2013 Leaf - Dead 12-Volt Battery every 2 Weeks

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They finally got the telecommunications functions working again and wouldn't you know, within a week I had a dead 12V battery on two consecutive days (5.5V and 4.7V respectively). The Executive level consumer-affairs person (alleged to be the highest level person I can talk to) claimed to have information that the replacement TCU was of some newer design and thus she expected it to solve the problem. But alas, it did not. The last person at her level left the position after promising me rainbows and unicorns--got promoted and changed his phone number. Now I'm with with someone new who needs to get back up to speed (i.e. "just wait longer.") (By the way, Nissan should train its people not to ignore telephone messages for days). Dealer and DTS are stumped. I'm very tired of talking to know-nothings because the engineers are not "customer facing." I really liked the LEAF and its features when it worked.

I am afraid I'll end up liquidating it and going with Chevy or Tesla.
Anyone want a 2013 LEAF whose 12V battery stays charged so long as the TCU is disabled (for a good price)?
 
Another status update (a/k/a "vent"): My 2013 3G-TCU-upgraded LEAF SL has failed to start under its own power each morning for the past week+, each time, needing to be jump started (because of the TCU-induced 12V battery drain). The third "executive" level person I was passed to asked me to bring the car into the dealership (again!) to have it looked at. Of course, I resisted, since it made no sense to bring it in for the bazillionth (small exaggeration) time, given the known design issue I was told existed. I contacted the dealer, nonetheless, and after they discussed my car with the DTS, they advised me that indeed there was no point in bringing the car in yet again. There was nothing the DTS or the dealer could do until Nissan implemented a new design (or software fix or whatever) for the TCU for the pre-2016 Leafs.

So on those instructions, I obviously did not bring the car in. They did not want it. I called back my sole contact at Nissan North America, Freddie King, and he, not so eloquently, told me that because I did not bring in the car to DTS as he wanted, Nissan would do nothing further for me and he would no longer talk with me. He said he was "closing the case."I told him what the dealer/DTS had just said about the inspection and its futility. King said that's not "what he understood." I asked King what his understanding from the DTS was. He literally refused to tell me and simply repeated that since I had not brought the car in to the DTS, my case would be closed.

I asked if I could speak with anyone else, his supervisor, etc. He said I could not. Wow.

I understand that technical problems may be hard to track down (and I assume some engineer somewhere is working on a resolution), but this isn't how to treat concerned customers just trying to get stuff resolved.

So, I guess I'll pull the TCU fuse and sell this as a lemon. <disappointment in Nissan>
 
I'm part of the TCU Vampire club too.

Here is the behavior I observe:

1) The first indication that the TCU has gone into Vampire mode is getting the Yellow Triangle and there is no ability to get updates from the Leaf via the app or getting plug-in reminders.

2) I open up Leaf Spy Pro to check the codes and sure enough I'll have a somewhere from 1-8 codes, but the one that is ALWAYS there is P3131 EV.HEV System Shutoff Timeout.

3) Pulling the TCU Fuse for 30 seconds seems to do nothing to change the behavior

4) The next overnight in the garage, the battery will be flat dead (< 10VDC)

My (band-aid) solution:
Pull the negative battery cable for at least 15 minutes. Generally I pull of the cable overnight and put it on the BatteryMinder to put a full charge on it.

This seems to reset or reboot something in the car including the clearing the DTCs. The TCU will behave itself for the next 2 weeks - 3 months.

Why is this different? No idea.
Why does it start screwing up in the first place? No Idea.
Why doesn't it happen all the time? No idea.

Sorry, all I know is what seems to kick the TCU back into non-Vampire mode.

What I do know is I am a little OCD about monitoring my car with LSP and I know the battery is not just slowly draining over time until it's too weak to sustain the overnight Vampire treatment. I have left it in the garage for 2 weeks plugged into the EVSE and everything was fine. When I did replace the battery at the 3 year mark following a Vampire mode round, I drove it for a week, went on vacation for a week with it plugged into the EVSE, drove it for a week when I got back, and on the following Saturday it went into Vampire mode with the yellow triangle. It never killed the battery because I did the disconnect and everything has been peachy for the last 3 weeks.

While in Vampire mode I've tried a couple tests. I have tested in by charging the 12v in place in the car to full capacity during the day and overnight it will kill it again. If I pull (and leave out the TCU fuse) it won't. If I put the fuse back in, dead overnight again.

Just my $.02. Hope that helps some of you dealing with this on a multi-time a week basis.

P.S.
Nissan is really screwing the pooch on dealing with this. I've finally got my dealer trained to not deny there is a problem when I talk to them, but I know they are still denying the problem to others. I fear that Nissan will never fix the problem as if it was resolvable with a software patch they would have done it by now. That leaves it as a TCU replacement (again) and an expense they won't want to absorb. They'll deal with the complaints until they're all out of warranty or someone brings a class action.
 
PrimeRisk said:
I'm part of the TCU Vampire club too.

Here is the behavior I observe:

1) The first indication that the TCU has gone into Vampire mode is getting the Yellow Triangle and there is no ability to get updates from the Leaf via the app or getting plug-in reminders.

2) I open up Leaf Spy Pro to check the codes and sure enough I'll have a somewhere from 1-8 codes, but the one that is ALWAYS there is P3131 EV.HEV System Shutoff Timeout.

3) Pulling the TCU Fuse for 30 seconds seems to do nothing to change the behavior

4) The next overnight in the garage, the battery will be flat dead (< 10VDC)

My (band-aid) solution:
Pull the negative battery cable for at least 15 minutes. Generally I pull of the cable overnight and put it on the BatteryMinder to put a full charge on it.

This seems to reset or reboot something in the car including the clearing the DTCs. The TCU will behave itself for the next 2 weeks - 3 months.

Why is this different? No idea.
Why does it start screwing up in the first place? No Idea.
Why doesn't it happen all the time? No idea.

Sorry, all I know is what seems to kick the TCU back into non-Vampire mode.

What I do know is I am a little OCD about monitoring my car with LSP and I know the battery is not just slowly draining over time until it's too weak to sustain the overnight Vampire treatment. I have left it in the garage for 2 weeks plugged into the EVSE and everything was fine. When I did replace the battery at the 3 year mark following a Vampire mode round, I drove it for a week, went on vacation for a week with it plugged into the EVSE, drove it for a week when I got back, and on the following Saturday it went into Vampire mode with the yellow triangle. It never killed the battery because I did the disconnect and everything has been peachy for the last 3 weeks.

While in Vampire mode I've tried a couple tests. I have tested in by charging the 12v in place in the car to full capacity during the day and overnight it will kill it again. If I pull (and leave out the TCU fuse) it won't. If I put the fuse back in, dead overnight again.

Just my $.02. Hope that helps some of you dealing with this on a multi-time a week basis.

P.S.
Nissan is really screwing the pooch on dealing with this. I've finally got my dealer trained to not deny there is a problem when I talk to them, but I know they are still denying the problem to others. I fear that Nissan will never fix the problem as if it was resolvable with a software patch they would have done it by now. That leaves it as a TCU replacement (again) and an expense they won't want to absorb. They'll deal with the complaints until they're all out of warranty or someone brings a class action.

Thank you for this. This lines up exactly with my experience. Really frustrating that there is a definite problem and they won't fix it. I wonder if I go in and have my 12V battery warranty replaced every time it happens if they'll eventually give me a new TCU.

Actually, that sounds like more trouble than filing a class action lawsuit.
 
Haven't read your entire post but...
PrimeRisk said:
1) The first indication that the TCU has gone into Vampire mode is getting the Yellow Triangle and there is no ability to get updates from the Leaf via the app or getting plug-in reminders.

2) I open up Leaf Spy Pro to check the codes and sure enough I'll have a somewhere from 1-8 codes, but the one that is ALWAYS there is P3131 EV.HEV System Shutoff Timeout.
To mitigate the P3131 DTC and yellow ! car, try http://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=521089#p521089. As I said, it seemed to help Stanton, as well.

I haven't hit the above in a long time now. Clear that DTC and try my workaround.

The 3G TCU not responding to queries or command still happens sometime of them, at random and a fuse pull for the audio system "fixes" it.

I don't have dead 12 volt issues, but I tend to charge up my 12 volt with a Tecmate Optimate 4 about once a week to hopefully allow my replacement 12 volt to last longer since the '13 Leaf does a terrible job of 12 volt charging.
 
powersurge said:
That's why I am happy I got an S... Nothing to go wrong, and a like new 12v battery....
Me too.
The TCU sounds like a whole lot more trouble than it is worth.
I think all the EV car companies to one degree or another have 12v drain problems but Nissan seems to have more and their willingness to solve hardware/software bugs is pretty piss poor. I've resigned myself to keeping analytics and car communication to a minimum.
 
cwerdna said:
I don't have dead 12 volt issues, but I tend to charge up my 12 volt with a Tecmate Optimate 4 about once a week to hopefully allow my replacement 12 volt to last longer since the '13 Leaf does a terrible job of 12 volt charging.
I also have a '13 LEAF (built 10/2013) and just replaced the 12v last month for the first time. So far it seems to be staying at 12.5 v (90% of capacity) for our use. My only nod to keeping it happy is to not have remote comm and to only plug in a couple times a week when SoC is below ~ 30% to minimize the time the car is plugged in but not charging.
 
:cry: Leaf forum. I just purchased 2014 Leaf SL with 40K and 10 battery bars. I have had it for about 30 days. 2 weeks ago I spent the $199 to upgrade the TCU so I can utilize the App. In 2 weeks my 12v battery died and yesterday I was left stranded. Thankfully these forums confirmed others with the same issue. Had to have my Leaf towed to the dealer who will see what they can do on Monday. I chatted with a Nissan rep yesterday. They started "we are aware that there have been cases where the new TCU can drain the 12volt battery" What the heck Nissan?? You are knowingly inserting a defect into our vehicles . Very disappointed and embarrassed as I had friends and our plans for the day totally ruined. I have owned Nissans for the past 25 years. Beginning to question my recent Nissan purchase. I have owned(Maxima,Pathfinder,Xterra,Altima,Rogue)

Thinking Class Action Lawsuit anyone interested in joining ?
 
tbog1 said:
:cry: Leaf forum. I just purchased 2014 Leaf SL with 40K and 10 battery bars. I have had it for about 30 days. 2 weeks ago I spent the $199 to upgrade the TCU so I can utilize the App. In 2 weeks my 12v battery died and yesterday I was left stranded. Thankfully these forums confirmed others with the same issue. Had to have my Leaf towed to the dealer who will see what they can do on Monday. I chatted with a Nissan rep yesterday. They started "we are aware that there have been cases where the new TCU can drain the 12volt battery" What the heck Nissan?? You are knowingly inserting a defect into our vehicles . Very disappointed and embarrassed as I had friends and our plans for the day totally ruined. I have owned Nissans for the past 25 years. Beginning to question my recent Nissan purchase. I have owned(Maxima,Pathfinder,Xterra,Altima,Rogue)

Thinking Class Action Lawsuit anyone interested in joining ?

I am not interested in a class action--I have only had a handful of times that my upgraded TCU needed to be reset (see information about disconnecting 12-volt battery or pulling fuse). You could have just jump started the Leaf and driven it to charge the 12-volt battery. I doubt there is anything the dealer can do except clear error codes and charge the 12-volt battery. They could remove the TCU, but you will lose remote access.
 
tbog1 said:
:cry: 2 weeks ago I spent the $199 to upgrade the TCU so I can utilize the App. In 2 weeks my 12v battery died and yesterday I was left stranded.?

I think you are in a particularly good position. You paid for the TCU to be upgraded and you got a bum TCU. Since they have admitted there is an issue, I'd be demanding that they either fix the issue or refund your money.
 
Update! Last post that commented I could have jumped it. It was completely dead. Dealer confirmed that. They charged it but died for them as well.

Action taken: Nissan contacked and said they are aware of the TCU upgrade draining the 12volt. No fix on the horizon. They paid for my battery replacement. We turned off the TCU until a fix is found. Don't need the app that much to play a guessing game if my LEAF will start or not. I recommend calling Nissan and logging a formal case. 1-877-664-2738 option 1 then 4. They said when known they will probably have a mailer home.

I asked WHY if you know of this issue do you allow Dealers to install the TCU. They started because they didnt know which ones are bad. I said EXACTLY you need to inform your dealers. Mine had no idea (at least that is what they stated). Been 15months since the new TCU upgrade. A bit concerning they can't figure this out. They wont give me my $199 back BUT are doing the right thing by paying for a new battery that their TCU killed.

Thank you to all who posted on this.
 
I got the 3G TCU upgrade on my 2015 Leaf on February 26, 2018, and haven't noticed any effect on the 12V battery.

Connectivity seems to be strongly location-dependant. Always works in the parking lot at work, never works when it's in my garage.

Are these 3G TCUs used in other Nissan models, or only in Leafs? I was surprised that the Nissan dealer I went to had one in stock, but if they're also used in other Nissans, that would explain it.
 
My dealer had one on the shelf and one they ordered in for mine just in case another customer came in. The Master Tech confirmed the parasitic drain was the TCU. Had Nissan Leaf Consumer Affairs call me back (Will was his name and a Great help)

They approved paying for a NEW 12v battery as a result of this known issue. He said most likely they will have something from Nissan or Dealership mailed home once they figure this issue out. For now they advise turning off the TCU if you dont want a surprise dead battery. That is what I chose to do. Cant afford to get up and be surprised. Sure you can jump it but in my case it was so dead wouldn't even accept the charge

Just still amazed it has been going for about 15months with numerous owners having issues and no fix in sight. Find it hard to believe . I do love the LEAF and zooming by has stations. Very comfortable car. I had a host of Nissan SUVs for the past 22 years and was hesitant at 1st but can honestly say it is a quality built car. Look forward to many years ahead with the LEAF
 
Wow. So I picked up my newly-purchased 2013 SL yesterday and this morning I tried to register at the Nissan owners portal to see about Carwings etc. Got an error code--in the subsequent online chat with the service person, I was advised that I should get the $199 TCU upgrade so that I could avail myself of the services...or I could have the 2G TCU deactivated for free. No mention of any 12V battery issues associated with the upgrade. I specifically asked if there was a reason I ought to have the old TCU deactivated, I was told no, that there's no harm in leaving it.

Wow. Just...wow. Glad y'all are here. Thanks.
 
GomerK said:
Wow. So I picked up my newly-purchased 2013 SL yesterday and this morning I tried to register at the Nissan owners portal to see about Carwings etc. Got an error code--in the subsequent online chat with the service person, I was advised that I should get the $199 TCU upgrade so that I could avail myself of the services...or I could have the 2G TCU deactivated for free. No mention of any 12V battery issues associated with the upgrade. I specifically asked if there was a reason I ought to have the old TCU deactivated, I was told no, that there's no harm in leaving it.

Wow. Just...wow. Glad y'all are here. Thanks.

To get an account for remote access to the car, you need to provide Nissan with proof of purchase showing the VIN number. Unless the TCU has been, or will be, upgraded to a 3G unit, there is no point in doing so. The 2G service across the US was shut down over a year ago. The existing TCU will continue the search, but will never connect. There is no mention of the 12V issue from Nissan, because it doesn't affect enough people for them to openly admit it is a problem. I have to do a fuse pull about once a month to reset the TCU, but other than that it works without issue.
 
GomerK.
Yes they also encouraged me too at Nissan to do the $199 upgrade to utilize the App. I do not believe the people encouraging the upgrade are aware of the 12v issue as they are completely different departments. If you call 1-877-664-2738 and press Option 1 and option 4 you will speak with Leaf customer support. They are well aware of the issue. As the other person stated not enough have issues for a recall BUT they are working in a fix and will alert owners when they have a fix and will have dealers fix the TCUs.
My advice is DONT upgrade until resolved or you will end up with a surprise dead vehicle and need a tow. I dont believe in having to pull a fuse or trickle charge my 12v yo have an App work. I'll wait till a firm fix is in place.

Best of luck! Yes these chat rooms are a wealth of info. Thank you ALL!!! Great to share experiences . Great car overall. Just wish they would fix the TCU 3G soon
 
baustin said:
I have to do a fuse pull about once a month to reset the TCU, but other than that it works without issue.
When you say "works without issue", I've a question:

Are you getting text messages? My TCU, with the occasional fuse pull, works just fine for remote status, but I haven't gotten a text message (or app notification) like "charging complete" for a few months.
 
jlv said:
baustin said:
I have to do a fuse pull about once a month to reset the TCU, but other than that it works without issue.
When you say "works without issue", I've a question:

Are you getting text messages? My TCU, with the occasional fuse pull, works just fine for remote status, but I haven't gotten a text message (or app notification) like "charging complete" for a few months.

I'll jump in here: the "charge complete" messages (which are highly important to me) require settings in the car (console) and web (account) to work. I can't walk you through them, but that is something that Nissan support should be able to do if the manual isn't clear enough.
I used to the the "fuse pull" until I removed all my "saved charging locations" from the car...and now my TCU "works without issue"...without doing anything (for many months now).
 
Stanton said:
I'll jump in here: the "charge complete" messages (which are highly important to me) require settings in the car (console) and web (account) to work. I can't walk you through them, but that is something that Nissan support should be able to do if the manual isn't clear enough.
I used to the the "fuse pull" until I removed all my "saved charging locations" from the car...and now my TCU "works without issue"...without doing anything (for many months now).
Yes, I know they require that setup. I've been getting them for happily for about 80% of the 4 years that I've had the car (didn't have them for the 6 months between when the 2G went away and when I paid $199 for Nissan to enable the battery-drain problem).

Are you still getting them? When was the last one? I've not gotten any since around February. I didn't change anything on my car, and as best as I can tell they are still set up correctly in the car and in the web portal. They stopped about 1 month after the new version of the app came out (but the app shouldn't have anything to do with it).

I can still do remote status updates from the app (or web) to poll the car. Just no notifications or SMS messages.


FWIW: I have no "saved charging locations" and have still had the TCU lockup.
 
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