i Key System Failure - How to Manually put Leaf in Neutral? - Check 12v Battery

[krush40]

My 2016 Leaf is giving me an I-Key System Failure message and won’t start.

I also can’t put it in neutral to push it to where a tow truck would have access.

Any suggestions or do I need a car dolly?

Thanks!

 

[danelo]

Hopefully this will help. This is from the owners manual...

If your vehicle cannot be moved because
the vehicle cannot be shifted to the N
(Neutral) position, please refer to the
LEAF Roadside Assistance Guide which is
located at www.NISSANUSA.com.

Plus, check the owners manual. It states the proper way to have the vehicle towed, so that damage to the vehicle is avoided.

 

[nlspace]

Will it go into Accessory Mode--press the Start button without foot on the brake? Then shift into N.

 

[MozzoAU]

It's quite difficult to override the park mode in the leaf. Have a look for YouTube videos related to "leaf parking pawl" There's an actuator motor that needs to be dismounted in order to disengage the parking pawl in the transmission.

 

[krush40]

Thanks for the replies.

The downside is it is bricked inside a parking garage where a tow truck can’t reach. The only relief is that it’s the parking garage of the building I manage at work so not the end of the world as I figure it out.

But today I brought proper tools and the 12V battery is only reading 8-something. It’s a Nissan Battery that appears new when I bought the car in Certified Pre Owned in 2019.

Battery days 24 Month replacement/84 month lifespan. It hasn’t been 84, but it certainly is old.

Perhaps a long shot, but my hope is getting a new 12V will make everything magically work again. Worst case scenario, a car dolly/skates is only a couple hundred dollars and probably something worth having at home, just in case for the future. Then I could at least move it out of garage to where tow truck can reach.

I have a co-worker with a Tesla and had three AAA tow truck drivers refuse to tow her one day when she had a flat tire in the same garage.

 

[krush40]

The key fob will unlock/lock doors but screen says I-key system failure just walking up.

If I try to start anything, the radio and lights and bells all happen, but go haywire. The first time it didn’t start it clicked like a dead battery does in a normal car.

The shifter doesn’t engage to D, R, N, etc. just stays stuck on P.

Again, hoping a new 12V is the magic and I can avoid towing.

I have LeafSpy and an OBD thing, but honestly don’t know anything about reading any sort of codes it might be throwing. I’ve only ever used LS to track my old battery when I had terrible range before warranty swap. Should I be looking at something available there?

Thanks!

 

[ACDCPhilip]

Could you get a jump from another car in the garage with some jump leads.
Obviously be very careful to get the polarity correct at both ends.

Otherwise one of those small lithium jump packs may be enough to get it started.

Once in ready mode it will charge the 12v from the traction battery.

 

[krush40]

I suppose jumping could have worked but ultimately didn’t try. The first day I had a little box jumper set but the leads were too short to be useful since I was alone and couldn’t hold the unit and start car at same time and it wasn’t long enough to set it down.

Day 2 I brought my multimeter and saw the battery was low. Instead of jumping and going somewhere I just removed the battery and used other car to get it tested.

Battery claimed 84 month limited warranty so I took it to dealer since I bought CPO in 2019. He told me that warranty only applies if you buy the battery directly, not if it comes in a car you purchase. And said he couldn’t test it because it wasn’t in the car which seems like nonsense to me but I don’t trust my stuff with people who don’t want to do the job so I just went to auto store and bought a Duralast.

Came back and installed it and the car seems to be working fine now. I moved it out of garage, just in case but will check again later.

Unrelated, I replaced the battery in one of key fobs and it’s not locking/unlocking doors, but works if you hold it up to dash to start car. Is there a chance the car lost connection or would that be all or nothing? Perhaps the key fob is just dying.

Thanks!

 

[Auda]

It never ceases to amaze me that Nissan built a car that is so absolutely dependent on a reliable 12 Volt supply yet total stuffed up the charging system of that battery. It would be easy to have the battery monitored, if its getting low and the main battery has x% charge , charge it from the main battery.
Then have a DWYFT button to force it to charge of the flat-ish main, to avoid your problem.
Auda

 

[woeful]

Unrelated, I replaced the battery in one of key fobs and it’s not locking/unlocking doors, but works if you hold it up to dash to start car. Is there a chance the car lost connection or would that be all or nothing? Perhaps the key fob is just dying.

Most likely a dud new battery. If you have a multimeter and 300 ohm resistor you can do Nissan's official check on the CR2025 coin cell. Discussion including my post is at https://mynissanleaf.com/threads/key-fob-battery.36652/post-652611

 

[woeful]

To make sure the new 12V battery gets a full first charge, make sure that there's an hour or more in total of (a) READY (driving or ready to move), (b) normal or quick charging or (c) climate control operating, within the first day or two. Those are the conditions when the Leaf is specified to charge the 12V battery from the traction battery.

In power ON state (pressed Start button twice but without holding the brake) the 12V battery voltage is monitored, and charged only if and when it drops a bit.

With power OFF the 12V battery gets a 4-minute top-up every 24 hours. That's only just enough to hold charge with a good battery and no extra loads connected to it.

It seems the issue with Leaf and most other EVs is that there are no signs of a 12V battery being almost at end of life, because the charge management's not too bad and the battery load to start the car is only small. Then it reaches end of life, and won't start at all one cold morning. And unlike an infernal combustion engine, there's no equivalent of a push start.

[Information source: service manual page EVC-59.]

 

[krush40]

Good to know. Unfortunately I had two cars yesterday and had to return the borrowed one so I left the leaf sitting overnight with only driving around parking lot. But my commute home tonight is 11 miles (45 min) so that should help.

For the record I’m going to modify the title of the thread to be more appropriate to what ended up happening.

Thanks again for the input!

 

[jwarner07]

The key fob will unlock/lock doors but screen says I-key system failure just walking up.

If I try to start anything, the radio and lights and bells all happen, but go haywire. The first time it didn’t start it clicked like a dead battery does in a normal car.

The shifter doesn’t engage to D, R, N, etc. just stays stuck on P.

Again, hoping a new 12V is the magic and I can avoid towing.

I have LeafSpy and an OBD thing, but honestly don’t know anything about reading any sort of codes it might be throwing. I’ve only ever used LS to track my old battery when I had terrible range before warranty swap. Should I be looking at something available there?

Thanks!

Had a similar problem

The key fob will unlock/lock doors but screen says I-key system failure just walking up.

If I try to start anything, the radio and lights and bells all happen, but go haywire. The first time it didn’t start it clicked like a dead battery does in a normal car.

The shifter doesn’t engage to D, R, N, etc. just stays stuck on P.

Again, hoping a new 12V is the magic and I can avoid towing.

I have LeafSpy and an OBD thing, but honestly don’t know anything about reading any sort of codes it might be throwing. I’ve only ever used LS to track my old battery when I had terrible range before warranty swap. Should I be looking at something available there?

Thanks!

Had a similar problem using a cr2025, searched...Nissan recommends 2032. Switched, works way better, from distance and close.

 

[LanguidSphinx]

Unrelated, I replaced the battery in one of key fobs and it’s not locking/unlocking doors,

Carefully check that you have the right battery - in mine it is a CR2025, as per the user manual and IIRC it's embossed in the plastic inside of the case.

Some folks like to put a CR2032 in which should last longer, but it is slightly thicker and some remotes (must be tolerances) don't work properly, with exactly the symptoms you describe - I believe something is not making contact internally due to the increased thickness. It's trivial to test, just get a CR2025.

That is speaking for my year model's remote - yours might in fact originally have been specified as CR2032, and if you accidentally replaced it with a 2025, you have the opposite problem - not thick enough to make contact. Either way, triple check that you have the right size, they are so close in size that it works for some people and not others.

Apart from that, the other one that gets people is some brands (looking at you, Duracell!) have a bitter coating on the batteries so kids don't swallow them. This can interfere with the contact - some alcohol will clean it off.