2016 Leaf Green Ignition Relay

Not sucking eggs at all, I've not done this before so it's all extremely helpful.

Weather looks good today so hopefully can give it a go and let you know how I get on.

Many, many thanks

Well after much cussing at the retched design choices for connectors and brackets I've got the BCM out.

The contacts look good except the bottom right pin of the bottom left (white) socket in the image below. It looks ok but has clearly handled some current in it's life.

https://prntscr.com/114r7nq

Did you disassemble further than this?

Apart from that one pin, which is still good imo, all looks ok. No sign of water at all.

Cheers

matchett808 said:

Fantastic (for me) news...I've fixed my clicking, I swapped out the BCM which left the car dead (not recognizing keys) - so a BCM swap is out of the question - but taking the BCM apart and cleaning the contacts with some wire wool seems to give it good connection again - I'd give that a go GreenaGiant - I had some corrosion on the contacts, i also found a small amount of liquid on the outer case of the BCM

PS: An easy way to get the BCM off is to use a big screwdriver to push it off the clips

Click to expand...

I did take it apart further, just to give it some time to air out - was there any green discolouration on the pin?

Shame there's nothing more obvious - worth giving it some time to dry out and see where you get with that

Might as well open the cover and inspect the board for corrosion or defects, then clean both sides with alcohol and a soft brush.

i've done troubleshooting on ICE car modules that had open-frame relays on the VCM board such that the contacts could be inspected. Sometimes dirt, corrosion or contaminates with some high humidity can create a high impedance path that can turn devices on.

[edit] Wonder what those vector arrows on the label mean?

Just after I posted my last I realised the module was only clipped together. Has a good look and it looks pristine, electronics is my thing so I'm confident here.

Interestingly, after putting everything back together my clicking has stopped and the relay buzzing has stopped. Time will tell how lucky I am with the problem having just been a bad contact (my best guess) which has now been resolved.

I've been out for a drive, hit a few speed bumps etc to try and aggravate the issue back but so far so good.

Calling it quits for today. I'll keep this thread updated with any change of situation so it's here for future reference. Thank you to everyone who've helped!!

Those side clip connectors are horrific, btw!

Nice one - hope it stays resolved

yeah, I'd like to take a big screwdriver to whoever designed them and give them a good shoogle with it!

Bit of bad news - found that if I close my charge flap and the lock the car...I get rather aggressive relay noises - but only under those specific conditions (if I unlock and relock there's no clicking)

Gonna dismantle my charge port at the weekend, I assume there's a sensor in there somewhere

Gutted, clicking or no clicking - my car seems to be dead atm (Nissan app isn't communicating with the car and I tried remote unlocking from the house, but no reaction)

back to the diagnostics for me

EDIT: I do wonder if it's my 12v battery, it's cycled down to bust a few times which can kill them

EDIT: EDIT: it hit -1 here last night, maybe I haven't fully solved the humidity/condensation issue...

Brief update...

I bought a vcm - looks like it doesn't work without a reflash /sigh but I've now got a vcm and BCM

I had a look at the fuses in the IPDM E/R again...looks like I was wrong - I pulled the wrong fuse the last time - I have 2 clicks and if I remove the 2 VCM fuses, they stop (each click controlled by one) although the clicks did occur with the _other_ vcm - so it isn't the module itself, it's something rebooting that module as suspected earlier in the thread

@GreenaGiant - By chance do you have the LE link leafspy dongle? I've noticed that after disconnecting the vcm and BCM, the clicking doesn't return on first boot - I think it might only return after using the dongle - also can you tell me if all your bulbs are working? Nissan rep said this wouldn't be the issue, but I need to rule it out haha

I now have a brand new 12v in there, and it's lasting much longer - it free falls down to 12.2 then sticks there :shrug:, I just run the AC nightly atm

I also installed OVMS, it's lasting longer even with the additional drain (haven't disconnected my TCU yet) - one of my next steps is to connect up the can log on the OVMS and try to suss out the messages during the clicking - might point us somewhere

http://blog.cardiagtool.co.uk/how-to-reprogram-nissan-ecu-in-a-cost-effective-way/ <- stumbled upon this, think I'm going to try to grab a consult 3 programmer and swap my BCM, vcm and see if consult says anything

Are you leaving an OBDII dongle plugged in all the time? Could that be the source that is keeping the CAN buss active all the time, which is clicking and draining the 12V? i use a green LX scantool with BT, and have found that there are lots of counterfeits being sold on abay etc. The fake ones use a different chipset and may have unexpected behavior with regards to auto power down.

Yeah, I normally don't even leave anything in the accessory socket or usb ports either, I only connect leafspy when I'm checking for codes

Small exception being OVMS is now permanently attached - but that's been done during these faults - not before

Clicking still possible after swapping DRLs

(Back to the original shitty bulbs)

Was a longshot, but worth it

Monitoring overnight as there's possibly a solution (pressing the immediate charge switch, but the switch itself is illuminated as per the others and isn't constantly activated so I don't _think_ it's the switch - but more that it's putting things into the correct sleep state after) - will take the panel off and follow the nissan diagnostics for the switch tomorrow night

Well unfortunately my issue persists, tried some stuff but still not got anywhere - GreenaGiant, did it return for you?

So I managed to get a matched BCM/VCM, key and power button/ikey module - unfortunately I couldn't get my car to fully start up but the clicking was still present with the matched pair in there - so I don't think it's the BCM/VCM at all - my next port of call is to get a log of the canbus while the clikcing is happening and see if I can resolve it into messages

Afraid to say, looks like it's definately caused by water shorting the BCM - GreenaGiant - you'll need to go to the dealer I'm afraid

i think his was "fixed" by disconnecting the BCM. It looks like the top left 6 pins of his bottom left connector port have some dark discoloration or corrosion. Maybe the surface was wiped clean by the removal and insertion, sometimes that is all it takes in intermittent issues, but it is sure hard to find.