2018 Nissan Leaf (US edition) - Location of OBD2 port

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jgassor

Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2018
Messages
9
Location
Southern California
I recently purchased a 2018 Nissan Leaf SL in California. Loving my first EV. I want to hook up LeafSpy Pro but cannot locate the OBD2 port. I have seen pictures posted from the UK release but the location of the port doesnt appear to mirror the UK edition (obviously with steering on the right of the car instead of the left in the USA).

Has anyone reported the location of the port in the US editions of the 2018 Leaf and if so, can tell me where to locate it? I am familiar with the port itself as have used it in many other cars I have owned but it has either been very well hidden by Nissan or has been removed from my SL.

Thanks in advance!

James
 
Thanks for the reply LeftieBiker. When I look below and to the left of the steering column, on the underside of the dash, I see a rectangular hole which is approximately the size of a standard OBD2 port, but the port itself is missing. I am highly suspicious that it came from the factory like this (there were 31 miles on the odometer when I purchased this new) and that the port is completely missing.

I am planning a visit to the dealer this Wednesday anyway, and will bring this up with them. I wanted to get confirmation that I didnt need to remove any part of the dash (underside) in order to locate this. From what you are saying, on your 2018 Leaf, that the port should be easy to locate. Believe me, I have had my head fully underneath the panel with my head on the pedals and I could not find it!

James
 
I have a 2013 Leaf, so they may have moved it. I suspect not, though - if you have the opening in the same place, I'd expect the port to be there. Here's hoping I'm wrong! There are people here using LeafSpy on new 2018 Leafs, though, so you should get a definitive answer.
 
jgassor said:
Has anyone reported the location of the port in the US editions of the 2018 Leaf and if so, can tell me where to locate it? I am familiar with the port itself as have used it in many other cars I have owned but it has either been very well hidden by Nissan or has been removed from my SL.
On February 9, I plugged my ODB2 dongle into a 2018 Leaf. The socket is under the dash below and to the left of the steering wheel, as in previous years. It's the only thing under there with a trapezoidal shape.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=25250&start=100#p518880

If I see another 2018, I'll take a picture so you can compare the underside of your 2018 dash with one from which the ODB2 socket has definitely not been removed.
 
TheLostPetrol said:
On February 9, I plugged my ODB2 dongle into a 2018 Leaf. The socket is under the dash below and to the left of the steering wheel, as in previous years. It's the only thing under there with a trapezoidal shape.

Thanks so much TheLostPetrol (very cool name :) ). I now suspect that the port may just be floating loose up inside the underside of the dash, instead of being exposed in the rectangular opening that is the size of the ODB2 port. I have a scheduled appointment at the Nissan dealership tomorrow morning to fix the steering assist button which was broken when I drove off the premises and I discovered it the next morning and reported it to the salesman. Steering assist works fine with ProPilot, but you cant disable it with that button (its stuck down). I also noticed that a press stud is missing from the underside of the driver dash, making me more and more suspicious that someone was screwing around under there before I purchased the car.

Either a technician at the dealership has messed around under there or Nissan's quality control at their assembly plant needs a serious review. As I mentioned, there was only 31 miles on the odometer when I bought this, so it should have been showroom perfect, but on the day I took this home we found scratches on the black fascia plate that surrounds the shifter knob and also minor scuff marks on the passenger side roof rack track (it has a plastic insert, no metal damage). The dealership agreed to replace these free of charge and also detail the car as it was pretty dirty when I picked this up (it was the only SL in stock and I didnt want to leave the showroom empty handed!)

My conversation with them in the morning should get real interesting. I will report back with my findings.

James
2018 Blue Nissan Leaf SL
 
LeftieBiker said:
What is the build date of your car? It's on a sticker on the driver's door sill.
First time I looked at that particular sticker. It shows 02/18. I thought it may also show which plant it was built at but doesnt seem to, unless its in a coded format?

James
2018 Blue Nissan Leaf SL
 
I can see the ODB2 port!!!

When I lift the steering column after loosening the tilt lever, leaving a gap between the bottom of the dashboard and the steering column, I can see the OBD2 connector towards the back of the dash, sitting on top of some insulation foam material. They obviously had to disconnect it to remove the bottom portion of the dash (for whatever reason) and didnt reinstall it properly, I am wondering if someone tried to fix the broken steering assist switch and gave up, but didnt bother to reinstall the panel properly.

At least I know it has not been physically removed (and why would have just escaped me!). I was going spare trying to locate it originally, thinking it cant be this hard!

Hopefully this problem wont affect any other owners in the same fashion, and maybe this thread may help someone else out. The tip is to lift the steering column all the way up to provide a peep hole under the dashboard, above the foam lining.

Thank you so much for your assistance this week. I appreciate the support. Catch you in other threads :)
 
jgassor said:
LeftieBiker said:
What is the build date of your car? It's on a sticker on the driver's door sill.
First time I looked at that particular sticker. It shows 02/18. I thought it may also show which plant it was built at but doesnt seem to, unless its in a coded format?

James
2018 Blue Nissan Leaf SL

Thanks. North American leafs are built in Smyrna TN. You might want to record this in the defects topic.
 
LeftieBiker said:
jgassor said:
LeftieBiker said:
What is the build date of your car? It's on a sticker on the driver's door sill.
First time I looked at that particular sticker. It shows 02/18. I thought it may also show which plant it was built at but doesnt seem to, unless its in a coded format?

James
2018 Blue Nissan Leaf SL

Thanks. North American leafs are built in Smyrna TN. You might want to record this in the defects topic.

Sounds more like a mildly abused demo car, maybe not a factory defect. Some people like to smash buttons afterall...
 
NavyCuda said:
LeftieBiker said:
jgassor said:
First time I looked at that particular sticker. It shows 02/18. I thought it may also show which plant it was built at but doesnt seem to, unless its in a coded format?

James
2018 Blue Nissan Leaf SL

Thanks. North American leafs are built in Smyrna TN. You might want to record this in the defects topic.

Sounds more like a mildly abused demo car, maybe not a factory defect. Some people like to smash buttons afterall...

I would agree with you NavyCuda. Pretty amazing with only 31 miles on the clock when I bought this at the end of March and the car was only built in February 2018. I took the car in to fix the minor stuff (OBD2 port now back installed where it belongs) like the OBD2 port, passenger side weather stripping in the roof rack area, air bubble in the plastic protective door strips etc. All that got fixed but they didnt have the steering assist button in stock to replace it and they didnt want to try and fiddle with it, so they ordered that as a new part. That may take a couple of weeks to come into stock. Been weeks waiting for a new black shifter fascia that was all scratched up and I told them to replace it.

Other than the steering assist button being broken, the rest was just cosmetics, but were easy to spot and correct before selling to a customer. Either bad quality control at the assembly plant or bad handling at the dealership. I wont drop it till they get it all fixed on principle more than anything. The steering assist works just fine with ProPilot enabled, you just cant toggle it off and on via that switch. I could disable steering assist in the settings but I want it on most of the time!

Thanks!
 
I was wondering how demo abuse would explain the broken off ODBII port, but then I thought of LeafSpy. We may want to be extra careful when plugging our readers into a 2018, as I'll be doing later today.
 
LeftieBiker said:
I was wondering how demo abuse would explain the broken off ODBII port, but then I thought of LeafSpy. We may want to be extra careful when plugging our readers into a 2018, as I'll be doing later today.

I would be very surprised if anyone had plugged in to run something like LeafSpy (except for me, which is what I wanted to do with it and now its working just fine). Just feels like it was sloppy work with whoever fitted that particular panel at the assembly plant. Cant think of any reason anyone at the dealership would have had to remove that panel on a brand new car with 31 miles on the clock (likely from moving it on and off the trailer or giving demo rides)

I think it will just remain a mystery, which as of now is resolved at least (until they get my replacement steering assist switch!

Cheers
 
Tried to snap a picture of the ODB2 port--it's there just below and to the left of the steering column... Port is white in color.

ODB.Port.jpg
 
LeftieBiker said:
That's a useful photo. Thanks for posting it.

Totally agree, very handy picture for people to use as a point of reference. Still puzzled as to how this got missed in quality control at Nissan on my Leaf but at least the port is back where it belongs and is working fine.

Many thanks for the picture upload!

James
 
mkwilkes said:
Is it OK to leave the OBDII scanner plugged into the port permanently?

Probably not, unless it has auto power off. Most remain on while the car is off, and if they don't drain the accessory battery they can corrupt the car's communications eventually, IIRC.
 
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