Water Pump 1 failure on 2012

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nice find on the alternate pump part number! will save people here lots of money over time i'm sure. And thanks for taking and posting some pics too.

will remember this for when mine eventually needs servicing.

cheers
Marko
 
I purchased our 2011 Leaf recently and the 12 v battery went dead immediately.I replaced it and had a million codes and that ev system failure light. After buying leaf spy and clearing the codes the P31E9 and light remained. After looking through the forum I was able to go directly to the cooling pump and diagnose it easily. Many thanks to everyone's posts and especially to etunnel for the great post. I bought the same pump on ebay for $126.00 and easily installed it and it worked immediately and turned out the ev light. Only problem was that one of those stupid hose clamps broke while still on the pump making the job a bit longer.
 
Wow. I followed the instructions set out by etunnel and got my 2011 Leaf fixed in about an hour and a half! I paid $125 for the part from an ebay seller, the pathfinder version of the pump, it just slides right out of the bracket as etunnel said. I bought a siphon pump from autozone for $6.

All in this fix cost:
- $20 for LeafSpy Pro (to verify issue)
- $125 for new pump
- $6 for siphon pump
- 1.5 hours of my time

Considering that the cost to have it fixed by a dealer is $1,100 I would say that a good hourly return! Weird ticking sound is gone, error codes are gone, everything is running great.

Thank you etunnel for your insight and great photos. Anyone else, if you have this issue with your leaf and you have a pair of channel lock pliers to remove the clips, this is the easiest way to save $1000 you'll find this year.
 
av8or said:
I just popped the hood and checked to see which pump is making noise.

When car first starts up, water pump comes on at normal speed after a few seconds. There are no warning lights on dash at this point. Then about 15 to 20 seconds later, the yellow warning light comes on, and the water pump RPMs increase.

The pump making the noise is on driver side under the battery - I believe that one is OK.

The other pump, a small one on passenger side, is making no motor noise. It does make a gurgling sound, and some bubbles are appearing in the reservoir above it. I pulled the power plug for the pump and noise didn't change at all, so it is not running at that point.

Both reservoirs are full, and I am not seeing any leak issue.


Hi, Im currently also hearing more noise of the driver passenger side pump. Wondering why your pump nr 2 was fine when it makes more noise? Would the defect pump (number 1) make the working pump louder, as it might not be working at all?
Regards
 
My 2012 Leaf had the same symptoms: EV warning light , P31E9 code, and whining sound. The sound was loudest on the driver's side which made me suspect that it was something else but the #1 water pump. I finally decided that it was the radiator fan going into high speed because it sensed that the pump was not working.
I ordered the pump on ebay. It was listed as a 215803JV0A or 21581-3NA0A. The price was $190 plus tax. It is identical to the one in the car except the mounting bracket is different. I took it out of the mounting (a rubber padding) by sliding it out. In addition to the new pump you need a small pair of channel lock priers and a siphon pump.
First, I disconnected the electrical plug from the old pump. Next, I siphoned the coolant from the reservoir above the pump. Next, I removed the two screws holding the reservoir in place. This allows you to slip the pump from the padding and lift it up to access the spring clips on the hoses. Do not remove them but slid them down on the hose. Notice that they have a marking across them that allows for setting them back in the same position to prevent leaks. Once the two hoses connected to the pump are disconnected, reconnect the hoses to the new pump and slid the clips back into place. Push the new pump into the padding, connect the electrical plug, reattach the reservoir to the body and refill with the coolant you siphoned out.
It took me about one and a half hours from start to finish. No more EV warning light and whining sound. I saved about $800 for my efforts.
 
Thank you to everyone for all of the information in this thread! I purchased the pump on ebay and replaced pump #1 following the directions in the previous few posts. Those damn clips don't have much wiggle room, and it definitely takes some muscling to move them the inch or so to get them to release.

After reassembly and putting the drained fluid back in, the red warning indicator on the dash was no longer displayed, and verified that the new pump was alive and pumping. I checked the codes with Leaf Spy and the code for the pump failure was still displayed, so I cleared it and all has been good for the past week.

I find it absolutely absurd that the dealership charges over 1000 bucks for this repair. 600 would be better, but that's still 400 an hour.

Thanks again!
Mick
Penryn, CA
2011 Leaf 90K miles 11 bars on battery replaced under warranty in 2015
 
Figured I'd bump this thread up rather than starting a new one. Looks like the days of the cheap Infinity/Nissan hybrid pumps being cheap on ebay are over. That said, it looks like the pumps for the 2013-2017 are around $250 vs 400+ for the 2011-20212. Does anyone know if the later years of the gen1 leaf use the same pumps as the 2011-12?
 
I had to replace passenger side water pump. I ordered a used (may be from a salvaged) from 2018 Leaf. It was not same one. The Inlet was oin the same direction. Outlet was downward facing. I had to re-route the hose - bring it down and make the hose facing up, so that I could connect it to the pump. It took a while, but worked alright.

I also flushed the coolant, since my Leaf did 1350K miles.
 
Hi, I’m new to the forum. We need to replace our water pump 1 and it sounds like e tunnel has some great advise on how to do that. How do I access the e tunnel thread?

Hallette
 
I've never heard of e tunnel. Have you checked youtube for videos on this repair? My brother replaced the water pump on our dad's 2013 SV. I don't know how similar that is to a 2012 but I could ask him about it if that would help. IIRC, he said it was a pretty simple job.
 
Not quite sure why I am doing this, it was just a matter of actually reading through this thread properly...

https://mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=540261#p540261
 
Hi - Had my first ever serious warning light come on this week on my 2012 Leaf. It was the yellow warning light. I picked up an OBD2 and LeafSpy and determined that a water pump is issue:

DTC: P31E9 00C0 EV/HEV Water Pump 1 EVC-314

As soon as the light came on, I made a u-turn and returned home, as I was less than a block away. My question is - is it okay to drive to a repair shop with this unresolved issue? Or does it need to be towed? As I mentioned above, the warning light was yellow, not red. I think it is the passenger side water pump, if that makes a difference.

We are still trying to decide if we can install a new pump ourselves or if we need to take it somewhere. Since my car has been maintenance free for 10+ years I haven't paid attention to who is servicing Leafs other than the dealers. Can you tell me if there are 3rd party repair shops willing to work on Leafs these days? Or is the dealer my only option if we can't DIY?

thanks,
Nancy
 
MsHanson said:
Hi - Had my first ever serious warning light come on this week on my 2012 Leaf. It was the yellow warning light. I picked up an OBD2 and LeafSpy and determined that a water pump is issue:

DTC: P31E9 00C0 EV/HEV Water Pump 1 EVC-314

As soon as the light came on, I made a u-turn and returned home, as I was less than a block away. My question is - is it okay to drive to a repair shop with this unresolved issue? Or does it need to be towed? As I mentioned above, the warning light was yellow, not red. I think it is the passenger side water pump, if that makes a difference.

We are still trying to decide if we can install a new pump ourselves or if we need to take it somewhere. Since my car has been maintenance free for 10+ years I haven't paid attention to who is servicing Leafs other than the dealers. Can you tell me if there are 3rd party repair shops willing to work on Leafs these days? Or is the dealer my only option if we can't DIY?

thanks,
Nancy

Unlike a gasser where water pump failure can damage the engine within minutes, it would take much longer for the same to happen to an EV. Gentle driving, even coasting in N, will slow the heating process. The key is minimize power out AND in (minimize regen) so yeah, get up to speed, coast in N, use friction braking to stop if you think the situation is dire which it would not be unless you are driving in extreme heat.

I had a partial failure where the pump still operated but had a broken impeller which means it ran at full speed most of the time. Tech stated I was probably getting less than 20% water flow and the bearings probably wouldn't have lasted more than another week.

FYI; DO NOT charge at home. DC charging DOES NOT require cooling while AC charging does and all cooling on the LEAF is radiator based using the water pump.

It was a "few" weeks (I was busy) before I managed to get my pump replaced.
 
Thanks @DaveinOlyWA!

I appreciate the tip on AC charging. Fortunately I charged up the night before the warning light came on, so I’m in good shade to get to a mechanic.
 
Check YouTube for videos about how to replace the pump or check the service manual available at nicoclub.com.

My brother replaced the water pump on my father's 2013 Leaf and he is just a normal mechanic who normally works on GM cars so it is certainly possible to find a regular mechanic who can do the work. Of you could probably do it yourself. On the 2013, it didn't require much more than to drain the coolant, replace the part, re-fill the coolant. No high-voltage lines needed to be moved or touched. Hopefully the 2012 is the same.

Remember that 2011 and 2012 are quite different than 2013-2017 in some ways so be sure to follow the manual or how-to for the correct year if possible.
 
the 2013 (and tru 2017) water pump is not the same as the 2012. bracket faces a different direction. any info out there on experience replacing the pump on a 2013 ? the clamps and hoses all look the same but the bracket fasteners don't look to be accessible from the top...?
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0wnQ29aAQw

I found an interesting video about pump repair. I will try to repair the pump for repair I need FDD8444 transistor and it will take some time to get it. What do you think, can I drive with the P31E9 error code because it's winter time now and things probably don't overheat. You can see that the coolant is circulating in the reservoir.
many thanks
 
Atkam said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0wnQ29aAQw

I found an interesting video about pump repair. I will try to repair the pump for repair I need FDD8444 transistor and it will take some time to get it. What do you think, can I drive with the P31E9 error code because it's winter time now and things probably don't overheat. You can see that the coolant is circulating in the reservoir.
many thanks

In my case, I had a broken impeller so I had approx 10-15% function (based on mechanic's estimate) so a HUGE factor in my ability to drive the car and my issue happened in late Summer so far from cold. The difference in temp was less than 20º in most cases before/after pump replacement so not sure how effective even a little circulation mattered? Realize with no circulation, the water will heat up rapidly with no way to cool down.

that is the problem with water; it takes a relatively long time for the temperature to normalize so you could have near boiling water in one place, near freezing in another.
 
I had a water pump failure on my 13, 1 of the speeds gave out, I think I only had low speed. The car would only partially charge , I guess it overheated and that stopped the charging cycle. Bought a OEM pump off of Ebay and just used the old existing rubber mount with new pump. Some thread on this site had the link to pump and great price. Easy swap out, did loose coolant and anticipated it and purchased a nissian gallon.
 
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