Telematics upgrade for US import to Canada

[alozzy]

Based on all the headaches people have had with the TCU upgrades in the US, at this point I'm not willing to drive to Bellingham to throw away $200 US on an upgrade that may or may not work. Even if the upgrade goes smoothly, Nissan Connect (Carwings) is apparently still unreliable and I really don't need the frustration of dealing with an unreliable service.

I like my Leaf, but Nissan really doesn't seem to care about their customers. I've always owned used cars and have seldom had to rely on dealers as I've always done my own repair work. I'm guessing though that I'll have to rely on a Nissan dealer at some point, as the powertrain on these Leafs isn't something I'd feel comfortable messing with.

I can't see myself going back to an ICE car, so the complexities of an EV powertrain is just something I'll have to live with. I will definitely think twice about buying a Nissan in future, although I doubt a Chevy will be any better. Maybe an IONIQ? Our most recent ICE was a Hyundai Santa Fe which was by far the most reliable car I've ever owned. Hope the Leaf proves to be just as reliable over the long term. Some of the horror stories on these forums of huge repair bills (ie bent tie rod), for what should be minor repairs on other cars, is starting to freak me out.

Crossing fingers...

[sirpurrcival]

The lastest is that Jonkers is not allowed to do it anymore. I just purchased an imported Leaf and tried to register with Nissan Connect Canada and Nissan won't even let me do that. Talked to Jonkers and they have told me flat out that they cannot do it.

The best that I have been informed is that I can take my Leaf back to the US and have the Telemetrics Unit upgraded. Problem with that is that US based TCU"s use ATnT and Canada uses Rogers.

I have been told that if I do do this upgrade, I will get at least partial functionality of Carwings when I am North of the Border. But like others here have said, absolutely ridiculous implementation of this system.

In addition, I have to register with the US version of Nissan Connect and I have to have a US based address in order to make that happen. In my case, I have the ability to do these things but for a Canadian who doesn't have either proximity to the border and/or a US based address they can use, you are basically out of luck. Thumbs down Nissan.

At least on the good side of things. With 2015 and up, all upgrades are free.

IF you take it he Nissan in BLaine, they will do it for $200 usd, ( know its more that jonker) but they will do the same work. It will work fine, they just say it may not work as well to cover their butts.. THat sucks Jonker wont do it anymore..

Fortunately, as a 2015 owner, I don't have to pay a dime. I am a bit worried about the stories I have heard about the 12V power system after such upgrades. I am getting this done this week so if anyone has done an upgrade and think that I shouldn't do it, shoot me a PM or something.

[sirpurrcival]

So I had the TCU replaced but I have now come up against another problem that seems to have reared it's ugly head for some users early in this thread.

The Bellingham Nissan did the work and told me that it might take 24 to 48 hours for NissanConnect to kick in. However, I can't get past the Nissan consent agreement.

I have registered for Nissan Connect USA, I have a USA based address, my Car VIN is entered in the system but apparently it isn't communicating with their system. I suspect that I probably have to be very close to the border for the registration to happen as it seems that the Car has to communicate something to the Nissan for the agreements to be accepted. Right now, roaming doesn't seem to be either working or good enough to activate. At least that is my theory. Nissan is going to call me tomorrow and I guess we'll see what the score is. Fortunately my better half works very close to the border and if need be she can dip across the line where I can try once again to register. Very annoying however. At the end of the day, I am only going to waste so much time on this. If it doesn't work, well it only cost me a few hours in the US but it cost Nissan the replacement part and labour. Something on the order of $600.00 US.

[jerkwagon]

mine would not connect, i just unplugged my battery, it reset the nav, and works great now.. It doesnt kill my battery either.

[2k1Toaster]

Well it has been almost a year now trying to get the TCU update. I have a 2013 so I need the hardware upgraded plus the pairing service. As soon as the TSB was posted, I went in with the printed document showing everything, ready to pay and setup and appointment. Dealership was clueless, ok, it just came out I suppose. Multiple "we'll have to call you back".

Then making appointments when there is no "Leaf Tech" on site. Why would you schedule an appointment for a Leaf when there is no Leaf person required by Nissan?!?!

Gave up for a couple months, tried again, they have none in stock. Would have to order it special and make an appointment. I say do it. Never hear a word back. Call again, nobody has any idea what I am talking about.

Today I decided to try again after another couple months of giving up with them. Called the dealership transferred multiple times between departments eventually the Parts counter guy said there were 2 parts (yeah, but I have a 2013, and I know the exact P/N I need because I know my TCU-ID). Has one in stock. Excellent. Make an appointment. Another transfer, service guy won't make an appointment to replace the TCU because it is only a software upgrade. These people are clueless.

Finally had to take a half hour out of my day and physically drive down to the dealership again with everything printed out and spell it out to them. This is the TSB. This is a hardware upgrade. This is the part number. You have one sitting on the back shelf apparently. This is my TCU-ID. You will have to swap hardware and spend time on the phone with Nissan to pair it, etc.

Finally, almost a year later and countless hours wasted driving to the dealership, talking to the dealership, and making time only for cancelled appointments I might finally have an appointment. I confirmed the Leaf Tech would be there that day.

I swear if my TCU isn't upgraded by the end of next Tuesday when my appointment is, I will torch this car and leave it to burn at the Nissan dealership.

[tlk]

I've learned a lot from this thread and feel obligated to share my story with getting Carwings to work.
I bough my 2015 Leaf SL in October this year. The dealer (Platt Auto) took the car to the Dick Hannah Nissan to clear recalls. The dealership has updated the telematics unit as part of the recall process.

Once I received the car (drove it 300 kms from the US border to Calgary, which was quite an adventure - no quick chargers in Alberta) I created a Nissan USA account using a US mailing address. Couldn't add my car to the account since it was still attached to the previous owner's account. I had to talk to a Nissan support via online chat. The support gentlemen was very helpful, asked for a proof of ownership, address, phone etc., and added the car to my account. After that I was able to accept NissanConnect term and conditions and received a pin and a password.
Entered the pin and the password into the car's carwings settings and (after quite a bit of waiting) was able to see the charge level, turn on/off climate on the NissanConnect web site.

The Nissan USA mobile app did not worked for me. I read that I should install NissanConnect EV app. Well I couldn't find the app on the android Play store for my HTC One M8. So I installed the NissanConnect app. After a bit of fiddling I gave up trying to add my car in the app.

Then I tried the third party Leaf Manager app. The Manager managed to connect but still was very unstable giving me error 401 when trying to update the status.

Finally I've installed the Canadian Zero Emission nissan app, selected USA, entered my credentials and the app just worked. It's still slow but it's the most stable app from the three I tried.

Question: I was expecting that the app would allow me to start/stop charging remotely. That feature doesn't seem to work ... with a trickle charging at least. When the EVSE is plugged into the car and the car is charging, I can see the start remote charging button "OK". The button seems to do nothing, since the car is already charging. The remote charging "Cancel" button is disabled. Not a big deal for me. I'm just curious how the remote charging is supposed to work.

[jake14mw]

Well it has been almost a year now trying to get the TCU update. I have a 2013 so I need the hardware upgraded plus the pairing service. As soon as the TSB was posted, I went in with the printed document showing everything, ready to pay and setup and appointment. Dealership was clueless, ok, it just came out I suppose. Multiple "we'll have to call you back".

....

Finally, almost a year later and countless hours wasted driving to the dealership, talking to the dealership, and making time only for cancelled appointments I might finally have an appointment. I confirmed the Leaf Tech would be there that day.

I swear if my TCU isn't upgraded by the end of next Tuesday when my appointment is, I will torch this car and leave it to burn at the Nissan dealership.

Just checking to see if your Leaf is a crispy charred mess.

[2k1Toaster]

Well it has been almost a year now trying to get the TCU update. I have a 2013 so I need the hardware upgraded plus the pairing service. As soon as the TSB was posted, I went in with the printed document showing everything, ready to pay and setup and appointment. Dealership was clueless, ok, it just came out I suppose. Multiple "we'll have to call you back".

....

Finally, almost a year later and countless hours wasted driving to the dealership, talking to the dealership, and making time only for cancelled appointments I might finally have an appointment. I confirmed the Leaf Tech would be there that day.

I swear if my TCU isn't upgraded by the end of next Tuesday when my appointment is, I will torch this car and leave it to burn at the Nissan dealership.

Just checking to see if your Leaf is a crispy charred mess.

Almost.

I dropped the car off around 7am where they told me they had no loaners... So I Ubered it. I got a call around 3pm saying that they did 2 recalls but the TCU wasn't updated because they don't have the part in stock. Seriously. I went ape $hit on them telling them that was the only reason the car was there and that I had confirmed in person it would be in stock for that service. Someone then drove down to the other dealership in town who had one in stock and they put it in. I picked it up later and the TCU ID was correctly the new version.

It doesn't work though. Anytime I try to Sign-In to the account, it fails as it cannot connect to information center. I finally called the Nissan EV line yesterday and the lady on the phone immediately put me on hold to get the higher up. Apparently the idiot "Leaf Tech" tried to activate my TCU with my SIM ID (IMEI) and not the TCU-ID. Nissan's server say I still had the old TCU (never updated by the tech) and the Nissan Server Unit-ID was my new SIM-ID and the Nissan Server SIM-ID was my old SIM-ID. What a cluster of incompetence. She was rightly confused as well and after me giving them the info they are starting the real activation on their end. I am supposed to try today to sign in again, but it didn't work last night (about 6 hours later).

I've got an appointment to go look at a new Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid in a few weeks. Pure electric for 20 miles, plus a gas engine and I won't ever have to deal with Nissan dealerships again. The fact that they didn't even have a loaner car for me, was ridiculous. If I drop the Lexus off for an oil change, I get a brand new loaner car for up to 2 days and unlimited miles no questions asked. The Porsche is 10x the cost of the Leaf, but so be it. I gave Nissan a bunch of money to help advance the tech, and the Nissan has been nothing but problems. Compared to other cars, I am sure it is great. But it is not up to snuff for what we usually drive. Crooked body panels from the factory (TN), a seat belt in the rear that after the first use never recoiled and Nissan won't fix, and then it was out of commission for 4 months or maybe 6 months as I waited on Nissan to ship a door skin to the body center after the car was hit-and-run in a parking lot. I love the idea of a Leaf, but I completely soiled on the idea of Nissan at this point. If the TCU unit finally activates and works, then I will keep it. It will probably get parked in one of the garages and left to rot.

[gmcjetpilot]

I just updated my TCU in my 2015 the SV zI just bought. I made appointment and showed up with car. I told him I wanted the TCU campaign update 2 to 3-g no chatge. When I got the car all it said was disabled TCU unit. I said why didn't you upgrade it. They said it was going to cost $199. I called Nissan on the spot; they gave me the code. 2014 and earlier they do charge, but 2015 and later no charge for a new 3-g TCU. They admitted they were wrong, but like others have posted they didn't have the part in stock, even though I made the appointment specifically to do this.

I went back the next week and they put it in pretty quickly no charge, and I was able to register and login. It works pretty good. It's a little slow; it takes time to update, but for free not a bad deal. Do two things if you upgrade make sure the dealer has the part in stock. And if you have a 2015 or later call Nissan and get the code for the free upgrade so they don't try and charge you.

[lucasgary]

Just wondering if anyone has seen issues around 2016 Leaf's.

I just got mine, it was bought from a dealer who sourced it in the states.

I was able to get set up by calling US nissan support, but I can only get a connection when I drive close to the US border. I was however able to sign in when I was near blaine and that worked fine. Otherwise I get the red slash through the car (No Service).

I thought he 3g/2g issue was prior to 2016 models.

Maybe roaming is fully disabled now?