Can't start 2018 S Model 40kWh

Can't start 2018 Leaf S Model 40kWh. Got a "Service EV system No Power" error message. Tried the 12 V battery, no luck.

Any suggestions? I don't want to pay to tow it to the dealer. It's a long drive to get there.

This error message should get you a free tow by the dealer, to the dealership.

Tortoisehead77 said:

... Tried the 12 V battery, no luck.

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What does this mean?

Did you measure the voltage of the 12V battery? What did it read

did you try to charge the 12V with an external charger?

Did you disconnect the negative and positive terminals to try a reset?

did you try to jump start?

I tried what I thought was a known-good 12 battery that I charged with a trickle charger. No luck with that.

I then called Nissan roadside assistance to have the car towed, but then when the tow truck driver showed up he insisted that we try to jump start it because neither one of us could figure out how to put the dead Leaf into Neutral. It was parked in the wrong direction in my driveway and we wanted to push it to turn it around so the front end could be lifted up.

To my surprise the jump start worked and I then drove to the dealership. The dealer just called me and said that my 12 volt battery is bad. So, either I have two bad 12 volt batteries or I did something wrong. The new battery will be covered under warranty.

This is all good, but now I'm wondering how to put a dead Leaf in Neutral? My Google research has turned up empty so far.

You pretty much have to "jump start" it.

i suspected this was due to a weak 12V. i had a similar story in which the 12V was too weak to start and the 12V was only 17 months old.

The "alternator" of the Leaf is a DC-to-DC converter that takes the pack HighVoltage and converts it down to run the 12V accessories plus re-charge the 12V starter battery. For some reason it doesn't hold the recharge voltage high enough to desulfate the cells, and over a year that leaves the battery in a weak and damaged state.

A trickle or automatic float charger is a good idea to extend the life of any 12V, but especially so for the leaves.

Glad you got it fixed easily and thanks for sharing your result.

Hold shifter to the left until it's in Neutral.

Fishinrich said:

Hold shifter to the left until it's in Neutral.

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I just experienced this situation & I was getting the car to come on but it wasn't really & throwing major errors codes & the car WON"T just go into neutral.

You will need to jump the 12 volt battery if it won't go into Neutral. That won't eliminate all the codes but you should get Neutral.

I am not sure when the change was made, but the procedure to put the 2019 in neutral is much more involved than the older cars (2018 might be the same). The car will go into neutral by holding the shifter to the left, but it will automatically go into park when the driver releases the brake pedal, unbuckles the seat belt, and opens the door (probably a liability issue to make sure the car is not in neutral when the driver gets out of the car). This makes it impossible to put the car in neutral, get out, and push it around the garage. The owner manual set that comes with the car does not tell how to put the car in neutral to be able to push it, but refers to the Roadside Assistance Guide which can be downloaded from Nissan Publications. That guide says to depress brake pedal, move shifter to left and hold until car goes into neutral, then disconnect 12-volt battery negative cable while holding the brake pedal (so it takes 2 people). Through some testing so I would know how in an emergency, I found that the car will stay in neutral if the brake pedal remains depressed or the seat belt remains buckled. Therefore, one can buckle the seat belt on the empty seat, depress the brake pedal, move the shifter to the left until the car goes into neutral, release the brake pedal, and then push the car as needed. The car will stay in neutral as long as the seat belt remains buckled.

Yikes. And good workaround - thanks for sharing it.