?catastrophic transmission failure?

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hutch

New member
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Mar 8, 2019
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The problem has been coming on over the past few weeks--when I pressed the accelerator, there was a delay 'till the car "chunked" into drive, and when I put it in park it would creep a foot or so before halting abruptly. Now my 2012 Leaf won't move, and I can hear the motor spinning. I can't find any reference to this problem online, and of course the local dealer hasn't seen it before, since they've hardly seen a Leaf before. I live in the mountains, and need to figure out if this is worth the $500 tow bill just to find out if the car will need it's whole value in repair.
 
Yikes. There is no "transmission" in the usual sense, just a reduction gear and presumably some kind of differential, or something that functions as one. I can't think of a failure that would let the car move, but only a little. I'm guessing it's the drive motor that has issues...
 
Just a WAG but could it be something stuck in the electric parking brake? I guess to test you could put it in neutral on a flat area and see if you could push the car, I suppose you could also jack it up and see if all wheels easily spin?? Like Leftie I haven't read of anyone having a similar problem so I'm just grasping at straws.
Oh, any error lights on the dash?
 
a cheap test would be to drain the transmission fluid out and see if chunks/metal comes out of there. That would confirm something screwed in the transmission. If the fluid comes out looking alright then just put fresh fluid in and you can say that wasn't the problem. There is a how-to here if you search my username.

Marko
 
estomax said:
a cheap test would be to drain the transmission fluid out and see if chunks/metal comes out of there. That would confirm something screwed in the transmission. If the fluid comes out looking alright then just put fresh fluid in and you can say that wasn't the problem. There is a how-to here if you search my username.

Marko

If you want to do this, the Leaf doesn't actually have a transmission, it has a gearbox (fixed gear--no shifting). So the process you want done is to change the gearbox reduction oil, and check to see if there are metal bits in the oil.

Keep in mind that some small metal shavings are expected in the gearbox reduction oil (there's a collection magnet), but certainly not chunks or parts. If you can read a part number, you've got a problem. ;)
 
LeftieBiker said:
Yikes. There is no "transmission" in the usual sense, just a reduction gear and presumably some kind of differential, or something that functions as one. I can't think of a failure that would let the car move, but only a little. I'm guessing it's the drive motor that has issues...

A couple of broken teeth on the driven gear?
 
Nubo said:
LeftieBiker said:
Yikes. There is no "transmission" in the usual sense, just a reduction gear and presumably some kind of differential, or something that functions as one. I can't think of a failure that would let the car move, but only a little. I'm guessing it's the drive motor that has issues...

A couple of broken teeth on the driven gear?

Maybe, I guess...
 
You might be able to get the car to move under power by pushing it a couple of feet. That would move the driven gear so that good teeth would be in contact with the drive gear (if failure is due to broken teeth). As others have mentioned, reduction gear oil change would give some information. Drain and fill plugs have magnets which normally collect fine metal shavings that almost look like metal paste. Large pieces of metal on the magnets or in the drained oil would confirm failure.
 
Hi all,
Dose the dash indicate the position of the gear selector? P D R or N for neutral?
If not I would suspect the gear selector switch.
Greg
 
Any update? I seem to have a problem with my 2011 Nissan Leaf where when it's in D (As opposed to Economy mode) it sometimes "chunks" before driving. I think too many fast starts may have caused that. But now it feels like from time to time depending on the speed one of the tires (it feels like) is slipping off a gear (that the feeling) and it pulls to the right.
 
The best case scenario is that it's a broken half shaft, spline shaft or CV joint etc.. just something downstream of the diff.
That can be determined from outside the car by any mechanic. Please keep us updated on this one!
 
ddh1313 said:
The best case scenario is that it's a broken half shaft, spline shaft or CV joint etc.. just something downstream of the diff.
That can be determined from outside the car by any mechanic. Please keep us updated on this one!

...in which case, you'll know what it WAS when the wheel falls off. :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Have it checked out...
 
And people think I'm crazy for saying to change the gear box oil every 40k or 50k miles.
 
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