Understanding How To Use Leaf Spy Pro error codes

Recently picked up this 2015 Leaf SV from a salvage auction. The dash shot is all of the info I have. We want to get it up so we can get LSP data from the battery and be able to get it out of Park. The car is in mint condition body wise and would use it if we can get it booting up.

Here is the screenshot from my Leafspypro DTCs on my 2015 Leaf SV with 27k mi. only dash readout is the odometer, same for LSP. SoC, SoH bars are missing on the dash. LSP says 8 DC charges and 1124 L1/L2 charges

DTCs https://imgur.com/a/hslwEMj

Dash https://imgur.com/a/NUbzJdB

Have you tried clearing all the codes with LSP? And disconnecting/reconnecting the 12V battery?

It sure looks like the car is having major CAN communications issues. Any damage anywhere or missing/broken/burned wires visible?

Most importanty, do you have any history on the car? Why was it junked if the body is mint?

A good start would be to search for each DTC in the Factory Service Manuals. Not easy, but very informative.

First one I looked at: B2192
The ID verification results between BCM and VCM are NG. Means Intelligent key not recognised. Check that the vehicle can be set to READY using registered Intelligent Key.

So many DTC, it's like doing a puzzle to fix the car.

https://www.nicoclub.com/service-manual?fsm=Leaf/2015

Codes were cleared then this set of codes were found.

We have no history as to what happened to the car.

Thanks for any assistance. If we can get it figured out and the traction battery is fair we we will drive it and find another parts car after winter to rebuild the 2016 SL.

I am not sure what I am doing wrong, but I cannot view the images you posted to imgur. I saw the Leaf Spy DTC list image once, but could not see the other image. Then I could not see the DTC image when I tried to go back and look at it in more detail. It is clear from my brief look at the DTC's that there is a major issue with CAN Bus communication which is preventing the various modules from communicating. It is a guess as to where to begin troubleshooting without knowing history of the car. Is there any sign of water (flood) damage? If not, I would try disconnecting the intelligent brake controller (master cylinder) connector since it is a 2015 and there were a few issues with those modules. After disconnecting a module, try clearing DTC's then disconnect/reconnect the 12V battery, clear DTC's again, and see if car will boot. You could step through disconnecting one module at a time and try this process each time if you want to go through that much effort. Since you say the body is mint, I am suspicious that the car failed and basic troubleshooting was either unsuccessful or pointed to repairs in excess of the value of the car.

What is the voltage of the starter battery when OFF and during START?

i would suspect that the main pack is totally drained, but it could be a weak aux battery causing spurious readings.

nlspace said:

What is the voltage of the starter battery when OFF and during START?

i would suspect that the main pack is totally drained, but it could be a weak aux battery causing spurious readings.

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None of the 3 charge level dash lights every burn so the traction may be totally drained but we still have to learn and understand if they can even burn with all of the other codes. We started with the new Diehard Gold at 12.8v and soon it was reading 12.08v.

GerryAZ said:

I am not sure what I am doing wrong, but I cannot view the images you posted to imgur. I saw the Leaf Spy DTC list image once, but could not see the other image. Then I could not see the DTC image when I tried to go back and look at it in more detail. It is clear from my brief look at the DTC's that there is a major issue with CAN Bus communication which is preventing the various modules from communicating. It is a guess as to where to begin troubleshooting without knowing history of the car. Is there any sign of water (flood) damage? If not, I would try disconnecting the intelligent brake controller (master cylinder) connector since it is a 2015 and there were a few issues with those modules. After disconnecting a module, try clearing DTC's then disconnect/reconnect the 12V battery, clear DTC's again, and see if car will boot. You could step through disconnecting one module at a time and try this process each time if you want to go through that much effort. Since you say the body is mint, I am suspicious that the car failed and basic troubleshooting was either unsuccessful or pointed to repairs in excess of the value of the car.

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Thanks for pointing out a good starting point based on the LSP error list. There is no sign of flood damage. According to the IAA windshield auction sticker which I removed and saved before we cleaned up the car Erie Ins - Silver Spring MD was the adjusting agent. Date of Loss was 09/03/2020 and Loss Type was listed as Other which makes sense because there is no visible damage period. Date of Loss just means when the claim was filed most likely so the car could have been disabled for a long before. Brown's Fairfax Nissan Fairfax VA was the seller when new.

My early objective is to learn the SOH of the traction battery and was going to try to DC charge it at Walmart the other day but due to Christmas shopping there was not room to pull along side of the charger. I am not sure it will even DC charge with all of the errors. The 120v cable would not start charging and the fault light comes on.

I would have pulled the cable at the master cylinder this morning after I dropped the wife off at work but the 17F temperature discouraged me plus the son had a Christmas breakfast with in-laws. I got our 2016 SL in Oct 2019 to take the wife to work (30 miles each round trip) after breaking her hip due to getting bumped in the horse lot. Mornings like today I am really missing the Leaf heat pump system.

Another reason I got the 2016 SL was to teach the kids about EV ownership. I turn 70 in two months and the kids are 23. Teaching trouble shooting to son is important to me. We got the new 40 kWh battery in Feb 2020 and the son and I pulled an all nighter driving to DC and back none stop. Well we did get 2 hours of sleep waiting for IAA yard to open Monday morning. When I was driving on the way back he was googling about what could be wrong. He had already been reading the 2015 Nissan shop manual.

If it is the dangerous 2013-2015 brake issue that can cost $1000's to properly fix we still have a quality parts car to fix up our totaled 2016 SL because we need seat belt retractors and front air bags as well as windshield and everything forward of the motor. A 2006 Toyota van shoot a red light shearing 18" off the nose of our Leaf after our car impacted its right rear door. The van was rolled on to its top and slid for at least 100 feet in a 35 MPH zone. The daughter and wife were just taking off after the light turned green when the impact occurred.

Hopefully we will be able to figure out how to get this car in neural and check out the battery soon. I have always wanted to tear down a Leaf battery.

I was able to open the images on my iPad. The image of the dash is consistent with all of the CAN Bus communication errors--the combination meter (dash display) does not know what to display. The DTC list from Leaf Spy is full of communication errors so it is likely all related to CAN Bus communication. I just suggested to try disconnecting the intelligent brake controller because it is a rare, but known issue on 2015--there is nothing in the DTC list to suggest that it is truly failed. I think you will need to get beyond the lock mode and ID discord errors before you can go very far troubleshooting (B2192, B2604, P1610, and P1611 in your Leaf Spy DTC list). Since the 12V battery is being discharged whenever you have anything powered, I suggest you connect an external charger to keep its voltage up to 13 or so while you are troubleshooting.

Your description of the car is interesting--insurance payout would normally be related to collision or comprehensive coverage and not mechanical or electrical failure. Perhaps the car was stolen, run completely dead, and then recovered. Another possibility, although unlikely, is a severe power surge during charging caused by nearby lightning strike (act of nature as far as insurance is concerned). I doubt that you can get it to accept any charge (L1/L2 or DCQC) without getting enough CAN Bus communication functional for the LBC (lithium battery controller inside the battery case) to communicate with the onboard charger and VCM (vehicle control module).

Can you search for service history using the VIN to get any clues (maybe even call the original selling dealer)? Also, there were a few times when I had to clear DTC's caused by public charger communication issues before being able to charge my 2015 at another station (either L2 or DCQC) so I will reiterate that the communication issues probably need to be solved before it will charge.

GerryAZ said:

I was able to open the images on my iPad. The image of the dash is consistent with all of the CAN Bus communication errors--the combination meter (dash display) does not know what to display. The DTC list from Leaf Spy is full of communication errors so it is likely all related to CAN Bus communication. I just suggested to try disconnecting the intelligent brake controller because it is a rare, but known issue on 2015--there is nothing in the DTC list to suggest that it is truly failed. I think you will need to get beyond the lock mode and ID discord errors before you can go very far troubleshooting (B2192, B2604, P1610, and P1611 in your Leaf Spy DTC list). Since the 12V battery is being discharged whenever you have anything powered, I suggest you connect an external charger to keep its voltage up to 13 or so while you are troubleshooting.

Your description of the car is interesting--insurance payout would normally be related to collision or comprehensive coverage and not mechanical or electrical failure. Perhaps the car was stolen, run completely dead, and then recovered. Another possibility, although unlikely, is a severe power surge during charging caused by nearby lightning strike (act of nature as far as insurance is concerned). I doubt that you can get it to accept any charge (L1/L2 or DCQC) without getting enough CAN Bus communication functional for the LBC (lithium battery controller inside the battery case) to communicate with the onboard charger and VCM (vehicle control module).

Can you search for service history using the VIN to get any clues (maybe even call the original selling dealer)? Also, there were a few times when I had to clear DTC's caused by public charger communication issues before being able to charge my 2015 at another station (either L2 or DCQC) so I will reiterate that the communication issues probably need to be solved before it will charge.

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Gerry thanks so much for your continued quality input. The daily high temperatures should be above freezing in a couple days so we can get back to stepping through these issues. In the cold yesterday we did get it transferred from the U-Haul car trailer to our 22' tilt equipment trailer by getting a pair of wheel dollies from Harbor Freight for the front wheels. My son has looked at how to get 12v across gear box lock so it will release so we can roll it around but has not found a simple way.

After the holidays I will check with dealership and a national Leaf rep. Based on prices I have seen in web accounts these kinds of things are very expensive and the reason the car was in a salvage auction. IAA is a good source for parts cars but are not cheap. I need to get where I can get some battery data and if it happens to be OK I can recover some of my money. As I noted this job is giving me a chance to work my my son who is 46 years younger than I am. If we master Leaf trouble shooting it will be helpful down the road working on our 2016 SL. I will let you know when we test with the master cylinder wiring disconnected.

A new aux battery sitting on the shelf at the auto parts store may read 12.8, but is not fully charged as seen by it dropping to such a low reading. Sounds like a good charging session is needed to de-sulfate the plates from the over-discharge.

With the CAN buss not working (possibly due to low aux voltage) there can be no DCDC converter action taking place to recharge the aux.

sounds like a fun project, good luck with getting it working

Thanks nispace. It is a great project. First objective is to understand what is going on to cause these codes. After we started watching this 2015 SV auction we saw the same lost of display data on our 2016 SL that is setting striped of bent sheet metal. We connected a charger and all the data returned. We took a new battery that was on a charger/desulf box for 3 days hoping for the same results but no dice.

The old gear head in me has mental stress parting out a 5 year old 27K mile car in mint condition inside and out. I hate unknowns so I have spent a lifetime turning unknowns into knowns. If this car has the critical braking failure the parts may just cost too much. Our 2016 was totaled and just the needed parts from Nissan was $13,000. Our 2016 SL had no technical issues before the guy ran the red light so getting it back on the road is Job #1.

Seeing our 23 year old son drilling down on the issues with this 2015 SV is exciting. In part I got our 2016 Leaf to teach the son and his twin sister about EV's but I did not expect her to total it. She and her mom are recovering OK so we are learning more about EV issues than planned. If the traction battery Died Hard the car is only good for parts. If we can prove the battery is very healthy selling it will help offset our cost to rebuild our 2016 SL. I love the 4 cameras since I have no spine or head movement but the 2020 150 mile range battery makes it a keeper.

It sounds like you are an old timey troubleshooter so i'm sure you will figure it out.

If aux is known to be good, and verified as such, then i would pull every fuse and relay and clean the contacts and give it a try maybe one at a time if finding the root cause is important; or just pull and clean them all, then try if it doesn't matter which circuit is the culprit.

i wouldn't start pulling brake modules and such until you get basic 12V functionality back working, although there is a big 12V capacitor module in the e-brake system that pulls a big slug of current everytime it has to recharge.

i revived a "dead" 2012 that the dealership said had a bad main pack; their troubleshooting is limited to strictly reading DTC codes and following the steps--no out of the box thinking allowed.

My b-g twins are only 18 and she drives the laef now; he would drive an EV if it were a Tuskla.

Boy-Girl twins can get interesting at our house we learned.

Growing up on a cash free farm in the 50-60's I learned troubleshooting from my Dad. As an AT in the Navy in the 1970's I got to attend A and B electronic schools in Millington TN. In the 90's I got into building and servicing of personal computers before moving to software development.

I have told the son we are going to step through the fuses first.

What did you find wrong with the Leaf you mentioned?

A weak and worn out OEM aux battery (only 17 months old).

The car had been towed to the dealer service dept, and evidently they didn't even think to check the aux or give it a charge. Car was towed back to the owner and dumped in their driveway--they wanted out and quickly sold it cheap. i put in a new aux and drove it home.

Can you use the function in Leaf Spy to read the ID codes/version numbers for all of the modules? If so, it would indicate that the individual modules are at least somewhat functional. In looking at your DTC code list, it is not clear to me that there is any communication from the LBC (lithium battery controller, aka BMS for battery management system) that is inside the battery case. Also, most of the errors in your list are consistent with a weak 12V battery. Don't worry at all about the steering angle sensor calibration error (AV-88 or U1232 0108) because that will clear after the car is successfully started and the steering wheel is turned lock-to-lock a couple of times. It is due to loss of memory in the audio/video system due to weak 12V battery.

Just to reiterate--I doubt there is anything wrong with the intelligent brake controller and master cylinder so don't do anything more than temporarily disconnect the connector for testing. I just mentioned it because it is a rare, but know issue on 2015 model year Leafs and the original unit in my 2015 intermittently caused CAN Bus communication errors which required 12V battery disconnect along with Leaf Spy DTC code clearing to restore normal operation.

Thanks. Tomorrow my son is going help do some troubleshooting with a hot battery.

Leafspy does report two bits of information besides those codes. One is the odometer miles and the voltage of the 12v battery as it discharges at a fast rate after the start button is depressed. The blue tooth doggle flashes like crazy so it is live.

Not even one of center blue charge lights burn. If traction battery is truly dead then it shot I guess. The old 12v battery was flat. The insurance claim was filled 4 months ago.

Tomorrow maybe we'll get more bits of information. LSP is showing some battery voltages and temps . I haven't figured how to blank that screen to make sure it is valid new data.

The fast discharging of the 12v battery means there's a massive 12v load somewhere. I will get a charger on the 12v battery as we test like you said.

If you mean the 3 blue lights on the top of the dash in the center, then I don't expect them to light unless an EVSE (or DCQC) is connected and there is appropriate network communication. Again, no bars on the display in front of the steering wheel is due to lack of CAN Bus communication. Also, substantial discharge current from 12V battery during startup is normal--you normally don't see it because DC-DC converter takes over quickly. Good Luck tomorrow!

It sounds like it might be worth putting a clamp-on current probe on the aux battery to measure this high current draining load. It is not normal to discharge a new or full battery just by pressing the start button, and a high discharge could be pulling down the 12V supply buss across all the ECUs and preventing boot up and operation.

Using the current probe along with pulling fuses one at a time might reveal the culprit drain circuit.

What modules does LeafSpy have to be accessing to display VIN, odometer and # of L1 L2 charges,?