TCU replacement

I had a dealer replace the 2G TCU with a 3G TCU in my 2013 leaf less than 2 years ago. It took three trips to the dealer and many calls to Nissan EV support but eventually it worked. With the cold weather I tried to use it last week and found that the EV app was telling me to enter a new user/password. I checked the car and noticed two things:
1) the carwings communication icon is visible,
2) the TCU ID is blanked out in the unit id page (****), and
3) attempts to send the new user/password initially result in a B02 error. If reattempted it turns into a generic "can't communicate with center".
None of the feeds or charging stations download.

I called EV support, they say take it to the dealer. I took it to the dealer, paid $125 for diagnostics, and they said either call EV support or replace the TCU.

I see new a new TCU from nissan is $850. I see a number of junkyard 2016+ leafs with unrelated damage. I also see that the TCU support bulletins from Nissan say that any replacement TCU have to come directly from Nissan.

My first question: has anyone had any luck replacing a TCU with one from another car?

My second question: has anyone had any luck with OpenVehicle's OVMS? All I really want to do is turn on climate control remotely while the car is plugged in.

My third question: am I the only one that gets the dealer -> EV support -> dealer -> EV support runaround?

Thanks.

The runaround is nuts and I went thru that. Let's hope that Nissan has/can get better from what I went thru.

I had a saga if you search for posts by me in https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=492766#p492766. Eventually, a TSB came out (NTB18-045b) to correct the P3131 DTC and ! yellow car probs. See https://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=593009#p593009.

Before wasting too much more time, I suggest pulling the stereo fuse for maybe 15-30+ seconds to see if the issue resolves.

Unfortunately, my day job duties prevent me from answering in much more detail until later tonight.

wannamak said:

I took it to the dealer, paid $125 for diagnostics, and they said either call EV support or replace the TCU.

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At $125 (after paying $200 for the 3G TCU upgrade), you are well past the value that Nissan's TCU adds to the car. I personally suggest you don't waste more money on it.

When the 3G network becomes obsolete is there an easy way to entirely disable the TCU without triggering a bunch of fault codes, etc?

+1 on jlv's comment.

When remote access to climate control is working, it's priceless - especially in Winter. The problem is that when it isn't working because of hardware issues, it can be a real open can of worms when you try to fix that.

goldbrick said:

When the 3G network becomes obsolete is there an easy way to entirely disable the TCU without triggering a bunch of fault codes, etc?

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I would imagine there will be a way just like there was to disable 2G TCUs out of an abundance of caution. See below. Except for the potential security hole, nothing bad happened when AT&T shut off their 2G network other than the NissanConnect EV stuff no longer working.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2017/MC-10120572-9999.pdf campaign P7332
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2017/MC-10119231-9999.pdf NTB17-077

Thanks cwerdna. I guess it's not as easy as just removing a fuse but if Nissan is willing to do it for free via Consult III then that is even better.

goldbrick said:

Thanks cwerdna. I guess it's not as easy as just removing a fuse but if Nissan is willing to do it for free via Consult III then that is even better.

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Don't go to Nissan: just pull the fuse.
This is well documented in a couple of (TCU) threads, but folks need to realize that the service isn't perfect, isn't 100% up all the time (although it's been pretty good lately)...and that's why it's FREE.

Aaaah, the TCU. I too paid the $200 to upgrade my 2012’s TCU when 2G went away, and things worked. CARWINGS and it’s successor have always been a crapshoot for me at best and I learned first to never rely on it and later to not even expect it. Then I couldn’t use it at all. Dealer looked at it during a visit for other maintenance (wiper blades, cabin filter, brake fluid flush and replace) and said the new TCU now two years old was malfunctioning. It was of course well out of the warranty for the replacement part and would be about $1200 to replace, parts and labor. For my vehicle worth only maybe 3 times that amount, I opted no. So the partially handy telematics that I sometimes could use to pre-heat or pre-cool the vehicle depending upon CARWINGS status and my reception were no longer available at all. Coupled with a battery that at full charge can go only about 35 miles in city driving and far less on the highway, I really do now have a luxury golf cart.

So disappointed again with my LEAF and all the things it cannot do. Still glad I got into EV’s though, just a weak first choice.