The Battery Replacement Thread

[memoryisram]

I purchased this Leaf so I'm going to have to baby the hell out of this battery if I'm going to keep it long term, but Nissan really came through for me and made me fall in love with the car all over again.

Congratulations!

I hope you get out of Palm Springs before you lose very much capacity!

Luckily I did. Only stayed in the desert for a month before I left to live in Monterey, CA. I've seen nothing but 60F-70F days here, and I'm able to park the Leaf in a garage. I barely see more than 5 temperature bars on the dash now. I've been monitoring the capacity daily, and haven't seen it drop from the 66.14 Ahr reading when I got the battery installed. I've done a few VLBW to 80% charges to see if the capacity would change, but it's been steady. I'm hoping this lizard battery lives a happy life out here in the cool environment.

 

[hobbyguy]

Correct. I lost the 4th bar at approx 62,000 and then quickly after that. At least now I know I am at about half battery so I might risk and try to take to work a few times.
Yes Nissan told me that they might be able to do "something " for me and then called me back and gave me ways to conserve the battery, like driving in the slow lane and not using the a/c !!
I should have been a *&^% and wore down the battery before the 60,000 mark, but was not thinking that way and had not read the forum
for some time at that point.
I have not kept any readouts, Nissan of Valencia never had anything they could give me on the car and I was not pushy about it. I have only taken the car in a couple of times and all for very un necessary general maintenance.
I had complete faith and trust in Nissan that they would back up us early adapters. But not so.

 

[TomT]

Well, actually it was 59,983 miles when I dropped the fourth bar...

The most successful story on this forum I've seen so far is from TomT who got his pack replaced after losing the 4th bar at like 59,999 miles, hard to beat that.

 

[kolmstead]

Is there any reason to open a case with Nissan customer support before taking your car in for a replacement battery? I notice that some people do so, while others apparently don't.

Since the dealer has to verify visually that the ninth capacity bar has disappeared and the odometer reads less than 60K (and presumably download some data from the car to be sent to Nissan), what good does opening a case do? Seems to me that Nissan will handle the warranty claim in exactly the same fashion, whether you have a case open or not. If my car is still under warranty, I expect to just make an appointment, haul the car to Lancaster, and pick it up a week or two later with a brand-new battery. Am I overlooking something?

44.01 Ahr, four and a half months to go....

-Karl

 

[Stanton]

Is there any reason to open a case with Nissan customer support before taking your car in for a replacement battery? I notice that some people do so, while others apparently don't.

No: the dealer should handle all the warranty claim paper work. In fact, my service advisor has already made the comment "I've got a new battery waiting for you" since he's seen my Leaf from the beginning.

44.7 AHr and trying to drop that fourth bar before winter...

 

[blimpy]

I am seriously looking at Dec 2012 SL with 37K miles and 12 bars. SF Bay Area Car. Haven't Leaf Spy'd it yet. This seems rather phenomenal.. at least a statistical outlier. With 2 years 2 months and 23K left on the battery warranty... seems like a decent gamble, although I had been thinking to stick with teens for the mileage. Our usual daily mileage is maybe 40... so we wouldn't die as 4-bar "losers" with 60-70 K miles.. Opting out of buying a 2013 with 12 bars and 23K.. for the Japan build quality, qc and sl features vs the stripper sv from Tennessee w/ no qc or cam.

Tell me I am doing right ? or not. :ugeek:

BTW the tires on the 23K car were like slicks in front.. are the LRR's from bridgestone really that bad ?

Message welcome.. car is cheap.. and I should go get it maybe.

 

[Valdemar]

This seems rather phenomenal.. at least a statistical outlier.

Or capacity loss data could have been reset. Not a joke. Proceed with caution. LeafSpy the gid count on a full charge and all other data for that matter. Very high SOH in LeafSpy likely means a reset took place unless the car has a new battery (unlikely). If a true low degradation it will likely prevent you from getting a new pack under warranty.

 

[blimpy]

ValD.. thanks .. I will use the Leaf Spy.. and see what's up. I don't expect a rat.. but we've got the trap !

I'm kind of expecting to find it right on the edge of losing a bar. I'm not going to wreck it to game the warranty..
and my crystal ball is in the shop...

What I don't know how to do is use the energy history gizmo.. which I guess is part of the carwings thingus... internet or cell phone based corporate data base ( if the car has been reporting). Figureing this out on a used car lot may not be feasible. And I don't know if I can do it from home ??

Not clear if the lack of heat pump and bigger charger is bigger plus than the negative of Tennessee construction?

:?:

 

[TimLee]

BTW the tires on the 23K car were like slicks in front.. are the LRR's from bridgestone really that bad ?

Depends on how they are treated.
If you like spirited driving and run them at the inadequate pressure Nissan recommends the OEM new car lower cost for Nissan ones can be destroyed in less than 15,000.
But a lot of people got 25,000 miles.
A few outliers like TaylorSFGuy got a lot more like 80,000 miles.

 

[Valdemar]

You should be able to use Carwings I would think, although while it's interesting at first it sort of doesn't matter and you find yourself not using it after a while. I forgot when was the last time I used it. Also keep in mind it'll stop working once AT&T retires it's 2G network, which will happen in the next couple of years. Unless I missed it 2015 cars will be affected as well.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Depends on how they are treated.
If you like spirited driving and run them at the inadequate pressure Nissan recommends the OEM new car lower cost for Nissan ones can be destroyed in less than 15,000.
But a lot of people got 25,000 miles.
A few outliers like TaylorSFGuy got a lot more like 80,000 miles.

I agree. Gentle freeway cruising is easy on tires, especially if in a wet climate. But driving steep mountain hairpin turns and dirt roads is really hard on tires, no matter how gentle a driver one is. Most people fall in between those usage profiles, I would guess.

And keeping the tire pressure up is very important, as you say. Everybody can improve LEAF tire life (and mileage efficiency) by doing that.

 

[abasile]

But driving steep mountain hairpin turns and dirt roads is really hard on tires

Yes, especially if one enjoys accelerating out of hairpin turns.

BTW, based on gid count, my LEAF is now at 23% capacity loss - not much of a reported drop this summer. In our relatively cool climate, maybe capacity loss is tapering off to some degree. Hard to say. The instrumentation isn't perfect.

 

[Valdemar]

My capacity loss is not tapering off at all and seems too be accelerating, expecting to be at 8 bars within one month, which is only 7 months since I lost #10. Deeper daily cycling is likely to blame.

 

[TomT]

My capacity loss seemed to be fairly linear up to the point I lost my 4th bar and they replaced the battery...

My capacity loss is not tapering off at all and seems too be accelerating, expecting to be at 8 bars within one month, which is only 7 months since I lost #10. Deeper daily cycling is likely to blame.

 

[mwalsh]

My capacity loss seemed to be fairly linear up to the point I lost my 4th bar and they replaced the battery...

Mine has slowed, particularly over the loss seen at this time last year:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=12789&start=594

 

[RegGuheert]

Mine has slowed, particularly over the loss seen at this time last year:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=12789&start=594

I suspect that driving one-fourth as many miles this year is a significant factor in your result.

 

[mwalsh]

I suspect that driving one-fourth as many miles this year is a significant factor in your result.

Unfortunately there isn't enough data to support any paricular theory - I didn't start taking regular AHr readings until the loss of bar 12 in June 2013, and the P3227 update messed up my numbers from the first 5 months of this year.

 

[dgpcolorado]

My capacity loss has slowed, almost stopped, this summer. Lost the first bar in late spring and the battery Ah went back up as temperatures warmed and fluctuated at levels higher than the figure I had when the CB dropped. Now, in late summer I'm seeing signs that the capacity might be falling again after some trips that got the battery above 30ºC (yesterday I saw the lowest Gid count at "100%" I've ever seen: 224). But I've been surprised at the pause in what should be the season of decline. In winter when the battery is cold the Ah of capacity stays fixed until the battery warms up again in spring.

My overall take is that my rate of capacity loss seems to have slowed. A lot. This was unexpected and welcome, if it is real. I'll be interested to see what next summer brings.

 

[RegGuheert]

I suspect that driving one-fourth as many miles this year is a significant factor in your result.

Unfortunately there isn't enough data to support any paricular theory -

We know for a fact that cycling the battery increases losses over simply letting it sit parked. What we do not know is by how much.

That P3227 update is certainly a confusion in this case. I'm convinced it takes a very long time for readings to stabilize after that update.

 

[Roadburner440]

My loses seem to be going pretty steadily. Started the summer with 55.094ahr and as of today down to 50.081ahr at 34,580 miles. So I figure if I tough this winter out and keep driving the daylights out of the car I might squeeze in next year. Especially as I keep having to cycle the battery further and further. Had to quick charge once last week, and going to have to quick charge today to get it home from the tire place. Highway miles I am barely able to eek out 55-60 miles. Still works for my daily drive, and hoping to get down to the low 40ahr range before March 2017 when my 5 years runs out. Hopefully get one more good heat streak here in VA before fall/winter hits to shave a bit more off. Already started putting money aside though in case I don't make the warranty. Cause either way by March 2017 it will have a new battery either on my dime or Nissan's.