Evaluating a candidate LEAF ... never a dull moment

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I went to look at a for sale 2016 Leaf today. Candidate car has 48K miles. I am new to the community but have done some research. I know a bit but would love opinions. There is a lot going on, so thanks for following along.

1) Battery - The CarFax shows "-Battery Replaced" at 39K miles by a Nissan dealer. Those are the exact words. I have my doubts and suspect that maybe battery cells were replaced. I used LeafSpy (thanks to a friend). Batt SOH was 66.3% showing 9 out of 12 bars. Thus, my thought that this service record is not a battery replacement. LeafSpy mV delta was only 13 mV. Vehicle showed 65 miles of range at 90% charge at the start of my test drive. I drove 8 miles on my test drive including 3 miles on highway (speed 70 MPH+) and the range dropped from 65 to 56 (loss of 9 miles). Seems reasonable given the highway miles. But what should i make of the 66% SOH and 9 bars and the CarFax statement "battery replaced" less than 10K miles ago? I only want a car to get to work and back everyday (20 miles RT) that can put those 20 miles back on overnight in 14 hours of 110V charging. And I want a car that can do this for 4 years, maybe 5 years.

2) Clicking noise- there was a subtle yet audible occasional click when decelerating and/or taking a turn. Unfortunately i cannot isolate this as most decelerating was accompanied by taking a turn. I should have scrutinized this more. It wasnt a sequence of clicks, just generally one or two and not too loud, but noticeable. Anyone have any idea what this might be? Suspension?

3) Level-1 charging - The private seller was not very knowledgeable about this car. This was a second or third vehicle for him and not his daily driver. His name is on the title. He is not selling for someone else. I very much got the impression that he just never learned much about this car. But....this is where it gets WEIRD. He said he had been typically charging the car AT THE NISSAN DEALER! The level-1 cord in the car was in a bag that he claimed that he had never opened. It has a Ford logo on the charger (weird). Clearly someone lost the original and i think he bought it with this cord. I told him that i wanted to see the car plugged in and observe it to be charging, so we plugged it into a garage 110V outlet. The blue light on the dash blinks and the green plug icon in the vicinity of the speedometer/odometer blinks. I assume this means the car is taking a charge and i was satisfied. But now i have my doubts. Has ANYONE ever heard of a car not taking a charge when these positive indicators are blinking? Why would he only charge his car at the dealership? I should have stayed around 15 or 30 minutes to see a positive impact of the Ford cord on range (1 mile, 2miles, anything!) but i did not. I didn't think about it. Was he playing dumb about a car that somehow shows positive charge lights but will only charge using DC Chademo? Or could it be that he literally didn't know he could charge this car overnight with the cord his cargo area? There's no moving parts so the blue and green lights mean that it's charging, right??

4) Water - i took out the rear carpet in the cargo area to look for spare and a jack (ha ha, yeah, i know now) but glad i did b/c there was some water under the carpet on the metal floor. It didn't smell musty and it didn't show rust. But it was weird! He said it was probably from the car wash. Not something i wanted to see when considering a purchase. Do these cars have a reputation for bad seals around their hatchback? According to CarFax the car had MINOR back end damage seven years ago. Hard to imagine that water leaks into the car for 7 years and doesn't rot the carpet or rust the floor. I don't know what to make of that.

This was a lot.

Thanks in advance for your opinions.
 
My guess is that the "Replaced Battery" was the 12V Battery, not the HV Traction Pack.

Water leaks are a pain but can be sealed. Inspect the repair work done for the minor damage at the rear to find clues.

Get an OBDII dongle and LaefSpy app to see how the cells are balanced when the car is driven down to Empty on the fuel gauge.
 
The blue light on the dash blinks and the green plug icon in the vicinity of the speedometer/odometer blinks. I assume this means the car is taking a charge and i was satisfied. But now i have my doubts. Has ANYONE ever heard of a car not taking a charge when these positive indicators are blinking? Why would he only charge his car at the dealership?
3 blue lights on the dash should work as a low-resolution battery charging bar gauge. Roughly speaking, one flashing light means charging and charged to less than 1/3; one steady and middle flashing light means charging, between 1/3 and 2/3; two steady and one flashing means charging and between 2/3 and full. If you saw either of the second two of those, charging was working.

A single blinking or steady blue light can mean other things (charge timer set, so not charging right now, or car's woken up to give a few minutes of 12V battery charging -- possibly more than these two).

Some Nissan dealers used to offer free charging, usually CHAdeMO rapid charging. If you do few miles or the dealer is less than five minutes walk away, this could be an economical habit! My local dealer did charge my car once when it was with them for a check-up, but they have been so successful, competent and popular that that branch of the dealership has closed down.

I can't help with the other questions. (Mine's an e-NV200, not a LEAF. Same make, same motor, almost identical power train and electronics, but not identical.)
 
I went to look at a for sale 2016 Leaf today. Candidate car has 48K miles. I am new to the community but have done some research. I know a bit but would love opinions. There is a lot going on, so thanks for following along.

1) Battery - The CarFax shows "-Battery Replaced" at 39K miles by a Nissan dealer. Those are the exact words. I have my doubts and suspect that maybe battery cells were replaced. I used LeafSpy (thanks to a friend). Batt SOH was 66.3% showing 9 out of 12 bars. Thus, my thought that this service record is not a battery replacement.
All the numbers corresponds to a "lizard battery" (better than the original battery in 2011-2015 Gen1 LEAfs). I got a new lizard battery under warranty in Sep 2015 and now have 10 bars left, SOH 74.63%. I agree with nlspace's suggestion that the battery replaced was the 12V battery.

LeafSpy mV delta was only 13 mV.
That's a pretty good number for cells' voltage differential.

2) Clicking noise- there was a subtle yet audible occasional click when decelerating and/or taking a turn.
It's one or both of the front axle nuts, a common issue. Here's a search in these forums for that.

3) Level-1 charging - The private seller was not very knowledgeable about this car.
[...]
I told him that i wanted to see the car plugged in and observe it to be charging, so we plugged it into a garage 110V outlet. The blue light on the dash blinks and the green plug icon in the vicinity of the speedometer/odometer blinks.
That, plus several clicking sounds when the plug is inserted, are all the correct signals of proper charging, There might be a "charge" or "charging" light on the EVSE as well; look for that. But, personally, to be sure, I'd leave it plugged in for half an hour or so and check with LeafSpy before and after.

4) Water - i took out the rear carpet in the cargo area to look for spare and a jack (ha ha, yeah, i know now) but glad i did b/c there was some water under the carpet on the metal floor. It didn't smell musty and it didn't show rust. But it was weird! He said it was probably from the car wash. Not something i wanted to see when considering a purchase. Do these cars have a reputation for bad seals around their hatchback? According to CarFax the car had MINOR back end damage seven years ago. Hard to imagine that water leaks into the car for 7 years and doesn't rot the carpet or rust the floor. I don't know what to make of that.
My 2011 (serial number 1333!) is still water tight, even in "touchless" car washes with high pressure water jets.

It's likely that, as indicated by carfax, it was in a rear end collision and the hatch area wasn't fixed correctly, leading to sealing issues. Depending on how big of a leak and how well the water was handled, there might not be any rust or smell.

Personally, I wouldn't buy it. The water leak might be small but I'd find it super annoying if water comes in every time it rains or going through a car wash; it's not something I want for a daily driver.
 
You can check the HV Battery control unit software version in Leafpro. If it is not 4nr4C, an update will give you about 30 miles extra. Many dealers have no knowledge about this and are not interested, I had to go out of my way to find one.
 
"Personally, I wouldn't buy it. The water leak might be small but I'd find it super annoying if water comes in every time it rains or going through a car wash; it's not something I want for a daily driver."

The only car that I personally bought brand new was an '86 Civic Si. I had the car for about 30 years, but the experience was marred by an under-dash water leak that Honda never really fixed. I had to garage the car, buy Winter "Rats" to drive in Winter, and avoid driving in serious rain. It got rot in that area anyway...
 
I went thru waterleak in two of our Hondas. The CRV leaked where the roof and 'A' pillar joined right at the windshield. I cleaned the area very well with acetone and sealed it using windshield urethane. I have another drip over the driver's seatbelt that I'll let my eldest deal with. This is a 25 year old CRV. Rust free though.

Our newer Honda had a leak similar to your candidate Leaf. The spare tire well would get wet and moldy. Turns out there was a recall for tail light gaskets that were defective. An hour or so at the dealer and it was all fixed up.

I'm not aware of Leafs being prone to leaking there so inspect really well for rear end collision damage. It could be the car was wrecked and not repaired well. Your candidate seller seems odd based on your description. Are they ignorant of EVs or sketchy?

I'd look the car over carefully and make sure it wasn't badly neglected. Otherwise - good luck on your purchase.
 
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