Broken car - recycle battery?

Hi,
I own a 2011 24kwh Nissan Leaf. The battery had lost 3 bars, but still doing 40 miles, which was good for my commute.
Last week the hand break motor broke, and the cost to repair it is >4000£ (with other small things), which is about what i paid for the car, so i am not repairing it.
The car is in a Nissan dealer, and they have no clue what to do with the dead car.
My guess is that the battery is worth something? are there companies specialised in that? I have been googling but cannot see anything in UK.
Any idea what to do with the car? just scrap it? Are there garages/companies willing to buy those batteries?
I see some articles about recycling the battery to use solar panels at home, but just about it.

Thanks,

The older, more degraded batteries aren't very valuable, but you might find someone who wants to use your car's battery pack in a solar installation, who wants to get an EV cheap for shorter drives and can work on them - maybe even someone with a 2011 missing SIX capacity bars... I'd try advertising it in an alternative power type magazine, for a reasonable price. Maybe 1800...?

If it was me, I would take the motor apart and try to fix it. Failing that, I'd buy it from eBay:

https://ebay.us/V56Ix2

alozzy said:

If it was me, I would take the motor apart and try to fix it. Failing that, I'd buy it from eBay:

https://ebay.us/V56Ix2

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I agree, the dealer’s asking price is excessive. There’s nothing about it that would command such a premium price and is likely the same part used on other Nissan cars of the same size.

I would ask an independent mechanic if you aren’t mechanically inclined yourself.

I seem to recall this part noted in other threads as having seized due to ingress of water and dirt, and the OPs being able disassemble, clean, and lubricate it back into operation. You might try doing a search, either with this site's engine or with Google, before you give up on the car.

Here you go - did the search for you:

https://www.speakev.com/threads/parking-brake-error-visit-dealer-2-172-bill.3603/page-17

It appears there is a broken image link in that thread. Here is the best I can come up with for it via Google:

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&channel=tus&biw=1920&bih=916&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=q0_UXLy8FcXk9APx8JyABA&q=nissan+leaf+parking+brake+actuator+dissasemble&oq=nissan+leaf+parking+brake+actuator+dissasemble&gs_l=img.3...115095.121197..121445...9.0..0.75.1557.25......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i24j35i39j0i30.WiGOy6BEsrY#imgrc=nrcmVUz_Abv0pM:

The gist of it is that you disassemble the actuator gearbox and give everything inside it a good clean. I suppose you could join that site and have the poster re-link the picture.

However, in an era of "replace and toss" repair work at the dealership level, I would very surprised to find that a dealer repair facility would be willing to follow this repair path for you - you'll have to do it yourself or maybe you could find an independent shop to look at it.

Another thought - is it possible to run the car without this part installed, even with codes being thrown. After all, who really needs a parking brake.

mwalsh said:

I seem to recall this part noted in other threads as having seized due to ingress of water and dirt, and the OPs being able disassemble, clean, and lubricate it back into operation. You might try doing a search, either with this site's engine or with Google, before you give up on the car.

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mwalsh, you're correct. This is likely the fault.

mwalsh said:

Another thought - is it possible to run the car without this part installed, even with codes being thrown. After all, who really needs a parking brake.

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Yes, don't throw away the entire car because of a broken electric parking brake. At a minimum, sell it as a working car that needs a parking break fix. I'm sure SOME mechanically inclined person would love to get a steal on a car with a minor, easily repaired issue. I'm not sure about the UK, but in the US, such a car would be worth $3-4k.

This is NOT a $5200 failure (unless you're a Nissan dealer). Go to a *real* repair shop--you know, an independent one with good Google reviews. It'll probably cost you $500 total if they source a part from a junkyard or simply repair the existing motor.

LauraB said:

the hand break motor broke, and the cost to repair it is >4000£ (with other small things),

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I just have to come back to post this, as I'm still in disbelief. $5200 to fix the parking brake? That's so insane it boggles the mind.

If there was ever a reason to avoid out of warranty repairs at a dealership, this would be the shining example (with the other 100 shining examples).

If you can't fix it there is no need to attempt to recycle the battery.
Sell it as a parts car someone out there would love to have a 9 bar battery with matching VCM either to put in another car or use just the batt for something else.

Thanks for the replies!
So what happened is... I went to visit some friends, parked outside their house. When going to pick my car again, the light on the hand brake was flashing. Checking internet and the manual, it seemed that we could release manually the hand brake (following manual) and at least we could reach home. However, after turning off and on the car, it started flashing in the panel all sort of lights, and a message saying "turn off and contact dealer". And the panel was not showing the main battery range, which scared me a bit.
So we did that. I am not sure if a normal garage is going to have eveything to diagnose an EV, so it seemed that the main Nissan dealer was the best option.
The Nissan dealer was completely useless. They replaced the 12V battery (with all cost involved) and charged me 3 hours "investigation" just to tell me that:
* It "seems" that is just the hand break motor that is broken. THey have just replaced 1 in this dealer (official Nissan dealer in Cambridge UK) and when they did it, then the ECU was broken too. Replacing the hand break motor is around 1500, replacing the ECU easy 2000. And no guarantees that that is the real issue.
So I paid originally for the car less than 5000 pounds, I dont dare taking the risk of paying all that to fix an old car with no guarantees. As much as I love my car, It has done its function!

alozzy said:

If it was me, I would take the motor apart and try to fix it. Failing that, I'd buy it from eBay:

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I dont have any clue on how to fix a car by myself.
My thought was that the main battery would still be valuable. I asked the Nissan dealer, and (again useless) they just told me to call someone to pick the car. I said that being an EV and having such a battery, probably not anyone would deal/recycle the car. And they just say "oh yes, good point, dont forget to say it is electric"

LeftieBiker said:

I'd try advertising it in an alternative power type magazine,

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I will look into that!

mwalsh said:

After all, who really needs a parking brake.

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that crossed my mind... :roll:

Oilpan4 said:

Sell it as a parts car someone out there would love to have a 9 bar battery

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also looking into that

Lesson learnt: NEVER AGAIN NISSAN DEALER.

Do you have LeafSpy? If not, you really should get it if you are going to keep the leaf. It allows you to see the diagnostic codes AND clear them if something goes wrong. If you want help from us, please pull codes with LeafSpy and post them here. The handbrake failure likely caused codes to be thrown that caused your car to flake out as described.

The dealer sounds like they were open and honest with you. I don't know why it was 3 hours diagnostics, but they were smart if they replaced the 12V battery first. That can cause all sorts of weird codes to be thrown, so that's a very good idea. It also sounds like they were up front about the fact that on a previous repair, this failure caused another expensive part to fail.

The end result is the dealer will only use new parts, and new parts are super expensive on a Leaf. If you were to take this car to an independent repair shop (with LeafSpy to see and clear codes), they could do it much more cheaply. Used parts are significantly cheaper than the quoted prices. For instance, the ECU can be had for $150 used instead of $2000 new:
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?LH_CAds=&_ex_kw=&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_mPrRngCbx=1&_nkw=nissan+leaf+ecu&_sacat=&_sadis=&_sop=12&_udhi=&_udlo=&_fosrp=1

If the ECU is replaced, you may need to have the Nissan Dealer reprogram your car for you. A P3102 (Invalid Battery) code limits the car to 25 mph and provides a "motor power is reduced" message until the dealer can fix it. See:
https://www.iatn.net/forums/13/59108/registering-a-battery-pack-for-a-nissan-leaf

In my opinion, this is likely a very minor failure on the car, most likely easily repaired by a competent mechanic. If you want to get a new car and sell this one, by all means, feel free to do so, but I don't think it's required.

LauraB said:

mwalsh said:

After all, who really needs a parking brake.

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that crossed my mind... :roll:

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Well, realizing now that you're in the UK, you will of course need one at MoT time.