No heat

[herekittykitty]

Have had my Leaf exactly one month. Had only one occasion to use the heater during that time and it worked fine. Tonight's drive home was very chilly. Even with the temp cranked all the way up to 90, nada, zip. Nothing but cold air.

Is there something I could check myself to see if I can fix it? Dealership is 45 mins away. Any of you electronics geniuses (and it seems there are plenty on this forum) have any idea what could have happened?

 

[EVDRIVER]

Be sure the car is not in ECO mode and look at the energy scree to see if the heater is using power.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Run the seat and steering wheel heater for general heating, and the energy hog cabin heater when you need defrost and additional heat.

As to what's wrong, the only thing I can think of are the basics. Crank the temp up to 90, and turn the fan all the way up, and look at the energy screen. It should start pulling a lot of power.

If not, I'd check for a fuse. Then, off to the dealer.

 

[herekittykitty]

One of the things I tried was switching to D from Eco. No change. I didn't look at the energy usage screen, though. (It's in the garage charging now, but I will check tomorrow.)

After I posted this I finally found the other, older thread on "no heat" and just finished reading it. Now I figure there's no chance it's anything *I* can check on or fix (although I will check the fuse). Guess I'll just have to take it in. Sigh.

At least now I know to ask for a loaner! Hope they don't give me any grief about that.

 

[jcan]

I had this same problem. No heat from the heater. My fix was a dealer thing, they replaced a "junction box" and the heater cable. It took a 3 or 4 visit's for them
to figure it out. Hope it's a quicker fix for you.

 

[herekittykitty]

Wow. I hope so, too.

Anybody know what fuse goes to the heater? I took off the cover to the box in the engine compartment but can't decipher all the shorthand.

Also, we installed a Schneider charger last weekend and everything's been working fine, but now I'm worrying that maybe it's having some effect on other systems in the car, like the GE one has been doing to other Leafs? Until last weekend I only had the trickle charger to use. But until last weekend my heat also worked. Please reassure me that the two events aren't even possibly related?

 

[DaveEV]

There's been at least a couple reported cases of the heater not working and all required dealer intervention. Sounds like Nissan still doesn't have all the issues worked out. Take it to the dealer - it's not likely a simple fix.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

sorry to hear about your issues. please let us know how your dealership experience goes and what they have to do to fix it

 

[JDavoust]

I have had my Leaf for two months and same thing here. No heat. Had to use a cloth to defog the window so I could drive to work. Took it to the dealer on Thursday. I got a loaner. Went back today to get a work ID out of my car and my Leaf was in a million pieces, dashboard, wheels, lots of wires and tubes, and wheel well covers all removed and laying on the service bay floor. They called back this evening and still haven't figured it out. The service tech said they replaced the climate control module, the heater, and a junction box and it still won't work. Now they're going through every wire and connection to see why the signal doesn't seem to be getting from the control unit to the heater. Hopefully they can can get it fixed soon.
The Sentra they loaned me is loud, vibrates at stop lights, actually needs a key to start, smells like gasoline and I can't fill it up at home. Im so bummed.

 

[herekittykitty]

So sorry! They loaned me a Versa and all I did was drive home from the dealership and then back to the dealership two days later to get my Leaf. My "free" loaner cost me $18.88 in gasoline! Gasoline!! I've only had a Leaf a month and a half and already the whole idea of paying that much for fuel is shocking to me.

So here's what happened with mine: they determined it was the "heater motor" and replaced it, and so far all is well.

Interesting tidbit: half an hour after I made my service appt, a guy who bought his Leaf the same day I bought mine pulled up to the dealership with the exact same problem. He got the appt after mine. I never did find out whether it was the exact same problem, but it's sure starting to look to me as if heaters are the 2012 model year's Achilles' heel. The dealer told me that after that, they went out and checked all the rest of the Leafs on the lot. I could have told them that won't help, since I had heat when I drove off the lot.

FWIW, you shouldn't have had to defog your window with a cloth. The defrost turns on the A/C and that clears the window real quick. But it's pretty miserable driving around in the cold with the A/C blowing, even with the seats and steering wheel heaters on.

 

[JDavoust]

I'm wondering if a bad batch of heaters went out. Glad yours got fixed. Bodes well for mine. I kinda felt silly bringing it in. I live in California and it never was so cold I couldn't stand it. But it's a leased car so it's really theirs not mine, so I figured they should know. And I don't know what I did wrong, but when I ran the AC it fogged up all the windows even more, even the side windows.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

they gave you a loaner with an empty tank?

 

[jcan]

My heat problem, the junction box was dead so they replaced it and still no heat. They then replaced a wiring harness/loom, that didn't fix it either. They would keep the car for a day or two then let give it back to me as the next part on order would be a week away. In the end it was the wiring harness that was damaging the junction box, both the original and the replacement junction boxes. After they replaced the harness though they told me they were at a loss and would need the car till it was sorted out. That day they found a 3rd junction box and that finally fixed it. I asked how much money the parts were worth, in canada I was around $4500 in parts :shock: (warranty) The original fault was with the harness which was killing the junction boxes, a tricky problem.