Can/Will Dealership Read OBDII Details?

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kalbitz

Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
10
My 2011 Leaf has lost 3 bars and will be 5 years old in August. I wanted to find out what the battery health details were (SOH, AHr, Hx, etc.) so I could predict if I might lose the 4th bar before August. I took it to my local Nissan dealership and told them what I wanted. They kept the car for the whole day, charged me $50 and told me "you have 9 bars." I said I wanted to see the details and they said they didn't have them, and couldn't get them. When I mentioned the OBDII port, and the details that Leaf Spy can show me, the service adviser and technician seemed flummoxed.

My question to you is this: Has anyone gone to a Nissan dealer and gotten this kind of information? Can the dealers really not read it from the car? What's going on here? I looked around on the forum but didn't find anyone discussing this.

I now have an LELink and Leaf Spy Pro, so I have the data I wanted, but I'm wondering about the dealership, if they were dishonest, incompetent, ignorant, or what. Thanks!
 
I've never heard of Nissan (or any dealer) acknowledging any LeafSpy data. All they care about is if you lost the 4th bar.

I'm sure they could get some additional info but I've never seen anybody post they know for sure.
 
Where are you located? And no, they will not use Leafspy. If you live in a hot climate region like Arizona you will most likely make it within 3-5 months. And if you live__________...
 
I don't expect the dealership to know about or use Leaf Spy, but I did expect them to have the ability to get the battery data that is available in the car, either through the OBDII port, or some other way. I was disbelieving when they said they couldn't get any data. Does Nissan not provide them with a tool? That seems unlikely. They were able to see how many quick charges I had done, so they can get something.

Has anyone out there gotten useful battery health data out of a Nissan dealership?

I'm in San Diego.
 
kalbitz said:
I took it to my local Nissan dealership... They kept the car for the whole day, charged me $50 and told me "you have 9 bars."
I regret to inform you kalbitz, this is my new favorite dealer service department story EVER. It replaces "Took my car to the dealership because I was seeing spots on the driveway where I park. Seventy-five dollars later they told me I had an oil leak, possibly from the oil pan but it might be from somewhere else. They could track it down and fix it for $150, as long as it just required tightening something up. If not, it could be a lot more. :x

That response seems almost helpful in comparison to what they told you. Sorry
 
Personally, I wouldn't trust a dealership to not be reading the fuel bars, rather than the capacity bars. Remember the video of the Service Tech trying to open the charge port...?
 
My dealer most definitely can and did read the details of my battery on multiple visits - this included reading the cellpair voltages, the SOH, etc. They were very cautious, however, not to share any of that information (they want to keep their jobs).
 
Reading and interpreting are two completely different things. I would imagine that whatever tools were given to the dealership can read everything that a Nissan corporate engineer would need to know short of doing a tear down themselves but that the user interface at it's default setting would be dumbed down.

I would also expect there's 2 other hurdles to jump if you want this at a dealer. If they have a tech that can extract the info and understand it and if they also have a service advisor who understands it and feels comfortable talking about it. The more information you come in with and ask for the more likely they are going to think that you are going to challenge them or demand an explanation for low numbers. If you ask for Ahr and Hx but they don't know what they are regardless of a machine spitting them out they may be reluctant to tell them to you since they know they won't be able to answer a single question that results from you getting a number you don't like. In that case even if they have them if Nissan has said give them the sheet with stars that's all they need then they will most likely tow the company line.
 
Sigh. Well it was an education... I'm torn as to whether to pursue it up the dealership food-chain. I may just let it go. At any rate, I have Leaf Spy Pro now and all the data my little heart desires. I'm hopeful that I can lose that 4th bar before August.
 
Hopefully someone from San Diego climate can give you an idea of how long it generally takes to burn through 1% SOH on your battery. Or you can look through the stats yourself from previous posts.
 
Evoforce said:
Hopefully someone from San Diego climate can give you an idea of how long it generally takes to burn through 1% SOH on your battery. Or you can look through the stats yourself from previous posts.
I have been looking through the posts, but I'd appreciate it if anyone has compiled San Diego or LA data. Thanks.
 
minispeed said:
1% eh..... what about a space heater under the car and leaving it at 100% SOC?
I wish I had only 1% to go. I'm at 69% SOH, but I'd like to know how long it takes in southern California to lose each 1%. I'll keep weekly records and eventually post my data.
 
TickTock said:
My dealer most definitely can and did read the details of my battery on multiple visits - this included reading the cellpair voltages, the SOH, etc. They were very cautious, however, not to share any of that information (they want to keep their jobs).

The sheet I saw on my car fairly early in it's life (my Normal Charge count was only 48 at the time, and I had zero Quick Charges) included the following:

Minimum battery temperature
Maximum Cell Voltage
Minimum Cell Voltage
Total Battery Voltage
Internal Resistance Aging
Gradual Capacity Loss Coefficient
Gradual Capacity Loss Segment Number
Normal Charge Counter
Quick Charge Counter

Obviously I have the numbers from each of those categories, but (even though it's been 5 years now) I made a promise that I wouldn't share them publicly.

I don't know if there are other numbers Nissan is interested in beyond these, nor any more that might be helpful to an owner.
 
minispeed said:
1% eh..... what about a space heater under the car and leaving it at 100% SOC?


Yea, what I was referring to is in Arizona we can burn through approximately 1% per month. But... I don't know the monthly rate of approximate loss in San Diego. So basically in Arizona, it would be 4 months to get to 63%SOH from 69%SOH and it may linger a month longer for the bar to drop.
 
kalbitz said:
minispeed said:
1% eh..... what about a space heater under the car and leaving it at 100% SOC?
I wish I had only 1% to go. I'm at 69% SOH, but I'd like to know how long it takes in southern California to lose each 1%. I'll keep weekly records and eventually post my data.

Please read my above post for my meaning for using the 1% reference. You may just have to take the time to track losses of other users in your area. While we want to be helpful, you have to spend time in the trenches too and it would be nice if you could post the results for others in your region. If your car was in Arizona, you would likely make it to a new battery under capacity warranty. Please let us know what you figure.
 
Evoforce said:
Please read my above post for my meaning for using the 1% reference. You may just have to take the time to track losses of other users in your area. While we want to be helpful, you have to spend time in the trenches too and it would be nice if you could post the results for others in your region. If your car was in Arizona, you would likely make it to a new battery under capacity warranty. Please let us know what you figure.
Got it. Yes, I am gathering what I can find on the forum for my area and I will post my own numbers when I've gotten enough data.
 
mwalsh said:
TickTock said:
My dealer most definitely can and did read the details of my battery on multiple visits - this included reading the cellpair voltages, the SOH, etc. They were very cautious, however, not to share any of that information (they want to keep their jobs).

The sheet I saw on my car fairly early in it's life (my Normal Charge count was only 48 at the time, and I had zero Quick Charges) included the following:

Minimum battery temperature
Maximum Cell Voltage
Minimum Cell Voltage
Total Battery Voltage
Internal Resistance Aging
Gradual Capacity Loss Coefficient
Gradual Capacity Loss Segment Number
Normal Charge Counter
Quick Charge Counter

Obviously I have the numbers from each of those categories, but (even though it's been 5 years now) I made a promise that I wouldn't share them publicly.

I don't know if there are other numbers Nissan is interested in beyond these, nor any more that might be helpful to an owner.
Interesting. This sounds similar to what's at http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=8260.
 
Whoo Hoo! I lost my fourth bar last weekend! My 5 yrs are up in late August, so it's just in time.
I promised to post my numbers and here's what I had on the first Sunday of the month, since April:

4/03/16 AHr 45.02 Hx% 47.74 SOH% 68
5/01/16 AHr 44.37 Hx% 46.66 SOH% 67
6/05/16 AHr 43.96 Hx% 46.00 SOH% 67
7/03/16 AHr 43.56 Hx% 45.34 SOH% 66
7/16/16 AHr 43.37 Hx% 45.04 SOH% 66 lost 4th bar, odo 38250

So, I took it into the dealership this morning to start the replacement process. They said it could take many weeks to get the new battery, but they will loan me an ICE car while we're waiting. This was an unexpected benefit, and I'm going to take advantage of it since my effective range right now is about 45 miles. I'm hoping this whole process goes smoothly...

Update: They got the battery in several weeks earlier than they had originally projected, and now it is installed. Everything went very smoothly and I'm happy with my like-new range. I may just keep the car a couple more years.
 
I think I still may be closest in The Price Is Right winner sweepstakes... Losing my fourth bar with 13 miles left on the warranty...

kalbitz said:
Whoo Hoo! I lost my fourth bar last weekend! My 5 yrs are up in late August, so it's just in time.
 
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