Hello, have enjoyed my almost 1 year of using my leaf but now I have an issue. The L1/2 charge port is damaged and needs to be replaced. Is this something I can do myself? Its not clear looking under the hood what I have to remove to get access to the back end of the cable. I assume there is a safe way to do this. If any one has experience on this forum a point to the thread or suggestion would be great! Thanks
charge port replacement
- Thread starter NyNewLeaf
- Start date
Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:
coulomb
Well-known member
I would say yes, IF you can find a replacement J1772 socket that fits, AND you have access to the appropriate crimping tools. My guess is that you'll have to chop off a little of the existing wires, so you may have to extend them with an inch or two of new wire of appropriate gauge, using proper crimping joiners and heat-shrink to join the old and new.NyNewLeaf said:
See the Diode Fixed! topic and especially the link in the first post for photos.
goldbrick
Well-known member
Does your Leaf have a CHAdeMO port? How familiar are you with electronics and electricity?
I ask because the CHAdeMO port uses a direct high-voltage connection to charge the battery and this voltage is lethal. It's not like working on the wiring in your house and if you don't know what you are doing, you could die.
If you are up for it, I'd start with nicoclub.com since they have FSM's available, at least for the 2011-2015 model years.
I ask because the CHAdeMO port uses a direct high-voltage connection to charge the battery and this voltage is lethal. It's not like working on the wiring in your house and if you don't know what you are doing, you could die.
If you are up for it, I'd start with nicoclub.com since they have FSM's available, at least for the 2011-2015 model years.
goldbrick said:
Thanks. I'm familiar with electricity, enough to know I don't want to mess with that. I'm probably just going to take the L and take it to the dealer. Its really dumb that they did not make that part robust or easily serviceable. I think it was the fault of the cheap charger I got off of Amazon
coulomb said:
Yeah you could obviously splice in a new one. Everything I've read sounds like its a job that you have to lift out that unit in the hood to get access and that the dealer is going to want 8 hours. As much as the mechanic in me hates to do it I am going to likely take the L. The other option would be to see if I could convert the high voltage port to CCS but not sure I want to go that route or risk playing with the high voltage system
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiiDIEmc4HU [/youtube] This actually looks very doable. I've actually done bigger and more challenging jobs. The first key is the battery disconnect which they show in the video and then the next is removing the wipers and the tray they sit in to get access. Feeling better about this. I can do a lot of labor to save $1500 and do this right. This video pretty much lays out all the challenging steps. What it doesn't cover should be easy and the steps of removing the charger from the motor should not be necessary for this fix
How to do the service disconnect. Disconnect the 12 volt first
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEOR8V2wJn0[/youtube]
I'm including this video as it helps to see how the cables will go into the back
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o-hfJw2fMI[/youtube]
How to do the service disconnect. Disconnect the 12 volt first
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEOR8V2wJn0[/youtube]
I'm including this video as it helps to see how the cables will go into the back
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o-hfJw2fMI[/youtube]
coulomb
Well-known member
That requires some protocol changes. I don't think that has been solved yet, for DIY.NyNewLeaf said:
IIRC, Dala can now do it, but only as part of a package of upgrades.
Success! Steps and observations.
First My hunch is that this could be a 50 dollar repair plus the cost of a heat gun. If you remove the cowling around the charge port and the plastic piece over the radiator and such you can loosen the screws holding the charge port. You can move the rubber piece and then a plastic nut covers where the wires enter the plug. Looks like they are probably hot glued onto pins. I may get around experimenting with this with the old harness and might rebuild it.
Recommended steps to install a new level 1/2 charge port. all bolts are 10 mm except the wiper nuts which are 14
First two steps are extremely important. As you know this is a high voltage system and these first two steps must be done in order
First open the charge port door.
1. Disconnect the 12 volt battery.
2. Remove the panel between the front and rear seats and the panel underneath. Use a 10 mm wrench. And remove the battery service disconnect. 11-12 and 13-17 are slightly different but not hard. See video in the thread for 13-17
3. Remove the outer plastic piece around the charge ports
4. Remove the plastic piece above the charge port.
5. To give you more flexibility later you can unbolt the coolant resevoir
6. Remove the windshield wipers
7. remove the lower end water collector
8. Remove the two push rivets carefully and you can grab and pinch the slide fasteners and pull them of to lift the plastic cover. Remove wiper fluid tubes carefully and place the piece to the side.
9. Remove the wiper assembly with three bolts and lay it out of the way by the batter.
10. 8 bolts hold the metal tray that held the wipers and plastic facade. Remove them and lift it the plastic tray out of the way.
11. Remove all the bolts from the inverter cover
12. I used a floor pry, pull tool and an 18 inch wrecking bar to lift the inverter cover. Around the inverter cover there are notches that are designed exactly for this. Especially on the drivers side corner in the US. Put one tool on that corner in front in the notch and the other tool in the drivers side notch. By giving a strong steady force downward. but whatever fulcrum you choose make sure the end of the bar is pushing up on the lid with steady preassure, it will after some effort start to loosen the glue gasket. I probably spent an hour messing around but once I went to the two bar approach it was quick so this realistically could take 15 minutes.
13. carefully move the pry tools until the entire front is loose and at that point it will likely lift off carefully. I recommend cleaning the gasket off the lid with a razor blade and make sure the surface s clean where it sits on the inverter.
14. Not where the level 1 and 2 charger wires come in. One wire has a black piece of tape to mark it. Remove the 10 mm bolts holding both wires.
15. Remove the 10 mm bolt holding the wire assembly into the inverter box.
16 Remove the 10 mm bolt holding the ground wire.
17. Pull the wire bundle away from the mount points in back and one on the side. They will just come free. The new wire comes with new ties and mounts you just push in.
18. Use a screw driver to slide behind the mounts to slip the other two clips off their holders.
19 remove the small wire harness from the metal frame that connects to the charger wire bundle and depress the release and disconnect.
20. Remove the bolts that hold it in place. Back the head out. Take it apart from the frame that holds the lights. And snake it out.
Finishing the job is literally the reverse. I did use permatex blue to create a new gasket seal before putting the inverter head back on. Also very important. Put the battery service disconnect as the second to last step and then hook up the 12 volt battery. Your car will come back to life and be ready to charge.
Right now my Leaf is trickle charging and I have a new level 2 charger coming this weekend. I would say if you are very mechanically inclined or a moderately skill wrench turner this is very doable. As long as you do steps one and 1 and 2 in the correct order there is probably no danger of electric shock other then maybe if you are careless connecting the 12 volt but that will just make you say ouch.
So if you do this repair you have 3 options.
1. The 50 dollar DIY repair which I have not verified ( Nissan should have designed this as the primary repair. It is very poor engineering that they didn't_
2. The 300-600 dollar repair where you buy a new Nissan wire and connector assembly and do the labor yourself.
3. The 2K+ dealer where they put in that new part and whack you with labor.
Personally 1 and 2 seem good to me.
First My hunch is that this could be a 50 dollar repair plus the cost of a heat gun. If you remove the cowling around the charge port and the plastic piece over the radiator and such you can loosen the screws holding the charge port. You can move the rubber piece and then a plastic nut covers where the wires enter the plug. Looks like they are probably hot glued onto pins. I may get around experimenting with this with the old harness and might rebuild it.
Recommended steps to install a new level 1/2 charge port. all bolts are 10 mm except the wiper nuts which are 14
First two steps are extremely important. As you know this is a high voltage system and these first two steps must be done in order
First open the charge port door.
1. Disconnect the 12 volt battery.
2. Remove the panel between the front and rear seats and the panel underneath. Use a 10 mm wrench. And remove the battery service disconnect. 11-12 and 13-17 are slightly different but not hard. See video in the thread for 13-17
3. Remove the outer plastic piece around the charge ports
4. Remove the plastic piece above the charge port.
5. To give you more flexibility later you can unbolt the coolant resevoir
6. Remove the windshield wipers
7. remove the lower end water collector
8. Remove the two push rivets carefully and you can grab and pinch the slide fasteners and pull them of to lift the plastic cover. Remove wiper fluid tubes carefully and place the piece to the side.
9. Remove the wiper assembly with three bolts and lay it out of the way by the batter.
10. 8 bolts hold the metal tray that held the wipers and plastic facade. Remove them and lift it the plastic tray out of the way.
11. Remove all the bolts from the inverter cover
12. I used a floor pry, pull tool and an 18 inch wrecking bar to lift the inverter cover. Around the inverter cover there are notches that are designed exactly for this. Especially on the drivers side corner in the US. Put one tool on that corner in front in the notch and the other tool in the drivers side notch. By giving a strong steady force downward. but whatever fulcrum you choose make sure the end of the bar is pushing up on the lid with steady preassure, it will after some effort start to loosen the glue gasket. I probably spent an hour messing around but once I went to the two bar approach it was quick so this realistically could take 15 minutes.
13. carefully move the pry tools until the entire front is loose and at that point it will likely lift off carefully. I recommend cleaning the gasket off the lid with a razor blade and make sure the surface s clean where it sits on the inverter.
14. Not where the level 1 and 2 charger wires come in. One wire has a black piece of tape to mark it. Remove the 10 mm bolts holding both wires.
15. Remove the 10 mm bolt holding the wire assembly into the inverter box.
16 Remove the 10 mm bolt holding the ground wire.
17. Pull the wire bundle away from the mount points in back and one on the side. They will just come free. The new wire comes with new ties and mounts you just push in.
18. Use a screw driver to slide behind the mounts to slip the other two clips off their holders.
19 remove the small wire harness from the metal frame that connects to the charger wire bundle and depress the release and disconnect.
20. Remove the bolts that hold it in place. Back the head out. Take it apart from the frame that holds the lights. And snake it out.
Finishing the job is literally the reverse. I did use permatex blue to create a new gasket seal before putting the inverter head back on. Also very important. Put the battery service disconnect as the second to last step and then hook up the 12 volt battery. Your car will come back to life and be ready to charge.
Right now my Leaf is trickle charging and I have a new level 2 charger coming this weekend. I would say if you are very mechanically inclined or a moderately skill wrench turner this is very doable. As long as you do steps one and 1 and 2 in the correct order there is probably no danger of electric shock other then maybe if you are careless connecting the 12 volt but that will just make you say ouch.
So if you do this repair you have 3 options.
1. The 50 dollar DIY repair which I have not verified ( Nissan should have designed this as the primary repair. It is very poor engineering that they didn't_
2. The 300-600 dollar repair where you buy a new Nissan wire and connector assembly and do the labor yourself.
3. The 2K+ dealer where they put in that new part and whack you with labor.
Personally 1 and 2 seem good to me.
goldbrick
Well-known member
Congrats and thanks for the great write-up. Hopefully I'll never need it but it's nice to know what is involved just in case.
Thank you. I don't know how many wrench turners are on this forum. I was on a Mercedes Forum for a long time when I had older Benzs. That is quite the active wrench turning community. If there is a place though where I can post this for mechanically inclined Leaf owners looking for direction let me know the best spot. I really hate paying a dealer for something I can do plus I really enjoy working with my hands. I really can't see this job taking more than 4 hours at a dealer. If you know what you are doing the longest part of the job is dead time letting the gasket from a tube set but that can be worked around.
Similar threads
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
Any reason not to buy approved/used 62kwh Tekna (UK)?
- Latest: Bombastinator2
-
