Annual Dealership Battery Inspection

[dsevier]

We just got our 2014 Leaf and the maintenance schedule calls for annual vehicle battery inspections from the dealer. Ours has 11 bars showing for SOH and LeafSpy said the cells were balanced to withing 10-15mV. So I think the battery health is good.

What does the dealer inspection do and is the LeafSpy info just as good (or better) than the dealer inspection. Of course, the car is out of warranty so this all may be a moot point. Thanks!

 

[goldbrick]

I've never heard any definitive information about what data the 'battery inspection' accesses but what you will receive is a single piece of paper with 5 gold stars on it telling you your battery is in 'excellent condition'. One would hope that Nissan gets more data but if they do, it is not shared with the owner.

The LeafSpy data is much better than anything you'll get from the dealer so I would ignore the battery inspection recommendation in the owner's manual. Many dealers charge for this 'service' and it yields no useful information. There is some speculation that doing the annual battery inspection is a requirement for a warranty replacement but I've never heard of a claim being denied due to this and as you mentioned, it is a moot point for you anyway.

tl;dr - it's useless so ignore it.

 

[GerryAZ]

Since your 2014 is certainly beyond the battery warranty, there is no benefit to having that dealer battery inspection done. You, as the owner and driver, get much more information from LEAF Spy. I am sure Nissan gets a lot of information and I will have the inspections done until the 8-year, 100,000-mile battery warranty expires on my car--then no more. I already know what the printout will say each year before I have the inspection done, but add the document to my files for future warranty purposes.