T/M System error message

Got in my 2013 Leaf S, that I have had for one month tomorrow, and pushed the start button. All lights came on except the little green car that means 'drive on'. I pushed the Start button again to turn the Leaf off & the message 'T/M System Error' came on the screen. The car would not do anything. It would not come out of park, turn off, nothing. I could not wait around I had to get to work. Called a friend got the ride. From work started calling Nissan electric car assistance. They set up and tow to pick up the car and get it to the dealership. I had a friend as the house.

The first tow truck could not get the Leaf out of park in order to roll it our of the garage & get it towed. Called Nissan again and told them the story. They said they would send another service to get the car out of park and get it to the dealership. The second tow truck arrived and said they could not get the car out of park, therefore could not roll it out of the garage in order to tow it. WTF!!!!!!!???!?!?!?!?!?!??!!?????

Called Nissan Dealership to talk with the Service Dept. Their Leaf Tech has the day off today, after quite a bit of exchange back an forth they offered to try and get the tech from another Nissan dealership to look at the car to get it out of park so that it could be towed. Three hours later the second dealership tech says the secondary, smaller battery was so low that it did not have enough power to allow the car to switch into park. My friend, thank God for friends, went around to neighbors to borrow jumper cables. They jumped the small Auxillary battery to the point it came out of park. He rolled it out of the garage. They let me know and I called Nissan Electric Car Road Side Assistance and they sent out another tow company.

This time the tow company got there and said the car will not come out of park and they can not tow it. $%^&*&^*(*&$%^#%@%$%&*&^(

I told them about the tech jumping the aux battery. He did that, the car came out of park and he got it towed to the dealership... What a snafu!!!!!!!!!

Anyone know what a T/M System Error is?

Anyone have similar problems with their Leaf or Nissan Road Side Assistance?

Thank you.

I had that error one of the times when my 12v battery was bad. That's probably all your issue is too.

wsbsteven said:

I had that error one of the times when my 12v battery was bad. That's probably all your issue is too.

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+1. That would be my guess too.

is there any indication on the leaf dash saying the 12 volt battery is low.
like on almost all ice cars.

If it makes you feel any better, the Tesla Model S has the exact same problem when it's 12V battery dies.

Ran out of juice, 12V and main pack drained, need info.
tl;dr;
The guy drained his Model S on the freeway, then drained the 12V battery, car was stuck on the side of the highway for hours in the snow with tow trucks unable to figure out how to disable the parking brake to get it on the truck. Finally realized that they needed to jump the 12V with a real source of 12V instead of a portable jump unit which did not have enough juice.

Moral of the story? Make sure the 12V battery stays alive!

^^^
tl;dr indeed.

I only popped in that thread a few times (w/a few questions/responses) but really didn't have the time nor motivation to follow such a lengthy thread over a single incident. Crazy that it's at 29 pages in a bit over 2 weeks.

Too much on my plate right now.

Thanks everyone. You guys hit it right on the head. The dealership just called to tell me my Leaf is ready to be picked up. They can not explain it, but the Aux battery died an unexpected and unexplained death. They replaced it under warranty. Now I just need to figure out how to get to the dealership.

I had the same thing happen. I simply put the 12v battery on my battery charger to get me through the week and then take the car in at a convenient time for me. I monitored the battery with my volt meter and confirmed that it was not holding a charge. The dealer also replaced it under warranty.

I just got the dreaded T/M message last night...

My 2014 S has been working fine on the original 12V battery AFAIK (I bought it in 2017). Although for the past few months, It seems like the electric window motors were slowing down after turning the car off, so I suspected the battery was slowly going downhill.

As part of my Halloween spookhouse last night, I was blasting an MP3 of scary sounds out of the car, in accessory mode with windows down and rear hatch open. Traction battery was at about 70%. But after just 2 hours, the sound began to stutter and restart. My first thought was that the radio amplifier was overheating and shutting down, so I turned the volume down, which worked for a bit, then it just shut down altogether.

I was busy scaring kids for another hour, and when I got back in the car it was all jacked up. Dim interior lights, dash display on, range "---" got the T/M error , see dealer" message. Could not turn the car off! Drivers window didn't work at all but other 3 worked VERY slowly. Plugged in L1 charger, but she wouldn't charge. Tried a cheap battery tender, no good there. Measured battery voltage, under 7 volts. Yikes! If the radio drained it that fast, there's not much capacity left.

Did a jump start from the wife's car, got a little spark through the cable fore sure. It took 2 tries (left it on longer the second time) but she came back just fine. Phew!

My local Walmart has a 51R battery for $120. 5 year warranty, 3 year replacement. I'll get that when I need it. But I'm gonna see if I can make it to January 1 with this battery, just for fun. I drive the car every day so the 12V battery gets charged, and it shouldn't get taxed too much as long as I don't leave the radio or lights on.

Edit: I left a Bluetooth OBD2 plugged in for the last 2 weeks now. Surely a minor drain, but it didn't help any.

erco said:

...My 2014 S has been working fine on the original 12V battery ...

But I'm gonna see if I can make it to January 1 with this battery, just for fun.

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Just for Fun? Why take the risk and tempt your fate? A good strong 12V aux battery is critical for safe and trouble-free operation of all Electric Vehicles. It is much more important than in an ICE car.

Interruption of the Main Contactor holding current will cause the contacts to arc and get damaged, plus the car loses traction power--do you really want to even take that risk knowing your aux is bad?

At the very least it will be a nuisance when it leaves you stranded away from home, but what about if it happens in traffic, like crossing a lane or pulling out into a lane with a big truck hauling down the road?

$120 for a walmert battery seems like cheap insurance to me.

nlspace said:

erco said:

...My 2014 S has been working fine on the original 12V battery ...

But I'm gonna see if I can make it to January 1 with this battery, just for fun.

Click to expand...

Just for Fun? Why take the risk and tempt your fate? A good strong 12V aux battery is critical for safe and trouble-free operation of all Electric Vehicles. It is much more important than in an ICE car.

Interruption of the Main Contactor holding current will cause the contacts to arc and get damaged, plus the car loses traction power--do you really want to even take that risk knowing your aux is bad?

At the very least it will be a nuisance when it leaves you stranded away from home, but what about if it happens in traffic, like crossing a lane or pulling out into a lane with a big truck hauling down the road?

$120 for a walmert battery seems like cheap insurance to me.

Click to expand...

What nlspace said is 100% accurate. Cars are extremely useful and extremely lethal tools. Treat them with appropriate caution and care.

I'm still running the OEM battery in 2011 Leaf. Since I bought the car secondhand, it may have been replaced at some point.

I charge it with a battery maintainer and I still get 12.7 volts at rest. I will run it as long as it provides good output. But if you have evidence your 12V battery is failing, get it replaced.

Look up all the posts about "brakes went to floor, Leaf wouldn't stop, replaced 12V battery, everything fine now"

Also, highly recommend an AGM over a walmart battery. Will be much less likely to fail and will last far longer.

So here it is Jan 1, I've had my "fun" and my old battery worked just fine for two months as I expected. It was ideal conditions, I live near LA, very mild climate, and drive the car every day which kept the 12V battery topped up. Also, the car stayed within a few miles of home on slow surface streets. My local Walmart (with batteries) is just 1/4 mile from my house and I drove past it several times each day.

So now I'm ready to buy a battery. Any recommendations where to buy decent AGM type? My leading candidate is this 48 month Pep Boys AGM type currently for $150: https://www.pepboys.com/champion-agm-battery-group-size-51r/product/2071617?quantity=1

Ironically, my wife's PT Snoozer battery suddenly died in December and I had to replace that immediately. She lacks my sense of challenge & adventure. Her battery was just fine until one day when it simply wasn't.

I read somewhere that lead-acid batteries in ICE cars actually benefit from the large starter motor currents, which can help to remove sulphation from the plates. The article implies that the same battery in an EV won't last as long since there is no sulphation-blasting current surge.

The Pep Boys AGM should be fine.