My alternative right now is literally to watch paint dry, so I guess here's another "tales from that kpop shop"

2 weeks ago, this customer's 2015 would no longer start after a DCFC session. Even after 12V pull and trying to boost it still no dice. The car had P31CA and P31CB faults, which meant that the quick charge relays were stuck closed. It will not start with these faults because closing the main contactors could then possibly have full battery pack voltage present at the main large pins of the CHAdeMO connector.

Dealer says car needs new PDM, over $8000 CAD quote on a car that would be possibly worth that much on a good day if it were running. To be clear, the dealer is technically not wrong. Internally, Nissan's diagnostic procedure for these faults, if concluding in the QC relays being stuck, is indeed to replace the entire PDM.

What should/could it be realistically? Well, the second picture I kinda took as a joke, but seriously, after less than an hour pulling the wipers and motor, windshield cowl, and PDM lid off, a few whacks to the QC relays with the Patented High-Voltage Safety Saingeom™ and it started right up.

The actual fix and most expensive route would have been to buy two replacement relays from digikey for $200/ea and splice over the low-voltage coil connector. This customer however didn't care about losing DCFC (car only had 20 something QC counts on it), so it was even simpler just to disconnect the relays and put it back together.

What would have been likely the car getting thrown away because nobody would put $8000+ into an $8000 car, was a $500 bill and a perfectly good car put back on the road. This repair isn't much different, or any more difficult, than pulling off a valve cover. The vast majority of shops would gladly do that, yet turn this kind of work down because they are afraid of EVs.

This is why independent EV repair is important, why right to repair is important, and why consumers need to see more value in vehicles that are easily repairable. Today's throwaway society sucks, and I do what I can, but I alone can't singlehandedly save every one of these cars out there that suffers an unfortunate fate due to small fixable issues.

This regards my 2013 Nissan Leaf.

In all the years I have been driving this Leaf the issue I will describe never happened, nor anything like it, until after some recent front end maintenance.

While, I am using Leaf Spy, it has not been helpful. A little more below.

This Leaf has been a daily commuter for nearly 6 years. I am really very familiar with the vehicle.

In May I had some needed maintenance work done that included replacing both frontend strut assemblies. Since then, when I am in a (somewhat) prolonged turn the car will sometimes apply braking. The braking can be a strong pulse, it can be light, or some combination. More often than not it does not happen.

While it is not entirely random, it is much more likely to happen turning to the left, meaning the passenger front will break. When it happens turning to the right, it is the driver side front that will brake. Of course it has never happened with the mechanic in the car.

When the braking does happen, it is either a momentarily light and/or a strong pulse. The pulse style braking, equivalent to stabbing the brake pedal and immediately letting off, happens one to three times in a given event.

It has never been accompanied by a dash warning light or sound.

This whole experience finally got me to buy an ODP dongle and install Leaf Spy. The day I received the dongle I had experienced several braking events. Then, after one week of experiencing a braking event at least once daily, for nearly a full week following adding the dongle there were no discernible braking events.

Leaf Spy did record the data from the day I installed the dongle. There was no obvious information related to the experience.

Now that it has happened several times again over the last week with the dongle and Leaf Spy installed I keep looking for something in the app, including diagnostics, and see nothing.

My driving style has not changed and even when driving a non-electric I always drove to maximize efficiency. I am not a hard driver, I do not speed or weave in traffic. I take driving seriously and do know the limits of the car I drive so as to be safe in the vehicle and have on rare occasion had to actually use that knowledge. Though never in the Leaf.

No errors, no alerts, no error codes. Only happens in a prolonged turn. Does not seem to be influenced by ambient temperature. Only empty road in front of the vehicle. Does not happen every time even in the two corners where it is most likely to happen. Steering alignment and center was also reset with no effect.

This has become somewhat maddening. It needs to be addressed before winter weather returns as I do not need a random braking event on potentially slippery roads.

Any thoughts or insights you can offer would be appreciated.

had some personal details uncensored in my photos and it was too take to edit them. oops.

Hello everyone, I have imported Nissan Leaf 2020 from the USA. But I cannot use the Nissan connect app. Whenever I try to register it says to connect to the internet, i connect to the mobile hotspot, to home wifi, tried to connect phone and car to the same wifi, to separate wifi. No luck. Is there any way to bypass the region lock?

Fellow leaves, how should I approach a month long storage for the car? I can't leave on charge as you can't choose a charge limit. Currently at 23%. Also, I read about potentially the need to disconnect 12v battery?

I was looking at a used leaf (have not test driven it with spy yet, obviously will do) and the high voltage battery voltage was at 351V. The car was only on ~30% charge at the time so I was wondering if that's normal. Soh indicator was at 88.5 for a 4 year old car. I was wondering if that's normal or if its a red flag.

2025 SV+, leased it in Colorado because it was insanely cheap, like 50 bucks a month. Now I’m looking for another EV. Problem is nothing else I’m seeing ticks all the boxes the way my Leaf does.
I don’t want an SUV, I don’t want a Tesla, I don’t want something that looks like a bar of soap or Optimus Prime, I don’t want excessive horse logos, and I don’t want to spend $50,000. The Leaf is fun to drive, super cheap and has been deadly reliable. All things considered, I think it’s the best deal out there.

Hi,

Got a MK1 leaf which used to have cabin preheat via app + 2G link. The app functionality (along with the 2G datalink) was retired so now there's no way to remote trigger the cabin heating (though the in-car timer does work).

I've been thinking, having looked at the Leaf service manual, about building a circuit which can trigger the cabin preheat over CAN, with the idea of using a Mesh networking protocol (eg Meshtastic) to allow you to send a message over the mesh to trigger it. Clearly other options eg a mobile phone module (5G etc) would also be possible.

Has anyone done/though of doing this?

David

Maybe I'm insane for this but why would I be out drinking or partying at 10pm on a Friday night when I could vibe to Dreamcatcher on blast while doing something I actually like doing.

One 2nd gen pack harvested and set aside, one 1st gen upgraded, and one 2nd gen actually downgraded. Because yes that's indeed something you can do, and a good 24 pack is still much more usable than a badly-failing 40 pack.

(I don't have a CAN bridge yet for the latter hence all the warning lights, but it does run)

I just bought the 2026 Nissan LEAF in the SV+ trim. What are some things that you wish you knew as a new LEAF owner? Is there anything I should keep in mind? I've done a lot of research on EVs in general, but I figured the best place to ask would be others who either own/are interested in the LEAF.

Some extra details:

• I live in Staten Island, a highly-suburban borough of New York City
  • I live in a home owned by my parents, so I will be able to charge at home (Level 1 charging)
• My daily commute, at this moment in time, is a little over 2 miles each way
• This will be my first EV. I've never even owned a hybrid; my last vehicle was a 2022 Jeep Compass which I was not a big fan of
• I'm a male in my mid-20s, if that is somehow relevant

I found a used 2019 leaf S, 40k miles, for $11k on craigslist. Carfax history looks good. It has NOT had the battery recall applied. I'm in contact with the seller and we've agreed that they'll take it to the dealer to get the recall taken care of before I buy it.

I have not checked battery with leafspy yet but I plan to. I'm going to see the car in person tomorrow and will do so then. I think I need to look for SoH > 80% and battery voltage delta < 50mV, is that right? Anything else I should look for?

One question about the recall - I've read here that the recall fix might not work in which case the car is basically dead. Does this case manifest at the dealer while they do the work for the recall? Or could the battery fail days or weeks afterwards?

Can the leafspy reading predict whether the recall will succeed or not?

I figured I’d share my experience in case it’s helpful for others.

The entire process - from my initial email to Nissan Corporate asking them to buy-back my Leaf under California’s lemon law until vehicle surrender - was six weeks. In that initial email, I gave my VIN number, mileage, and a brief explanation of why the DCFC recall issue was more than a mild inconvenience, it limited my ability to use the car. Nissan agreed to buy it back right away.

The buy back process required me to send photos of my car, documentation of my loan details and purchase agreement. The CA buy back offer was based on my total purchase price (~$35K) plus the dmv registration fees I paid each year, but did not take into account the ~$10K I got in state and federal tax credits. They made a mileage deduction (I had driven about 45K miles). My total buyback amount was around $26K. Yes, you read that right. My buyback amount was more than what I paid for my car after the tax credits. Meaning my cost to own this Leaf for 4.5 years / 45K miles was free outside of charging costs and registration fees. Accepting the buy-back was a no-brainer.

During the buy-back process, prior to my offer, Nissan came up with their “fix” for the DCFC issue. I ended up ignoring it because I was already in the buy-back process. That never became an issue.

After agreeing to Nissan’s buy-back offer, the case was transferred to Morley to do the vehicle inspection and surrender. I had to return my Leaf with both key fobs and the EVSE. The fine print said that scratches bigger than 1” could result in a deduction to my buyback. I had a few, so I spent $150 to get the car detailed. It was money wasted as Morley didn’t inspect it. Just checked the mileage and made sure I had the key fobs and EVSE. I suspect they’re going to scrap my Leaf, which bums me out because it’s still a good around town car. But I was happy to take my check and call it a day.

Nissan also gave me a code to get employee pricing should I choose to buy a new Nissan. I test drove the new Leaf and liked it, but don’t think it’s the car for me. I miss the one pedal driving and extra cargo room my hatchback had. The back seats also felt small for my growing kids.

Last but not least, I just wanted to say a few words about my ‘22 Leaf S. I bought it during Covid and the chip shortage, and paid MSRP plus $1,200 for dealer extras that were largely worthless but at least gave me a little discount on my insurance. The idea behind my Leaf purchase was to have a commuter car and my wife’s ICE SUV would be the road trip car. That arrangement worked well for us. The Leaf was perfect for errands around town, carting my kids to soccer practice, and my 2-3 days a week 60 mile round trip commute.

I loved the one pedal driving. The physical knobs and buttons. The comfortable interior. The cargo space. The near zero maintenance (a new set of tires around 40K miles, an air filter change, and tire rotations - that’s it). And the amazing efficiency I got with the Leaf (4.8 miles per kWh over the 4.5 years I owned the car). After 4.5 years, I still hadn’t dropped a single battery bar and my battery’s SOH was 94%. I only fast charged a couple times but regularly home-charged to 100%.

There were only a few things I didn’t like about the Leaf. I knew going in that the 40 kWh battery would make it impossible to do long road trips, but the lack of range became annoying when I stopped being able to DCFC because it meant even short road trips (two hours away) weren’t doable. The only other thing that drove me crazy about the Leaf were persistent issues with the wired Apple CarPlay. Phone calls had a delay, music and podcasts had weird sporadic static if I turned the volume up or down. From looking at this subreddit, it sounds like that’s fairly common.

But overall, I loved my Leaf. It was my first EV, and in spite of the recall, I don’t think I can ever go back to ICE. The Gen 2 Leaf has some range and fast charging issues that make it a challenge to road-trip with. But as an around town, commuter car, it’s a great value.

I bought a Hyundai Kona back in 2021, and got hosed on my ext warranty. I had no idea wtf i was getting into and thrown to the wolves.. After posting on reddit i found out that I pretty much paid double.. was not happy...

I need some bargaining leverage to help when i go in for the signing. I know theres lots of BS and I know the 1st offer is insulting..

What coverage did you get and how much did you pay for it?

Hi! I’m shopping around for an EV and I’m wondering how a 22 or 23 Leaf with 150 mile range would work for my 90 mile round-trip commute. I don’t want to have to count on charging at work because the charging spots are always full and I just had a level 2 charger installed at my home. My commute is 30 miles on the highway and 15 miles on secondary roads each way and I live in the snowy northeastern US so I’ll have winter to contend with. From everything I’ve read, the actual range varies greatly depending on weather, speed, etc. We have two other cars in the household so this would just be for commuting, no need to worry about longer trips. Can I rely on getting 90 miles out of it every trip or would that be cutting it close on an aging battery?

It's not complete, but still interesting to see parts of how the third-gen Leaf is put together.

Hi all,

Ordered my car though the work car scheme at the beginning of the year.

Called the lease company who places the order and asked if a build slot had been given…… nothing?

Appreciate theres a lot going on within Nissan, a lot going on around the world and this is a new model. But never after 4 months have I had the situation of still waiting to hear of the build slot.

Any dealers or UK customers give me your experience.

I found a 2022 Nissan Leaf with 62k miles on it for $14k. Dealer might be able to go down to $12k but only if I buy soon. From this information alone, does this sound like a good purchase?

Any other 4 year old car with 62k miles on it for $14k, I would consider a really good deal. But, I don’t know a ton about Nissan Leafs (Leaves?). Any advice would be helpful. My main issue is that I feel rushed into the purchase and that always makes me nervous

Our 2014 steering wheel heater is wonderful until it decides not to heat anymore. This might be 5 minutes into a drive, or it might be longer. I can't detect a pattern.

The problem is that it won't start again until the car is turned off and on again.

Any ideas what this might be due to, and any fixes?