No Heat

[Graycenphil]

This morning the car preheated fine, I drove about 5 minutes with the heat off, then when I turned it on I had no heat. Ten miles later, after a stop and restart, I had heat. Turned it off after a while (to save electricity) and it didn't come back on until after another stop and restart. Turned it off again after ten minutes or so, and it wouldn't come back on.

I drove another 50 miles or so over the course of the day, and it never came back on.

The car is brand new, so it will be covered by the warranty, but I'm still curious. If I can fix it without going to the dealer, of course that would be nice too.

I see there have been more than a few stories of heat problems. Anybody know what might be wrong?

It's an S, so no heat pump.

 

[CRLeafSL]

I have a 2012 with the same heater as you aka no heat pump. I'm not sure what type of climate your in since you didn't specify where your from, but I'm in Iowa and in the cold the heater isn't instant. Even if you preheat and then shut it off for a few mins and then turn it back on it won't come on right away. The fluid in the system has to reach a certain temperature before the Fan motor will kick back on to blow it inside the cabin. On days here where I live and it drops below zero, that fluid will cool very rapidly and will take a while to reheat. Just a suggestion, not saying there isn't anything wrong with your heater I just know mine can take a while depending on how cold it is outside.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

If it's not coming on over 50 miles, it's broken. Go get it fixed. It's gonna be cold for a while yet.

 

[cgaydos]

Best to take it to the dealer for diagnosis.

In the 2011 and 2012 model years the most common problem was heater failure. By "most common" I mean < 5% had it happen, but it occurred often enough that you'll find a few threads here if you search. Early in the 2013 model year there were a lot of reports of a different kind of heater failure, but those reports have been a lot less frequent over the last half a year or so.

 

[Graycenphil]

It's going in. Kind of funny - nowadays, car heaters are practically bulletproof. Maybe after many years, a small leak or a fan fails, but that is about it.

I guess without an engine to cool, Nissan is having to reinvent the heater, and that leads to some problems.

 

[JohnTomaszewski]

I've also had heater problems with my '13 S with about 8,000 miles on it. It's about as reliable as having a warm day in this Chicago winter I generally set the climate control to 70 degrees and head out of my nice, warm garage. Half the time - after the initial "warm up" - it will blow cold air at my feet. This is often remedied by turning the climate control completely off and then re-starting it...often multiple times. Forget about warm air in "Eco" mode - so this is only in regular drive. After fussing with the climate control throughout the trip the heater will eventually blow warm air, but when it cycles off after reaching it's set temperature it will never subsequently blow warm air to re-adjust. So, I've been experimenting with just leaving it at 90 degrees (after starting/re-starting until warm air) and turning the fan speed down manually. This seems to work, but geez - what a PITA.

It seems to match the other weird behaviors the car exhibits when it comes to its heating system. I'm sure most of us with this car already know the steering wheel heater is flawed. It goes from cold to HOT to cold...and often never gets warm again after the first cycle. The heated seats are more subtle in this behavior, but still cycle. It would be nice if the temperature was consistent, but after reading these posts it is common.

 

[Graycenphil]

Why such a complex heater? I can see the reason for the heat pump system, but my car doesn't have that. Why not just an electric heating element and a fan - it would be cheap and reliable. And it would come on right away.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Why such a complex heater? I can see the reason for the heat pump system, but my car doesn't have that. Why not just an electric heating element and a fan - it would be cheap and reliable. And it would come on right away.

Fire danger? Smell of burning debris on the heater element? Ability to share parts with conventional ICE heaters? (This subject was much discussed several years ago but I don't recall what the consensus was.)

 

[johnrhansen]

I would imagine that they want to keep parts in common with all of the other ice cars nissan makes. It would be easiest to just use the heating system from another car and simply add a little electronically controlled hot water heater element pump in there to make it work.

 

[Graycenphil]

Still seems more complicated. The hot water heater and pump, plus the radiator, has to cost more than a heating coil. (Especially when you add in all the warranty work it is making.) My VW Jetta had an electric heater for warm air before the coolant heated up and it worked pretty well.

Dropped the car at the dealer this morning. Of course, on the way there the heater stated working again, but it had stopped by the time I got there. Hopefully it's still not working when they check it out.

 

[Yvesm]

To the op, did you know that on D (drive) the heater follows the temperature You have set. But in Eco mode, it follows some preprogrammed temperature.

I tried many times to drive in D and in Eco. Going into the battery status display , the car would go from 4.5 kW heating in D to less than 3 kW in Eco, then the air coming in would be cold. I do not remember the temp outside but it was cold off course.

 

[davewill]

To the op, did you know that on D (drive) the heater follows the temperature You have set. But in Eco mode, it follows some preprogrammed temperature. ...

That's not what it does. In ECO, it limits the heater/AC power, but it still uses the set temperature to regulate when it runs. In some extreme cases, I suppose it's possible that ECO mode wouldn't make it to the set temp.

 

[Yvesm]

I would agree with you but in the winter time (Canada here), lower kilo-watt means lower car temp. There is a direct link between the two. After complaining about heat, my local Nissan dealer service supervisor informed me that some Leaf owner have returned their cars thinking that the car does not provide heat and that those people always used the Eco mode. Since I learned this, I always use D and bring up the fan speed manually to second to last bar. Never using Auto mode. The car heats up the space like an ICE this way.

 

[Graycenphil]

Got the car back today. They said they had to replace the whole heater, whatever that means. 5 hours labor, and had to recharge the AC too so I guess it was either in the way or it is some sort of combined unit. I wouldn't like to see that bill if it wasn't under warranty.

It was nice to see that they are installing a Chademo; should be done in a day or two.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Heat is a good thing to have.

That's De Cormier's Nissan in Manchester? That's great! They get good reviews for their L2s on PS, so the QC should be usable. This completes the first QC hop path fom Boston to NYC.

 

[chargum]

My 2012 Leaf purchased 7-6-12 has 23,000 miles on it and up until recently had no problems. I love the car. It does everything I need it to do. Three weeks ago I pulled into the garage, plugged it in, there was a loud pop, and the trouble light on the charger came on. Everything was working including the heater when I pulled in the garage. The next day I took it to the dealer. On the way I noticed that it would not charge and the heater did not work. Two weeks later they finally called to say they got the charging circuit fixed under warranty but the heater was out of warranty and would cost me $3000 to repair. Yes, I realize that it is 6 months out of warranty. I contacted Nissan and they are "researching the issue." I told them it seems very coincidental that the charging circuit and the heater failed at the exact same time. Doing my own research it seems there are a lot of heater problems with the Leaf. Is it the heater or is the charging circuit causing the heater to fail? I had planned on purchasing a Leaf for my wife to drive to and from work but now I'm having second thoughts. I can buy a decent used car for $3000.