV/HEV System BR-146
C1A70 0109 BRAKE Brake Control System BR-160

P3176 00C0 EV/HEV Inverter Condenser EVC-238

(All following systems are disabled due to: P3176
FAIL-SAFE PATTERN
Pattern A: Quick charge prohibited
Pattern B: Normal charge prohibited
Pattern C: READY OFF
Pattern D: High-voltage power supply stop

If DTC P3176 is displayed with DTC ..P311C.. perform diagnosis for DTC ..P311C..)

P311C EV/HEV High Voltage Sys EVC-204
 
Step 1 is to try to find out from previous owners (invest some time in this!) what may have happened. Your error codes are consistent with either the precharge relay driver (in the VCM) precharge relay, precharge resistor (both in the battery) or inverter capacitor (obviously in the inverter) having blown. This can be caused by anything from somebody trying to add an extender pack and accidentally shorting the relay wires to gross HV bus mistakes. Depending on what happened, the fix may be as simple as replacing the resistor or relay to having to find a new HV/body harness.

If you can't find it out, my bet is that the precharge resistor has blown. This means you need to drop the battery module, open it up (use a vibrating tool to get through the gasket!), locate the relay module and measure the resistor.

Edit: a note on the brake system error: it is completely normal that this shows along with most other EV/HEV errors. The brake capacitor bank will not get charged if any contactor or isolation error arises, which causes the brake system to report a DTC. This is not actually a failure of the brake system and will clear along with the rest of the errors when you resolve the root cause.
 
Mux,
Thank you for the info and steps. Much appreciated. Worked this morning on locating the previous owners. I have the title of the car with the owners name and address in Beaverton, Oregon. I suppose I will send him a letter or find a way to get his phone number (address lookup?)

The person I purchased the car from just had a new donor inverter and DC/DC junction box installed. The original ones from the car are in the trunk.

Are there ways to test the relays with a consult II? My neighbor is a Acura master mechanic and has one of his own. He plugged it in once on my other Leaf, but I don't remember if he was able to communicate this deeply with the Leaf.
 
mux said:
Step 1 is to try to find out from previous owners (invest some time in this!) what may have happened.

Spent hours on the internet searching for the previous owners and ended up sending a letter to the last known address with an forwarding address request. I got the letter back with a new address in Seattle. Another couple of weeks after that and got a phone call from the original owners. Mux, you were right about investing some time. I hope the answer helps.......

The story is that she went outside in the Seattle winter weather and put the car in defrost to clear the windows and went back inside for 20 minutes. When she came back to go to work, the car did not start, and I think she said it had a dead 12 volt battery. She had the battery replaced and it still wouldn't start. She had it towed to a Nissan dealer in Seattle and they said that they didn't know what was wrong and they could throw a bunch of new parts on it and they didn't know if that would fix it. So they sold it.

When I push the start button, I don't hear it click through all of the relays like my 2012. Mux, do you still think it is the precharge relay driver (in the VCM) precharge relay, precharge resistor (both in the battery) or inverter capacitor (obviously in the inverter) having blown?

Unless someone speaks up and tells me a different place to look we will pull the traction battery down to see what is going on there. Can I swap my good working VCM from my 2012 or is that match to the car?

Thanks for the help
 
Ouch, no, that's a much worse situation. You've got a deep discharged battery, or at least probably a single cell that has failed. There's a couple of slightly adventurous ways to try to fix that, none of them very fun times.

The relays can be operated 'manually'. Get the service manuals and figure out the wiring to the VCM. Disconnect the HV wiring from the battery. There are a couple of contacts on one of the connectors on the VCM you have to splice and energize to actuate the battery contacts. Also supply 12V to the battery (this will turn on the BMS). You should then be able to both check with a voltmeter what the battery voltage is (whether it's possible to salvage) and be able to use LeafSpy in BMS mode to read the BMS's battery voltages. Yes, this involves connecting EV-CAN to an OBD dongle via the same VCM connector.

You'll probably be greeted by one or more cells below 3.2V. The only way to fix a beyond-turtle pack like that is to find some source of ~340VDC and directly charge the pack up to 3.22V/cell. One possibility is to use an isolation transformer and some diodes and charge the battery from rectified AC from the mains. Obvious disclaimers and caveats apply. After that, the pack should be alive again and happily charge like normal. If it's just one or two cells clearly being much worse than the rest, you'll want to replace them.

The much more annoying way to go about it is to crack open the battery shell and look inside. This works if the BMS is also dead.

All of this is assuming that the 12V system does work.
 
Wait, maybe I didn't explain myself correctly. The car turns on now and shows 44 miles on the GOM. I can put the car into neutral, but not drive. When I turn it on, you can hear a couple of relays come on, but not all of them. When I plug in the charger, it starts to flash two blue lights and then clicks off.

Still it has the diagnostic codes and wont go into drive or reverse.
 
Ah, hm, well... That's a weird constellation of symptoms. Showing range means the BMS thinks the battery is fine and that the main contactors are closing, otherwise it'd show no range and say you have to push in the brake pedal when you want to put it in anything other than neutral.

This almost sounds like a VCM issue. Could still be contactors, but I haven't encountered this or read about it yet.
 
Back
Top