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

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CeladonCityNPC

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 29, 2022
Messages
68
Preface
Got a 2018 Nissan Leaf? Bored of the low resolution 7" display your current headunit has? Perhaps you're struggling with constant USB disconnections?

Or is your old 7" headunit broken and a replacement at the dealer would cost thousands of $/€/£?

Worry not, your headunit can be upgraded to the newest revision from 2019+ cars! At home with basic tools no less. After months of research in this thread, we've found that it is indeed possible.

People whose 2019+ Leaf headunit is broken may also find some help in this thread, as we cover replacement at home with used parts (and no coding by the dealer required.)

The new headunit is a GREAT upgrade on this car. The display resolution, brightness and clarity are on a totally different level. In addition, Android Auto (especially wireless via a wireless dongle such as AAWireless or Motorola MA1) works so much better now without constant disconnections.

Leave a message in this post if you upgraded yours as well, what model year is your Leaf and with which part revision did you replace it with :)

BBumIQO.jpg


Connectors
While the physical connectors between the old and new headunits are the same, the two larger connectors (20-pin and 40-pin) have vastly different pinouts with the exception of power inputs and speaker outputs. Therefore, it is necessary to either completely modify your existing harness connector or craft an adapter to go in-between the harness on the car and the new headunit. Obviously, if your current headunit is working, it is advisable to create an adapter instead of modifying the existing harness in case you ever need to go back to the original one.

If you decide to just re-pin the original harness and not create an adapter cable, a "pin extractor kit" will definitely come in handy to remove all the cables from the connector.

VIN Coding
In addition to the cables, out of the box the new headunit will refuse to work on your car and display a SECURE message because it has not been paired to your car's VIN. While it may be possible to get a Nissan dealer to pair it your car with their proprietary diagnostics tools (for $$$), there is also a company called Zelemar manufacturing an aftermarket solution called "Nissan CAN filter" (google it) to get it working. If going with the Zelemar option, creating an adapter is advisable as well since it allows you to solder the Zelemar PCB right into the cabling - again, no need to splice into the original harness.

Headunit part revisions
One thing to note when purchasing the new headunit is the part number (revision). There are a few different revisions available of the 8-inch one, with two of them confirmed working so far. One may be incompatible as far as the 360 cameras go, but that is not fully confirmed. Based on one case so far, it seems the "older" headunit from 2019/early2020 may be a little bit more compatible than the late2020/2021/2022 revision (energy consumption menu not working on the latter). Problems with the newer ones may be caused by some kind of incompatibility with other control units that Nissan may have updated between model years.
Compass on the IC display is also spotty for some unknown reason on all headunit revisions; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The compass also affects the stock navigation; whenever compass is missing from the IC display, navigation instructions won't display on the IC display either. Possibly caused by the Zelemar unit(?)

Revisions:

25915-5SN0C (259155SN0C, 259155SNOC) (manufacturing date approx. 05/2019-01/2020)
- Source menu not working on IC display
- Compass info intermittently missing from IC display, affects also the navigation on IC display
- iOS/Android app will stop working next time you have to log in again (My Leaf app works at least for AC control, but not for battery%. This requires that you have created and paired your account with the old headunit.)


25915-5SR0B (259155SR0B, 259155SROB) (manufacturing date approx. 01/2020 - 02/2021)
- Source menu not working on IC display
- Compass info intermittently missing from IC display, affects also the navigation on IC display
- Energy consumption menu not working
- iOS/Android app will stop working next time you have to log in again (My Leaf may work?)


25915-5SR0C (259155SR0C, 259155SROC) (manufacturing date approx. 02/2021 onwards)
- Source menu not working on IC display
- Compass info intermittently missing from IC display, affects also the navigation on IC display
- Energy consumption menu not working
- iOS/Android app will stop working next time you have to log in again (My Leaf may work?)
- AVM (360) cameras not working on Tekna spec, but could have been a wiring issue too


The headunits can be purchased online for reasonably cheap at many scrapyards. Ebay is a good bet but usually more expensive. Prices start at around 200 EUR/USD, but even 300 EUR/USD is a good price especially if you can be sure the trim level is correct out of the box. A good idea to find a headunit is to google the above part numbers a few different ways, with the dash (-) or without it, with the letter O replacing the number zero etc.

Here is one listing online right now (12/2022):
From Poland for 1400 PLN + shipping (they ship inside Europe) https://www.otomoto.pl/oferta/radio-nissan-connect-leaf-ii-nawigacja-259155sr0b-ID6EMoUk.html

Trim Level
Another thing to consider when purchasing the new headunit from a scrapyard is to try to find out what trim level of the Leaf it comes from. All of them can be flashed to the correct trim, but it requires a trip to the dealer. If you can get the headunit from the correct trim right away, it saves some headache. You will know if the trim level was wrong if your volume level is way off with the new one (if you have a Tekna, your parking sensors will try to destroy your hearing with their beeping. I suppose if you have a Visia/Acenta/N-Connecta, the sound will be really quiet.) If the trim is wrong - visit your dealer. Might have to pay for 30-60 mins of labor for the re-configuration though.

Adapter
If you are going with the adapter option (as you should!) you're going to need both male and female ends of the 20-pin and 40-pin connectors. So far I haven't found the 40-pin male&female connectors on AliExpress, so I have the next best thing below. If you are successful in finding just the connectors, let me know :lol:
20-pin male: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000004813730.html
20-pin female: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32854885590.html
40-pin male-female cable for splicing, confirmed working. Just discard the RCA connector: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004610438468.html (this cheaper one may be OK too, just cut it into two halves in the middle and reconnect all the cables: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000449592349.html)

There may also be a need to modify the antenna connector a bit, it may not be directly compatible with the new headunit. This is however easy to perform using a sharp knife and some careful shaving on all sides. It does work perfectly once you've cut it to fit.

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALWAYS DISCONNECT YOUR BATTERY AND WAIT 10 MINUTES BEFORE WORKING ON ELECTRONICS INSIDE THE CAR. YOU DON'T WANT TO TRIP AN AIRBAG ROLLOVER SENSOR FOR EXAMPLE.

hgRUa70.jpg


User Danep82 shared the pinout diagrams in his post, backup link here: https://i.imgur.com/Z7tY8jU.jpg

I hope this covers everything. Any questions, please feel free to post in this thread. And do post if you've successfully upgraded!

Quick video of the dash disassembly (5 min job) and run-through of the new headunit after successful install. Cable connections are self-explanatory, thus skipped in the video ;) :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYpVn_QqiGg

Photos
(Successful retrofit, photo courtesy of user Danep82)
lcsfKIm.jpg


(Adapter cable, photo courtesy of user Danep82)
SH0A7RA.jpeg
 
I can't help with your questions, but as someone who drove a 2018 SL for 3 years, and is driving a '21 now, I'd like to observe that the '21 unit is glitchy as hell. It reboots spontaneously regularly, and it stopped recognizing my phone months ago. The head unit on the 2018 was trouble free...
 
LeftieBiker said:
I can't help with your questions, but as someone who drove a 2018 SL for 3 years, and is driving a '21 now, I'd like to observe that the '21 unit is glitchy as hell. It reboots spontaneously regularly, and it stopped recognizing my phone months ago. The head unit on the 2018 was trouble free...

Heh yeah, the good thing about the old unit is that it has always worked perfectly. Sorry to hear about your troubles with the ´21 unit. I just discovered how to access the diagnostics menu, maybe you could run a self-diagnosis on it? (In the map view, hold down the menu button and scroll the right dial left-right-left)
 
OLD POST, IGNORE, IT'S ALL SOLVED NOW


Running diagnostics via the service menu yields 13 errors with the new unit.

https://i.imgur.com/bdNKp90.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/2hWsOA8.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ujgV4VG.jpg

Now going through these one by one, I´m sure I can solve each one sooner or later. One could reasonably assume that most of them might be related to the config being wrong in the system for this head unit (it thinks it´s plugged into an Acenta (S) or N-Connecta (SV) car when it´s actually Tekna (SL). Maybe I´ll contact the dealer at some point to inquire if they could configure this head unit for my car.

1. DAB antenna connection abnormal - this one´s just my bad, the aerial cable is still unplugged.
2. Rear right loudspeaker output Open load - maybe it´s expecting different impedance, since the car is specced with the Bose system? Speakers still work perfectly.
3. Front right loudspeaker output Open load - see 2
4. Front left loudspeaker output Open load - see 2
5. AV Communication - this one´s a bit of a mystery - maybe it´s related to the rear camera it cannot detect
6. Rear left loudspeaker output Open load - see 2
7. AM/FM 1 antenna supply Open load - see 1
8. MCH1 external USB Open load - I suppose this head unit is expecting the USB-C socket to be plugged in, but the aux-in jack is there instead. The connector is the same.
9. MCH1 external USB Communication - See 8
10. Locked ECU Wrong VID received - head unit is from another car and has not been coded to this car. However, there is no green SECURE message or anything - so the seller was indeed correct that they did something to this head unit at Nissan before he sold it to me.
11. GNSS antenna open load - this one´s strange, unless it´s related to FM/DAB antenna, which I doubt - maybe the 2018 car only has a GPS antenna, not GNSS. Perhaps this is the strange white connector on the back of the new unit.
12. Cluster meter connection abnormal - hoping this isn´t a serious error, but according to the diagnostics menus the unit doesn´t know the speed of the car nor if it´s in reverse at the moment.

Now, what leads me to believe there is some magic going on with the Nissan CONSULT thingamajig is that there is a menu on the 2018 head unit inside the service menu to change the camera type. This would lead me to believe that the head units are configured on a car-by-car basis to support whatever camera type the car has (surround view/backup camera/no camera). Unfortunately this menu is missing on the 2021 head unit - in fact there is a camera menu inside the service menu but it is grayed out. This leads me to believe that this option has likely been moved to Nissan´s CONSULT service device.
https://i.imgur.com/vN1Px3S.jpg
Without Camera = Leaf with no camera
Rear View Camera = Leaf with rear view camera
AVM = Leaf with Around-View Monitor(?)
FAP = ???
 
CeladonCityNPC said:
Now, what leads me to believe there is some magic going on with the Nissan CONSULT thingamajig is that there is a menu on the 2018 head unit inside the service menu to change the camera type.
I don't think there's any "magic" at all: is it that hard to believe that they just altered/changed the design between the model years? I'm all for "car mods"...but if my (new) display suddenly stopped displaying any camera info, that would have been an ender (for me).
That's a pretty long error list.
 
Stanton said:
CeladonCityNPC said:
Now, what leads me to believe there is some magic going on with the Nissan CONSULT thingamajig is that there is a menu on the 2018 head unit inside the service menu to change the camera type.
I don't think there's any "magic" at all: is it that hard to believe that they just altered/changed the design between the model years? I'm all for "car mods"...but if my (new) display suddenly stopped displaying any camera info, that would have been an ender (for me).
That's a pretty long error list.

Fair enough - I see this ender as just a temporary obstacle :)

There's been a lot of talk about this same topic on different Nissans over the years, and I think the general consensus is that it's almost always doable, you just have to do some stuff to make it work.
https://forums.nicoclub.com/swapping-2nd-gen-rogue-head-units-to-get-latest-features-t626594-60.html
https://www.nissanmurano.org/threads/radio-upgrade-on-2015-for-oem-2018-with-carplay-successful.224120/page-2
https://www.nissanclub.com/threads/swapping-a-2016-sentra-head-unit-with-an-oem-2019-unit.521388/
 
I hope the 2021 display you bought is more stable than my 2019 SL Plus display. The units in my 2011 and 2015 both functioned without problems for the entire time I had those cars. The unit in the 2019 has been replaced twice due to issues with the volume and tuning controls. The touch screen on the original was also erratic--display would sometimes jump or scroll without being touched. These issues seem to be fixed with the latest replacement unit, but it still restarts itself once in a while.
 
OLD POST, SOLVED ALREADY

https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=KrRt2uJmTFE

So, a bit more research. There is a Korean company called UNAVi selling an aftermarket Android headunit for the Leaf 2018-2021. At 1:40 in the above installation video, it is mentioned that there are two different adapter cables (Type A/Type B) that you need to choose from depending on the trim level of your car (so, whether it has the around-view cameras or not).
However, they sell the same headunit for Leaf regardless of model year 2018-2021. This leads me to believe that the pinout for the SL trim is different from the S/SV (logical due to more cables needed by the around-view monitor & Bose system etc.), but that there is no pinout difference between the model years from 2018 to 2021.

What remains to be determined is if the OEM headunit with part code 25915-5SR0C is universal between the different trim levels. More research is needed for sure. It´s a shame the part catalogues for the 2021 Leaf are not available online yet, as that would definitely help in figuring out whether 25915-5SR0C is only for S and SV and I need a different headunit altogether for my SL, and if so, what is the part number for that one.

In the service menu, there is a H/U Configuration Part Number: 259585SJ0B while the old one is
5SJ1B which I think may be indicating that this unit indeed needs a configuration change to work with Tekna/SL (0B vs 1B).
 
Hi, bit of a newcomer to the 2018 leaf I just traded my 2015 in for a 40Kwh new shape. Now the dealer said the SD Card was missing but they managed to order a replacement, before I bought it they informed me that the cameras weren't working in either reverse or hitting the camera button. Having done a bit of research I came to the conclusion that they have a base sd card for the 2018 models to fit the basic model and for any higher spec ie tekna you have t set options. On the 2018 head in the service screen after watching a few videos I found most had the camera set to AVM I had originally set it to the rear which got the reverse camera 360 view working, but setting it to AVM I found the camera button on the head unit works as does the reverse camera. How I ended up here is I'm searching for a setting for the climate control ie although up and down temp works and fan speed etc the head unit says its turned off and doesn't display anything like fan speed or temp or mode etc, I'm convinced like with the camera's its a setting ?

Now I'm probably talking rubbish here but if you unlock the sd card you can alter settings I believe so maybe that's an option to manually do it? Meanwhile, if anyone knows of a setting for climate control please do tell I will be very grateful.

Paul
 
pauldb38 said:
Hi, bit of a newcomer to the 2018 leaf I just traded my 2015 in for a 40Kwh new shape. Now the dealer said the SD Card was missing but they managed to order a replacement, before I bought it they informed me that the cameras weren't working in either reverse or hitting the camera button. Having done a bit of research I came to the conclusion that they have a base sd card for the 2018 models to fit the basic model and for any higher spec ie tekna you have t set options. On the 2018 head in the service screen after watching a few videos I found most had the camera set to AVM I had originally set it to the rear which got the reverse camera 360 view working, but setting it to AVM I found the camera button on the head unit works as does the reverse camera. How I ended up here is I'm searching for a setting for the climate control ie although up and down temp works and fan speed etc the head unit says its turned off and doesn't display anything like fan speed or temp or mode etc, I'm convinced like with the camera's its a setting ?

Now I'm probably talking rubbish here but if you unlock the sd card you can alter settings I believe so maybe that's an option to manually do it? Meanwhile, if anyone knows of a setting for climate control please do tell I will be very grateful.

Paul

Hi Paul! Thanks for the comment, I think you're definitely onto something here. Could very well be that the SD card you have is for the wrong spec which is causing the aforementioned issues; 360 camera problems you could fix by changing the associated setting in the service menu, but I'm afraid there is no similar setting for the climate control. Interestingly, both are the same issues I have with mine and the new 2021 head unit. The new ones don't have an SD card so I think the configuration modifications have to be performed by the dealer for this one; hence my previous comments in this thread. However for you and the older head unit it might be as easy as just swapping the SD card for the correct one - or if there is a way to unlock the SD card and write contents do let me know. Do the steering wheel media controls work for you though?

If I read your comment correctly, you currently have an SL/Tekna spec Leaf right? Could you please check what your "ITM Part Number" and "ITM Configuration Part Number" settings are in the Version Information Menu under the service menu? Mine, on a Tekna, are 5SJ1B and 5SH6A respectively. I think these values might be the key to finding out what is causing our issues - the "car spec configuration" so to speak.

I'll have a check on mine tomorrow, whether I can access the service menu without the SD card, and whether the "ITM Part Number" shows any value without it...if not, it clearly indicates the SD card determines the spec settings for the old head unit type.
 
Hi this is a screen shot without the sd card ?

view

if the image doesn't display then this is the setting.

itm software:120
itm 5sj1b
itm configuration part number 5sj6b
 
So I have been speaking with an SD card company and they recon I need part number P43CR04-D0040-2001 for my 2018 Tekna leaf but they don't have it in stock. I have sent them a photo of my car screen without the sd card in it.

Apparently, I should not have to do any setup it should just work ? Now on the hunt for a card lol

Paul
 
pauldb38 said:
So I have been speaking with an SD card company and they recon I need part number P43CR04-D0040-2001 for my 2018 Tekna leaf but they don't have it in stock. I have sent them a photo of my car screen without the sd card in it.

Apparently, I should not have to do any setup it should just work ? Now on the hunt for a card lol

Paul

Hi, sorry for the delay in response. I think it should just drop in and work. What is the SD card company? Doesn't Nissan or a dealer provide the SD directly?
 
What remains to be determined is if the OEM headunit with part code 25915-5SR0C is universal between the different trim levels. More research is needed for sure. It´s a shame the part catalogues for the 2021 Leaf are not available online yet, as that would definitely help in figuring out whether 25915-5SR0C is only for S and SV and I need a different headunit altogether for my SL, and if so, what is the part number for that one.

So quoting myself from earlier, my local Nissan dealer's parts dept confirmed that this part number 25915-5SR0C is indeed universal and independent of trim level.

This lends credence to the theory that the part just needs to be coded to the car. However, no response from dealer's service department in two weeks, so I can't reach them to ask how we could do that :)
 
Following! Hope this goes somewhere.

E: Hopefully this is something that can be resolved with flashing SD cards as that's about the extent of my skills. But being able to update the screen in a pre-2020 car would be a pretty big gamechanger.
 
Just an update from me i got the new SD card and have the latest maps but sadly it didn't resolve the Climate control issue of display off when its on with no fan speed or mode or temp settings, and the centre clock doesn't update the dash. Leaf spy displays these errors

u12aa 0209 multi av
u1000 0108 meter can comm circuit
p31bo 820b ev/hev can error evc-279

Just wondering if anyone has a service manual that lists these codes and meanings? Apart from this the car works great , the only issue is the clock and the climate control.

Paul
 
pauldb38 said:
Just an update from me i got the new SD card and have the latest maps but sadly it didn't resolve the Climate control issue of display off when its on with no fan speed or mode or temp settings, and the centre clock doesn't update the dash. Leaf spy displays these errors

u12aa 0209 multi av
u1000 0108 meter can comm circuit
p31bo 820b ev/hev can error evc-279

Just wondering if anyone has a service manual that lists these codes and meanings? Apart from this the car works great , the only issue is the clock and the climate control.

Paul

That's strange - if you enter the service menu on the headunit and run a self-diagnosis, does it show that the headunit is connected to both M CAN and V CAN? At this point, I'm suspecting yours has an issue with either the 40-pin connector at the back of the headunit being disconnected/poorly connected or the wiring harness itself has issues. As I've found out over the past month, it doesn't seem to matter what the original trim level of the headunit is, it should work with the car regardless if it is correctly connected to the CAN.
 
OLD POST, ALL SOLVED :)

So a month ago I visited the dealer who tried to configure the new headunit (post-2019) to work with my 2018 car. Turns out it was not possible, because the headunit was not visible to their diagnostics scanner; it was not present on the CANbus at all. Tech checked the wiring diagrams and told me that the 2018 and 2019 Leafs have a completely different pinout for the head unit (or as Nissan calls it, AV control unit). They told me that this retrofit project will likely not be possible, as they cannot share the pinouts with me or help any further.

Well, for a couple of days I was bummed thinking I'd wasted so much money on a headunit I can't get working after all. But then I chose to at least try once more; I did some investigation with a multimeter and a load of different tools and managed to develop an adapter to connect the new headunit to the old wiring harness so I don't have to do any wire splicing at the back of the unit (and can change headunits on the fly if the new one does not work). For this, you need both a female and male 40-pin connector (connector number: 1674312-1 1318389-1) as well as some 20 AWG cable. None of the cables in this connector go in the same pins as they did before, but the 20-pin connector next to it hasn't changed much, a few pins may have to be modified on that connector too. So far I've found 14 cables from the 2018 wiring harness I can match completely with their new locations on the 2019 headunit. Two cables (reverse signal, illumination) also need to possibly be connected to the 20-pin connector next to this one or vice versa, but that needs more investigation.
https://i.imgur.com/QeI2PTx.jpg

After trying my new adapter, I am happy to say that most of the issues that were present before are now gone.
Self-diagnosis in the service menu on the new headunit now shows it is connected to the amp, meter cluster, telematics, ITM, M CAN and V CAN, when previously they were all red.
https://i.imgur.com/PaTHrwi.jpg

Signals from other control units seem to come through loud and clear:
https://i.imgur.com/KOuXeOJ.jpg

And error messages are (mostly) gone, the ones remaining are due to difference in antenna and USB connectors, which I will rectify if I can get the rest of this working ;) :
https://i.imgur.com/MX6s0ku.jpg

Media control buttons on the steering wheel now work, parking sensors work, network connectivity works and climate control controls work and show up on the display.

Only thing still not working are the 360 cameras; this is now most likely due to the headunit originally being from a car with only a backup camera. Car's going back to the dealer for a re-try at configuration soon (as it can now be reached on the CANbus), so fingers crossed :cool:
 
Hi i tried this mod in the UK a few months ago but could not get the 8" unit to work i do have all the pinouts though if your still in need and even a diagram i made to show what wires go where ?

My headunit kept showing LOCKED RED or LOCKED GREEN so i gave up

Dan
 
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