Boston Area - Any Leaf owner willing to take a trip to Copart North Boston?

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DentedLeafofUtica

New member
Joined
Jul 25, 2020
Messages
4
Hello everyone. First time posting. I've had my Leaf for over 3 years now. Love it, except for the ever decreasing range.

I'm looking to replace the battery in my 2012 SL. I'm only getting 20-30 miles in Winter with a 65% SOH.

There is a 2016 SL at the Copart in North Boston up for auction. It was salvaged for "reasons other than damage or theft". But no one can tell me what those reasons are.

One of the pictures from the vin report is of the activated dash, and shows the T/M system malfunction, which is a known issue for that model year, and shows no miles for range. I have no idea what the condition of the battery is, or what is really wrong with the vehicle. There is no physical damage.

The listed repair cost from the insurance company is $9,543.66. My gut says the insurance appraiser doesn't know anything the Leaf, or this is a rip-off dealer quote. But that may just be wishful thinking.

Is there any Leaf owner in the Boston area willing to go there and pull some data with leaf spy? I'll try to fairly compensate you. I would just like to see if this is worth bidding on for the battery or possibly to repair it and drive it. The auction is on the 29th. Wednesday.

Please let me know. And thank you.

Copart North Boston
55R HIGH ST
NORTH BILLERICA, MASSACHUSETTS
01862
 
I'm on the wrong coast but "T/M system malfunction" could be anything from a dead 12 volt battery (would need to be jump started) to something really serious. If a jump start is needed, the DTCs would need to be cleared... but normally, one would probably want to drive it around to see if any pop back up.
 
I am not anywhere near Boston, but have some experience with the T/M warning with both 2011 and 2015 cars. The 2011 gave the T/M warning several times due to intermittent failures of a small auxiliary relay that switches power to the transmission control module (which operates the servo for the park gear and monitors shift lever positions). Replacing the relay fixed the problem permanently until the car met its untimely demise. The 2015 gave the T/M warning a couple of times due to failing 12V battery.

I strongly recommend that you pass on the salvage car you describe unless you can find out why it was salvaged and determine the real cost to repair. The fact that it shows no remaining miles may indicate that the traction battery is deeply discharged. If the battery has been left deeply discharged for more than a few days, it may be damaged. Also, the factory warranties are void on any LEAF that has been declared salvage (or has enough damage that it should have been declared salvage). Therefore, there is no EV powertrain warranty and no battery warranty from Nissan on the vehicle.

Edited to add: The estimated cost to repair might be the cost of a reduction gear/transaxle unit and/or traction battery. It is not likely that the reduction gear is bad, but someone that does not understand the LEAF power system could come to that conclusion.
 
I want to thank everyone for their input and trying to look out for my best interests.

Yes, I do know the problems with this vehicle could range from trivial like the 12v battery, gear selector cable and bushing, etc, to medium, PCM, bcm, to serious and costly like the inverter, motor, etc, although I didn't even consider damage to the traction battery from lack of charging.

I simply wanted to get the codes off the car to narrow down what might be wrong to determine the value of the car to me. Because if I could get it cheap enough, it would still be worth it for the body panels, rims, tires, tpms modules, tow hook, tow hook cover, and seats. The traction battery would be a bonus. Because even if the battery hasn't been charged in 3 months, which is what it looks like, it's probably still better than my 2012 battery with a 65% state of health, which is only a few months away from the end of the 8 year warranty.

Alas, the current bid price went from $0 on Friday, to $1,300 today, which for me would be closer to $2,500 with taxes, fees and transport. And that's my upper limit already. So, I'm not going any further with this, and I will not be bidding on it.

It's too bad. It's a twin for my car, and I really wanted to replace that hatch. Oh yeah, a battery would have been nice too.

Thank you again. This is a great community.
 
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