EV Service Light will not go out Car Works Perfectly

I own a 2011 Nissan Leaf that I purchased used on April 21, 2015. At the time it had 24,785 miles on it and was in very good shape. I have had no real issues with the car and love it... However now I am about at my witts end. One Friday afternoon about 6 weeks ago the EV Service Light came on on the dash. I had never seen this light before and went searching in the manual and on line to find out what it was about. I found almost nothing except to take it the the dealer. A decision I was not happy about and have now become increasingly un happy with.

I first thought I should make some basic checks before I let the dealer get ahold of the car so I checked the 12 volt battery and found it to be a bit weak. It was only 16 months old and threw it on the charger to get it back up to full. That is I put a seperate 12 Volt Battery Charger on it. Once it was back full I took it out for a short drive and when I returned the battery was low again. The next morning I took the car to the auto parts store where I had purchased the battery and told them that it would not hold a charge and they replaced it for free with a brand new battery. The EV service light went out briefly and then came back on. I was not able to get to the dealer until Monday afternoon on my way home from work. They have had the car since then and are no closer to sloving the issue that when I first drove it in.

In that time they have recommended and I have replaced the ABS module and the VCM module. This is around $3,500.00 in parts and labor and they still have a car with the EV Service Light on. The car has approx. 48,700 miles on it now and was involved in a couple of minor scraps that required a new rear bumper and a new front suspension piece over the 3 years I have had it but nothing electrical.

The problem stems from the fact that the car would not communicate with the diagnostics that the dealer has from day one. That is why they recommended the ABS module to be replace. When they had disconnected the ABS module some communication was resotred. Several days later I get the news that the ABS module has not solved the issue and they have had the district LEAF guy look at it and have emailed Nissan Tech Support several times and so they recommended I replace the VCM. Meanwhile they have taken the car on test drives and the light is off when they start out and comes on within the first 500 yards. Replacing the VCM restored communications and they thought they were on the way to a fix. The car wanted to parts registered and then it wanted the traction battery to be registered. Once that was done commications stopped again and I still have a car that drives fine and stops fine but will not turn the EV Service light out.

The only other things that have been done to the car in my ownership have been the replacement of the 2G modem and a new traction pack that happend 4 days after my original warranty expired. Nissan was kind enough to offer me a deal and replaced the traction pack with a brand new one but because of the great price break they gave me provided no warranty of any kind. That was just over a year ago and 5 or 6,000 miles ago.

I have contacted Nissan EV support and they may do something to help defray the cost of this repair but they won't commit and now they are saying that anything they do will not include any cost of a possible replacement traction battery. I have had it with their vague promise of a review of my case after the car has been given back to me and to contact me in another 3 business days. I have given the dealer an order to continue to work on the issue but if they are not making headway to button it back up and let me take it home this Friday afternoon. I drove it in to the dealer under it's own power and will probably never take ti back there again.
2011 Red Nissan Leaf 48.700 miles VIN: JN1AZ0C0BT006923
Lloyd Wayne Reece - President Las Vegas Electric Vehicle Association.

I have had the EV System warning lights come on on both 2011 and 2015 due to failure of communications between the car and DCQC stations. I have always been able to read and clear the diagnostic trouble codes with LEAF Spy Pro. Since your car could still be driven, it is not a serious condition. In your situation, I would be extremely concerned about the dealer replacing the ABS module and VCM at my expense and would ask for refunds since those modules did not fix the issue and should have nothing to do with the EV system trouble.

My 2011 was hit from behind hard enough to make it a total loss, but I was still able to drive it out of the intersection and there were no error codes set. I considered buying it back from the other driver's insurance company, but their storage yard damaged the interior, front end, and underside. In spite of that, it still started when I went to look at it before giving up the idea of converting it into a small pickup. Therefore, I doubt that your minor scrapes have any impact on your current issue.

I hope you can find a good LEAF technician who can fix your car without unnecessarily running up the repair expense.

I am now being told that the service light is fixed! No expalnation as to how but the bad news is that my Leaf has an electric water pump and it is bad and needs to be replaced. The whole time I have known about this car I have read that it has passive cooling only and no active cooling for the battery. They insist that the electric water pump is $748.00. He lowered the price to $613.31 when I pushed. I am temped not to authorize this repair. The part is 21581-3NA0- I have found that part on line at other Nissan dealerships as low as $431.77. I also found at similar part 21581-1MG0A for $281.50 that they insist fits my car.
Lloyd Wayne Reece Friday Morning

stonehenge said:

I am now being told that the service light is fixed! No expalnation as to how but the bad news is that my Leaf has an electric water pump and it is bad and needs to be replaced. The whole time I have known about this car I have read that it has passive cooling only and no active cooling for the battery.

Click to expand...

Part 215813NA0A: This is the "RADIATOR,SHROUD & INVERTER COOLING - MOTOR ASSY-WATER PUMP", used to cool the high power electronics. There is actually two of them, with different part numbers and different MSRPs. If one fails, the car will continue to operate completely normally. If both fail, very expensive electronics will overheat, which is never ever a good thing. Has nothing to do with the traction battery.

The 2011 has 3 water pumps (2 for cooling the electric motor, inverter, DC-DC converter, and onboard charger; 1 for the cabin heating system). I would tell the dealer you will pay for the water pump, but they need to cover all of the costs for the ABS and VCM modules (since they were not the cause of the EV warning light). It is likely that the onboard charger was getting too warm while charging and causing the EV warning. Then the light would clear while driving unless the other liquid-cooled units got too warm.

I managed to talk with the Leaf tech at the dealership on Friday and he said the the EV Service Light is not going out but he believes that the water pump replacement will do the trick. I don't buy it but after the dealer and Nissan EV consumer affairs got together I have an offer to cover a significant amount of the repairs so I authorized the replacement of the water pump at their prices which will add another $1,100.00 on to the repair. The part will not arrive before Thursday of next week (Oct. 4th) and I was assured that if the part arrives on the 4th I can pick up my car on the 4th as it has become a hgh priority since it has taken up residence at the dealership. I was assured that they do have communications and that they (the dealership) want it solved and back home with me very much. I for one will be happy to never take it back to the dealership if at all possible. So we will wait and see....
Lloyd Wayne Reece