6 month and 1-year checkup - is it necessary?

[planet4ever]

I should point out that with your very low mileage you could well meet the "Repeated short trips of less than 5 miles" criterion, which Nissan says means you should follow Schedule 1.

I'm not sure why "repeated short trips" would be a maintenance issue for LEAF, unless one was topping off the battery at the end of them?

There is no good reason. Five mile and stop and go provisions don't apply to the Leaf. I can't see where the severe schedule would apply to anyone with a Leaf unless all their driving is on unpaved roads in the desert...

I can't give you a good reason, either, though I can think of some wild possibilities:

• Extra wear on the electronics, booting and shutting down more frequently
• Predictive tuning in the inverter that might take a couple of minutes to synchronize after bootup
• More wear on the cooling system from starting and stopping so often
• Less cooling of the inverter and motor while the cooling system is flushing coolant that heated up after the car was shut down

These are probably all nonsense. I'm not an automotive engineer or an electrical engineer. I do know one thing, which may or may not be related. I get really lousy mileage for the first couple of miles, and if I'm making a number of short trips I typically end up down around 3 m/kWh.

Ray

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Something I've always wondered, if a set of tires is going to wear, say 40,000 miles, and they are expected to wear a little more on the edges while they are on the front, why do you need to rotate them every 7500 miles? Why not just rotate them once at 20,000 miles?

 

[Herm]

Something I've always wondered, if a set of tires is going to wear, say 40,000 miles, and they are expected to wear a little more on the edges while they are on the front, why do you need to rotate them every 7500 miles? Why not just rotate them once at 20,000 miles?

You could do that.. some people never rotate tires and yet achieve 80k miles with even tire wear in FWD cars.. the issue is FWD and "aggressive" driving, you never want to accelerate or brake while the car is going around a curve.. horrible edge wear will result. If you are aggressive then your front tires will wear out way before the rear ones do, rotating the tires is just an attempt to make sure all 4 wheels wear out at the same time, that is just an artificial goal, you still will have to buy tires.

 

[LEAFfan]

I get really lousy mileage for the first couple of miles, and if I'm making a number of short trips I typically end up down around 3 m/kWh.
Ray

Interesting, I always get more miles and better m/kW h on the top two bars. Even though I've lost 8-9% capacity, after a 'full' QC a few weeks ago, I got 14 miles on the top/12th bar which is a new record for me. Then I got another 11 on the 11th. Just the other day, I left the QC station and after just a few miles, I was over 6.0m/kW h.

 

[bernie82]

The Leaf is a highly sophisticated electronic marvel but they really blew it with that stupid key deal that I have to carry around to get into my Leaf and start it. I'm old and I get frequent brain farts and forget where I put the damn thing. Well, I found a solution to the problem. I found thoracic surgeon who said he could implant the key software in my chest. At first that seemed kind of risky but he assured me that is was a simple procedure, no more complicated than implanting a heart pace maker and he said medicare would cover it. I had it done about a month ago and it works like a charm. No more having to carry that stupid key thing. I was only in the hospital 2 days and the surgery was no big deal. They cracked my chest and I was out of the operating room in less than three hours. Recovery was quick too. I was out and about and ready to drive in less than a week. And what's even better, medicare paid 80% so the whole thing only cost me $3,000. Get back to me if you'd like me to refer you to the surgeon.

 

[Stoaty]

The Leaf is a highly sophisticated electronic marvel but they really blew it with that stupid key deal that I have to carry around to get into my Leaf and start it. I'm old and I get frequent brain farts and forget where I put the damn thing. Well, I found a solution to the problem. I found thoracic surgeon who said he could implant the key software in my chest. At first that seemed kind of risky but he assured me that is was a simple procedure, no more complicated than implanting a heart pace maker and he said medicare would cover it. I had it done about a month ago and it works like a charm. No more having to carry that stupid key thing. I was only in the hospital 2 days and the surgery was no big deal. They cracked my chest and I was out of the operating room in less than three hours. Recovery was quick too. I was out and about and ready to drive in less than a week. And what's even better, medicare paid 80% so the whole thing only cost me $3,000. Get back to me if you'd like me to refer you to the surgeon.

Bernie, I am a step ahead of you. I had the key implanted in my brain, so all I have to do is think about the Leaf and the car door pops open. Beats having to use your hand to open the door. :lol:

 

[smkettner]

I still don't think Nissan is following the spirit of the law. If the battery fails, they would need to prove that the failure was the result of not having a battery usage report performed in order to void the warranty. I don't see that happening.

If one cell dies I think it could shorten the life of the other cells over time. Maybe once a year checking is fine but if you come in when the entire pack is failing at four years maybe that could have been prevented.

 

[bernie82]

Yeah, but your brain deal just opens the doors. mine procedure allows me to start the leaf too. How much did the brain implant cost you out of pocket?

 

[ztanos]

I still don't think Nissan is following the spirit of the law. If the battery fails, they would need to prove that the failure was the result of not having a battery usage report performed in order to void the warranty. I don't see that happening.

If one cell dies I think it could shorten the life of the other cells over time. Maybe once a year checking is fine but if you come in when the entire pack is failing at four years maybe that could have been prevented.

I read this and thought you were commenting on the post above it. I was like, uh oh, his brain cells are going to die off quicker because he installed the fob. :lol:

 

[Stoaty]

Yeah, but your brain deal just opens the doors. mine procedure allows me to start the leaf too. How much did the brain implant cost you out of pocket?

Well, at first they weren't going to cover it at all, but after I pointed out that it is a prosthetic device and my health insurance covers that, they relented. The main problem I had was that the incision in my head opened up after 5 weeks, and they were firm that the operation only had a 30 day guarantee. Since I was low on cash, I used a staple gun to close it up again. The healed scar is functional, but the cosmetic result is slightly suboptimal. :lol:

 

[gbarry42]

I can't give you a good reason, either, though I can think of some wild possibilities:
[...]
These are probably all nonsense.

+1 :!:

Well certainly the touch screen will develop a divot where the "OK" button is displayed! I
think they will need a software patch to move it around. :lol:

[AprilFool]
I got tired of having to do that every day, so I rigged mine to do the OK by itself :lol:
[/AprilFool]

you never want to accelerate or brake while the car is going around a curve

That's odd. I always want to accelerate while going around a curve. I musta gotten misled somewhere along the line

 

[Herm]

That's odd. I always want to accelerate while going around a curve. I musta gotten misled somewhere along the line

Tire dealers must love you

 

[KMG365]

It's very difficult to avoid changes in acceleration going through a curve since your direction vector is constantly changing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRb5PSxJerM

:lol: