HOW-TO: 2018 Leaf ZE1 OEM headunit replacement (7" -> 8")

The navigation instructions on the dash is a strange one because the evening I installed the stereo I had a working compass and the navigation icons worked fine but since then they have disappeared and not returned!

So it must be able to work as it did briefly, I’m wondering if the CAN security emulator has something to do with it.

Dan

Danep82 said:

The navigation instructions on the dash is a strange one because the evening I installed the stereo I had a working compass and the navigation icons worked fine but since then they have disappeared and not returned!

So it must be able to work as it did briefly, I’m wondering if the CAN security emulator has something to do with it.

Dan

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Actually, now that you mention it, my compass was also working intermittently. Not sure about the navigation (I think it never worked) but the compass was on and off for seemingly no reason. If it started working when I started the drive, it was fine, but if it didn't work, it didn't come back until a reboot.

The compass was working with the street name under it when android auto navigation was not active. have not seen the other directions present though.

Not sure if it still works, i'll have to check on my drive home today.

Update regarding the nav instructions on the dash.

Yesterday i got in the car to go for a short drive and i noticed the compass rose was working again with the current streetname below it.
Just for fun i turned on the built-in navigation to see if the instructions worked as well.... and they did.

Today the compass rose is gone again and there were no nav instructions.

This reminds me a bit of me previous car, a 2003 Audi A4 (B6). in which i retrofitted an RNS-e radio. This would display nav instructions in the dash fine. untill you opened a door... then you would have to restart your current nav/route to get is back again.

drienties said:

Update regarding the nav instructions on the dash.

Yesterday i got in the car to go for a short drive and i noticed the compass rose was working again with the current streetname below it.
Just for fun i turned on the built-in navigation to see if the instructions worked as well.... and they did.

Today the compass rose is gone again and there were no nav instructions.

This reminds me a bit of me previous car, a 2003 Audi A4 (B6). in which i retrofitted an RNS-e radio. This would display nav instructions in the dash fine. untill you opened a door... then you would have to restart your current nav/route to get is back again.

Click to expand...

Very interesting. Clearly there's some aspect causing this. During the few days I had the new unit installed on mine I was wondering if it's caused by some kind of location timeout. I felt like if my car was parked in the garage, it never worked, but when it had been parked outside the compass worked fine.

I'm wondering if reading DTCs via LeafSpy while the compass is missing could give us any more info.

As for my project, I now have the final cable on the way and another headunit as well. I found a 2019 one with part number 25915-5SN0C from a Polish scrapyard for less than €250 including shipping.
My thinking was that we'll get more data about compatible part numbers as well, since this one's a different p/n than the one you two had. The manufacturing date on this unit is 07/2019 so I'm reasonably certain it'll work just the same, but will be interesting to see if there's any chance in the source/power usage/compass features with an "older" unit.

Of course it could very well be that all the functions related to those changed at the same time as the headunit type from MY 2018->2019, but let's see. Unfortunately the seller did not know the trim level of the car this came from, so I might need the dealer (who must hate my guts by now) again.

Ecstatic to announce that I've joined the club of successful headunit retrofits!

Package from Poland arrived today and I installed everything on the Leaf just now. Works perfectly, and finally the 360 camera is working! No idea if the newer revision headunit I got first was too new to work, or if I had a problem with my adapter which is why it wasn't working.

In addition, I found that on this headunit (manufacturing date 05/2019), I can see the energy consumption menu details as well and even the app is able to contact the car and display the battery percentage. In the end it seems my gamble with an older and unknown-if-it-will-work revision headunit paid off. Only thing I found so far not working, is the source menu on the IC display.
I even got extremely lucky as this headunit was from a Tekna, so no configuration is needed regarding that at the dealer.

I hope you guys won't mind if I edit the first post in this thread to be more of a tutorial on how to do this retrofit, listing the revisions we have confirmed as working so far, maybe a video on how to access the headunit etc. I'm sure it'll be beneficial to others who want to do this but don't want to scroll through seven pages of posts to find all the details I'll make sure to give credit where credit is due.

Photos below for proof!

Version information (also decided to wrap the headunit in matte black vinyl to match the rest of my interior):


Working 360 cameras (don't mind the red crosses, needs to be calibrated by the dealer):


While the source menu is empty, the track ID & artist are displayed, not sure if they were before (Android Auto is shown as CD though):


And finally, energy consumption menu is working:

Nice, yeah my app originally worked but after a few days the servers must realise its a newer headunit and ask you to register on the new app which obviously dosent work!

Dan

Danep82 said:

Nice, yeah my app originally worked but after a few days the servers must realise its a newer headunit and ask you to register on the new app which obviously dosent work!

Dan

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Just noticed the same here - tried to login on wife's new phone and it just said I need to register my user account in the car. After that, it prompted me to login again on my phone too and started displaying the same message.

It seems once the authentication expires and you need to login, it will stop working. Dang it!
I mean, the upgrade is worth it still but it'd be nice to have the app working. Time to research how it works I guess

I'm wondering if I'm facing the same troubles with the TCU / app connection as you guys.
For me, internet functions such as traffic and weather work perfectly on the new unit.
(Correction: weather/traffic only work when headunit is on wifi, if connected to my phone hotspot on for example.)

I suppose this is the thing that separates the "Connect Premium" cars from the rest - they have an onboard internet connection which allows for downloading the weather/traffic data wherever. Whether it's the SIM card itself or the TCU that controls this connection is beyond me.

drienties said:

tried the new app as well regarding the App/battery readout.
But i have to add my Leaf by VIN number, which it says is wrong when i try to add it.

Once i get my unit reprogrammed for the Bose setup i'll inquire about this as well.

Click to expand...

I also tried registering the car on the new NissanConnect Services app, and after creating my account on the phone app, it prompts to enter the car's VIN. Now, entering the actual VIN of course yeilds an error. "Sorry, something went wrong. Please try again." Clearly, there's some logic to calculate if the VIN is older than 05/2019. If I change one of the numbers from 3 to 6 near the end of the VIN (so in essence the VIN's sequence number, the last five digits, change from 30000 to 60000) it lets me to the next step: "Get Your Car Pairing Code".
This got me thinking: perhaps the step where you enter your VIN might just be a check to make sure your VIN is new enough and not actually an important step otherwise - maybe that is not actually used in the process at all, and instead the pairing code does all the work.

In the "Get Your Car Pairing Code" step you're supposed to go into the headunit's menus under Info - NissanConnect Services - Information Channels - Info from Nissan - Account Information - Car Pairing Code. For me this step fails because when clicking Info from Nissan, the car will start connecting to "the centre" but then it fails after a minute or so with an error "The connection to the centre failed". I'm thinking if I could just get that pairing code from the car I might be able to pair it in the new app.

Are you guys able to enter this "Info from Nissan" menu, or is the error message similar for you? Just wondering if I should try pulling the fuse for the TCU, resetting the headunit in the service menu or something else to try to make it work.

Edit: tried resetting in the service menu, did not help. It seems that, inside this menu, the car is not able to communicate with Nissan servers regardless of whether it's on wifi or not. Maybe I'll try putting another SIM card in the TCU just to try if it could establish the connection then and I could get the pairing code that way. Anyway, in below reply I've found a workaround to communicate with the car in the meantime using the My Leaf app.

Update: I was just out and about with the car and started thinking about something. Since the original NissanConnect EV app basically works, but it just doesn't let you do anything after the retrofit since it can no longer establish a connection to the original headunit, would it be possible to use a third-party app to control the car? For me, remote activation of the heating would be important, since the windshield will be frozen in the mornings 50% of the year where I live...

And the answer is yes, sort of. The My Leaf app lets me turn the climate control on, and I even get a notification from the official Nissan EV app when it does so! :lol:

As for the battery percentage, even after waiting for a number of minutes the My Leaf app will just show it as 0%. However, a few minutes after giving up I received this text message:


I've never seen this message before The 3rd party app must be poking the API in a way that the official app doesn't.

With the My Leaf app (maybe the paid version?) there's even a widget you can add to your homescreen to turn on the climate control remotely. Based on a couple of tests it seems to work great, remains to be seen if it can work on mine and wife's phone at the same time. The official app would always require a re-login whenever the other one of us would use it, it seems it only allowed one phone to have an active login to the servers at a time.

Finally i have successfully installed a new Head Unit (25915-5SN0C) in my Leaf.
The unit is second hand, bought from a scrapyard in Norway.

I thought it should be Plug and Play like the dealer told me, but that was false, the connections doesnt fit. Ive searched the internet for days, and never seen anyone do it, but the best and simular post was this post, that you guys have done. It inspiered me. :ugeek:

Ive contacted alot of professionals, and theyve all said its not possible to connect with an original Head Unit. And that youll lose stearing wheel buttons if you install a unoriginal navi. :?

I have a 2022 Visia, it only had a base unit with radio and BT. The Visia have no TCU, and the unit is not connected to the Vcan.
It also have a 32-pin (instead of 40-pin) connection along with the 20pin as other models have.
I had to make adaptercabeles simualar to the one Dan' posted erlier, with the CAN filter from ZELEMAR electronics.
Im sharing this just for info, I dont recomand buying a Visia and adding a new Head unit, and if you do, its at your own risk.

Buttons on stearing wheel works, radio works, it is connected to everything, but ofc not the TCU.
I even have a green light (in diagnostic) on the VCAN connection because of the CAN-filter.
At first the GPS worked, but it stoped working, Andriod Auto/Apple Carplay also worked but stopped working.
I thought it maybe is a security check with Nissan, and i was only connected through WiFi. (since no TCU)
I reset the unit to Factory settings, deleted everything. I then went to the service Menu, (Hold Menu + turning right wheel left+right+left)
I deleted all error logs, and stayed offline, (no wifi) i then tried again.
And now andriod Auto works perfect!

Since my Visia dont have a TCU, it should be possible for others to use Andriod auto, if someone want to try (at own risk) you could maybe disconect the TCU (Brown FAKRA-Plug) from the head unit. and delete error log.
You will lose connection to Nissan, and wont be able to remotly connect or start clima, check battery etc. But youll have a functional navigation system

See my connection diagram
https://ibb.co/N28VsBV

Boncredo said:

Finally i have successfully installed a new Head Unit (25915-5SN0C) in my Leaf.
The unit is second hand, bought from a scrapyard in Norway.

Click to expand...

Woohoo! That's brilliant, glad to hear it and thanks for sharing your schematics, I am sure they will be of use to the next person attempting such a modification

Out of curiosity, where in the world are you located, if a 2022 Visia-spec Leaf only has a basic headunit without any extra features?

CeladonCityNPC said:

Woohoo! That's brilliant, glad to hear it and thanks for sharing your schematics, I am sure they will be of use to the next person attempting such a modification

Out of curiosity, where in the world are you located, if a 2022 Visia-spec Leaf only has a basic headunit without any extra features?

Click to expand...

Thats quite right, ive maybe used 100 hours to figure this out, reading, learing and finding parts. But it only took me one evening to solder the connections with the CAN-filter, and maybe half an hour to swap the units. And ive never soldered before
So if anyone else dares to try this, they could save alot of frustration and work

I live in Norway, its quite common here that the dealers have a base model ripped of all equipment, to get the price as low as possible, and then you have to use alot extra to get what you realy want.
We have four different models of Leaf here; Visia, Acenta, N-connecta and Tekna, and the cheapest was in 2022 starting at 23.000 Euros, witch was the cheapest possible new car you can buy in norway
Until 2023 we had no tax or fees when buying electric cars in Norway.

Boncredo said:

I live in Norway, its quite common here that the dealers have a base model ripped of all equipment, to get the price as low as possible, and then you have to use alot extra to get what you realy want.
We have four different models of Leaf here; Visia, Acenta, N-connecta and Tekna, and the cheapest was in 2022 starting at 23.000 Euros, witch was the cheapest possible new car you can buy in norway
Until 2023 we had no tax or fees when buying electric cars in Norway.

Click to expand...

I see! Well I suppose in the end buying that Visia and manually upgrading it came out at least a bit cheaper than a more expensive spec car

I really admire the Norwegian government's push towards EVs! 23k€ for a new 40 kWh Leaf is an amazing deal.

Maybe somewhat related, but I did a factory reset of my 2018 Leaf SV radio under the Diagnostics menu (accessed by Map, Map, Power, Power, Map). It cleared out my rear camera settings and it also messed up the display of my climate control. Climate control works, but the display doesn't show the temperature, fan speed, or blower mode. When I go to the climate control widget, it says the climate control is off. It sounds like maybe someone got this resolved. This is the original hardware, fyi. Anyone know of a way to resolve the climate control issue? (other than a dealer).

I'm looking at replacing my 2018 Leaf SV radio with another one of the same type (one from a salvaged 2018 SV). Is that something I can just swap out without issues? I have an SD card in the unit that, without it, I have very limited functionality. Will that just translate to the new head unit?

sadastronaut said:

I'm looking at replacing my 2018 Leaf SV radio with another one of the same type (one from a salvaged 2018 SV). Is that something I can just swap out without issues? I have an SD card in the unit that, without it, I have very limited functionality. Will that just translate to the new head unit?

Click to expand...

You will need the Zelemar bypass chip as outlined in the first post - otherwise the new headunit will not work as it's not coded to your VIN. Another option might be visiting the dealer to code it, but even if they're willing to do it it'd likely cost more than the chip.

You would need to solder the Zelemar chip into either the wiring harness leading to the headunit or inside the headunit itself.

My humble suggestion would be an upgrade to the new model as you're looking at some work anyhow.

If your issues are with the rear cam / A/C controls etc. which is why you'd be replacing the headunit, I'd honestly just contact the dealer, as it's likely your headunit suddenly simply has the wrong trim software inside. They can re-flash it.

CeladonCityNPC said:

sadastronaut said:

I'm looking at replacing my 2018 Leaf SV radio with another one of the same type (one from a salvaged 2018 SV). Is that something I can just swap out without issues? I have an SD card in the unit that, without it, I have very limited functionality. Will that just translate to the new head unit?

Click to expand...

You will need the Zelemar bypass chip as outlined in the first post - otherwise the new headunit will not work as it's not coded to your VIN. Another option might be visiting the dealer to code it, but even if they're willing to do it it'd likely cost more than the chip.

You would need to solder the Zelemar chip into either the wiring harness leading to the headunit or inside the headunit itself.

My humble suggestion would be an upgrade to the new model as you're looking at some work anyhow.

If your issues are with the rear cam / A/C controls etc. which is why you'd be replacing the headunit, I'd honestly just contact the dealer, as it's likely your headunit suddenly simply has the wrong trim software inside. They can re-flash it.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the information. I agree that contacting the dealer should be the best route. If anyone could fix it, it would be them. Unfortunately they only offered to replace the head unit. Which seems unnecessary.

sadastronaut said:

CeladonCityNPC said:

sadastronaut said:

I'm looking at replacing my 2018 Leaf SV radio with another one of the same type (one from a salvaged 2018 SV). Is that something I can just swap out without issues? I have an SD card in the unit that, without it, I have very limited functionality. Will that just translate to the new head unit?

Click to expand...

You will need the Zelemar bypass chip as outlined in the first post - otherwise the new headunit will not work as it's not coded to your VIN. Another option might be visiting the dealer to code it, but even if they're willing to do it it'd likely cost more than the chip.

You would need to solder the Zelemar chip into either the wiring harness leading to the headunit or inside the headunit itself.

My humble suggestion would be an upgrade to the new model as you're looking at some work anyhow.

If your issues are with the rear cam / A/C controls etc. which is why you'd be replacing the headunit, I'd honestly just contact the dealer, as it's likely your headunit suddenly simply has the wrong trim software inside. They can re-flash it.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the information. I agree that contacting the dealer should be the best route. If anyone could fix it, it would be them. Unfortunately they only offered to replace the head unit. Which seems unnecessary.

Click to expand...

Ah, classic dealer shenanigans. I think someone else in this thread had the same issue though, so maybe it's more common and the dealer knows something we don't. Maybe there's an eMMC inside the headunit that fails or something. No doubt it's not normal for yours to fail like this just with a simple factory reset.

My dealer was also hesitant to touch my headunit during the upgrade process when I was trying to get the new headunit to work, but after telling them I'd have no qualms paying for the full hour of work (~160€), regardless of if it works or not, they finally agreed to try.

If anyone reading this thread is interested in doing the mod on their car, I have my headunit + the adapter cable I made for sale. Installation takes all of 15 minutes. Works directly with a Tekna, just pop it in and enjoy. Will ship inside EU, asking for 250€ + shipping.

Sold my Leaf so this was left behind