"Visit Dealer" message on dash

My Leaf had charged to 80% overnight and in the morning I took the kids to the local nature preserve which is about 20 miles away. After we were done hiking I got back in the car, turned it on and cranked the AC all the way up a it was 103F outside. All of the sudden the yellow and red triangle warning lights came on along with a message that said "Visit Dealer" popped up. I put the car in reverse and all the warning lights and message disappeared and none have come back the last two times I started the car. Any ideas?

I think the batteries got hot while you were out hiking,a few seconds after you started the car the fans came on to cool the batteries and the warnings dissapeared..

mark13 said:

I think the batteries got hot while you were out hiking,a few seconds after you started the car the fans came on to cool the batteries and the warnings dissapeared..

Click to expand...

I had thought the same but only had 6 bars on the battery temp.

mark13 said:

I think the batteries got hot while you were out hiking,a few seconds after you started the car the fans came on to cool the batteries and the warnings dissapeared..

Click to expand...

I would totally agree... if there were only fans in the battery pack...

Seriously though, go to the dealer and have the code scanned.

I am dropping it off at the dealer Monday. The behaviour is weird though. I am used to the way my ICE vehicles throw codes, you get a check engine or warning light and it is on until you clear the code (this is how my Jeep, the VW before that and the Honda before that worked. My Leaf on the other hand shows "Visit Dealer" and then I never see a warning or warning light again. I would rather see a check engine or warning until I (or whoever) clear the code even if the error is transient.

I got a CarWings message from Nissan that said that I had 7500 miles on my car and that I should schedule a visit to a dealer.

Except I don't have 7500 miles. Not even close.

Took the car to Courtesy Nissan this morning, was in and out in about 10 minutes in a loaner car. They called me a couple hours later and said the code was or the parking break actuator overheating, which was interesting since the car wasn't moving and had been sitting for several hours. They said the actuator checks out and had worked 14 times since I got the error without issue. They said if the error crops up again they would replace the part. Glad it wasn't anything battery related. Always fun having the first run of car.

Comforting to know it's not something that's likely to strand you, although now would be a good time learn the location and operation of the manual parking brake release if you don't know already.

davewill said:

Comforting to know it's not something that's likely to strand you, although now would be a good time learn the location and operation of the manual parking brake release if you don't know already.

Click to expand...

Exactly on both. Checked the manual and service manual and carry the needed tools just in case

We had the idiot lights come on recently . . . . "tires". The dealer programmed for a rotation at 3,000 miles. That was 1,200 miles ago. You can go into the menues and program / re-program schedules for more reasonable time frames. The little ticky tack things like that don't effect warranties.

TonyWilliams said:

I got a CarWings message from Nissan that said that I had 7500 miles on my car and that I should schedule a visit to a dealer.

Except I don't have 7500 miles. Not even close.

Click to expand...

multiple reports of that. i think it like Hill said, dealer settings

i have 6900 on mine and nothing, but then again something would imply my dealer actually did something beyond the very basics of new car delivery (half of which he did not do)...

TonyWilliams said:

I got a CarWings message from Nissan that said that I had 7500 miles on my car and that I should schedule a visit to a dealer.

Except I don't have 7500 miles. Not even close.

Click to expand...

multiple reports of that. i think it like Hill said, dealer settings

i have 6900 on mine and nothing, but then again something would imply my dealer actually did something beyond the very basics of new car delivery (half of which he did not do)...

The First couple of days I saw twice "Visit Dealer" and the "Brake" was flashing. I took it in on Monday and after looking at it said the code was the parking break actuator overheating. If it continues they will look into it.

pawsouth said:

The First couple of days I saw twice "Visit Dealer" and the "Brake" was flashing. I took it in on Monday and after looking at it said the code was the parking break actuator overheating. If it continues they will look into it.

Click to expand...

Interesting, are you located some place hot? (Was 103F when mine came on for that reason)

The maintenance manual we get with the car (remember? RTFM? ) states that if you get the "Yellow Triangle with Exclamation Point" (as well as the "Yellow Car with Exclamation Point") icon - you are supposed to take the car in for service. This Yellow Exclamation Point Icon (inside a triangle and inside a car outline - 2 icons ... how's that for dumb redundance) happened to US around the end of April. I turned the car off ... then back on. The icons cleared. Even so, I did just like the book says - took the car in. What'd they do? Nothing.
"Um ... well ... um ... er ... well ... it seems to be ok now (scratching head) ... why don't you just drive it and bring it back if it does it again".
What am I supposed to do ... yell at them for being to lazy to pull codes? We let them off the hook and asked them if it would be easier to determine what the problem is, if the Yellow Triangle comes back. Naturally they said "YES" .... regardless if whether that was true.
Winding forward to today. BOOM. Same thing - only now it's 3 months later. Yellow Triangle/Exclamation Point and Yellow Car/Exclamation Point. I pull off the freeway and (again) return to Tustin Nissan (The Leaf is sitting over at Tustin Nissan right now, even as I tap away on the keyboard here). I remind them of the conversation back in April, "Remember me? ... Yellow triangle boy?" they did remember. "Remember you said it'd be easier to see if it was anything with the lights actually on? ... well? here I am ... here's the Leaf ... lights ablaze now ... well? Service tells me, "well, maybe it's because your tires need to be rotated". I remind service people that the display says, "TIRES" when tires need to be rotated ... and that the books says to take it to the dealer when the light comes on. Anyway ... rather than pull codes with the light still on - they turned it off - then on - and now the light is off. How's that for a fix. After a bit more coaxing (ONLY after coaxing) the service folks are pulling codes. So here I wait. Is it just me? Or do others find it bothersome when you have to coax service people into doing a thorough job.
Maybe it's just me ... feeling like we're already being dogged with the charger/RFI issue. Now there's 2 things to wait on.
(sigh)

hill said:

The maintenance manual we get with the car (remember? RTFM? ) states that if you get the "Yellow Triangle with Exclamation Point" (as well as the "Yellow Car with Exclamation Point") icon - you are supposed to take the car in for service. (sigh)

Click to expand...

My intermitant yellow brake warning turned out to be a defective brake control module

DarkStar said:

mark13 said:

I think the batteries got hot while you were out hiking,a few seconds after you started the car the fans came on to cool the batteries and the warnings dissapeared..

Click to expand...

I would totally agree... if there were only fans in the battery pack...

Seriously though, go to the dealer and have the code scanned.

Click to expand...

There are no fans that cool the batteries on the LEAF, period. It could have sent a temporary error code for many reasons. If it were serious it would not start again. If you do not disconnect the battery cable the code will remain in the system to be read later.

EVDRIVER said:

DarkStar said:

mark13 said:

I think the batteries got hot while you were out hiking,a few seconds after you started the car the fans came on to cool the batteries and the warnings dissapeared..

Click to expand...

I would totally agree... if there were only fans in the battery pack...

Seriously though, go to the dealer and have the code scanned.

Click to expand...

There are no fans that cool the batteries on the LEAF, period. It could have sent a temporary error code for many reasons. If it were serious it would not start again. If you do not disconnect the battery cable the code will remain in the system to be read later.

Click to expand...

Oh, really? Perfect timing!

Dealer just called. He's telling me, "Duuaaahhh nothing shows up as an error code". Great. So, in essence ... there's NO code to read? Is that possible? Wana take a stab at that? Maybe just a numb skull tech?
Anyway ... the shuttle is coming back so I can go get my Leaf back.

There does not have to be a code. A warning light does not have to mean a definite code event. If i did not have a continuous light I would leave it alone.

i am a few days away from 7500 miles and to be honest with ya i still havent seen any of these messages and i am beginning to wonder if they may have popped up and i simply did not notice them especially if power cycling the car is all that is needed to remove them.

hmmm... should i start looking for some thing that is not working right?? i am having problems averaging better than 6 miles per kwh... did it once about 2 months ago and have not been able to do it since.