2019 Leaf Tekna - no cabin heat

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pcspinheiro

New member
Joined
Oct 9, 2020
Messages
3
Hello everyone,
long time reader but first post around here. I'd like to get some opinions/feedback on this annoying issue. In August we bough a used (2019 model, 13.000 km) leaf Tekna and the wife couldn't be happier with how easy it is to drive in the city and in the crazy climbs to ours kids' school. However, the nights are now cold-ish and, since the car sits outside, heating it during the commute is a must. Unfortunately the air coming into the car is essentially as cold as the outside air and if the air con is used for defogging then it's even colder. Since it's under factory warranty we took it to the local Nissan dealer and they say "they're working on it" but the rest of the conversation told me they don't seem to have a clue. He said the electric heater is probably not working, but when I said this has a heat pump it sounded like news on the other side of the line - though they did not say it.

So, does the 40 KW leaf have resistive heating? If so, why would both this and the heat pump fail simultaneously? so that no heat is reaching the cabin? Is it not more likely that some flap-operated vent is not directing the air toward the hot end of the system? When they mentioned eventually disassembling the dash I froze for a second there, as they will for sure never make it fit properly again...

Did someone with the leaf 40 ever run into a similar issues? What did the problem turn out to be?

Thanks in advance!
 
The Gen II Leaf SV can have a heat pump OR lack one, depending on whether or not it has the All Weather Package. If it has heated seats and steering wheel, then it has the heat pump. The SL has the heat pump in all cases. The S never has the heat pump. If the resistance heater (AKA "PTC") has failed, you will get heat only when outside temps are above roughly 30F. If the car has no heat pump, then failure of the PTC means zero heat.
 
I don't know if ours has any "Weather Package". I forgot to mention that I'm in Portugal, so models may differ here. Ours is the Tekna Pro Pilot with full LED lights, BOSE sound system, heated, cream colored leather seats and heated steering and what appears to be all - or almost all - the bells and whistles, except maybe for exterior trim, as it's a single tone and no chrome on doors. They're supposed to let me know something by tomorrow, but the eventual prospect of having them dismantle the dash is... well, I lack the polite expression, sorry :D
We'll see and I'll post back as it may help others.

Cheers!
 
pcspinheiro said:
I don't know if ours has any "Weather Package". I forgot to mention that I'm in Portugal, so models may differ here. Ours is the Tekna Pro Pilot with full LED lights, BOSE sound system, heated, cream colored leather seats and heated steering and what appears to be all - or almost all - the bells and whistles, except maybe for exterior trim, as it's a single tone and no chrome on doors. They're supposed to let me know something by tomorrow, but the eventual prospect of having them dismantle the dash is... well, I lack the polite expression, sorry :D
We'll see and I'll post back as it may help others.

Cheers!

I'm fairly sure that you have what is known as the "SL" in North America. If so, then it should have the All Weather package as standard equipment. Now, how cold are the nights there getting? If the resistance heater fails, and the outside temp drops below a little under 0C, then you would get so little heat from the heat pump that it would seem like none at all.
 
Oh, no! Night temps are still around 8-14 ºC or more and rarely drop below 0 ºC in winter. Maybe on a few nights with frost, but it's usually above 0 ºC when we drive to work.
Today I heard back from Nissan who, a week later, tell me the car has no heat pump and that it must be the resistance heater. The problem is, I'm not convinced they know what they are saying... And now they are talking about removing the whole dash. IF it is the resistance heater, why in hell would it be located in such place, especially since it seems to be such an unfortunately common failure??? Anyway, they won't give me a time estimate for the repair and have never bothered to offer a replacement vehicle! Asked for one and was told "maybe next week". Very poor service from Nissan, that's for sure... If they don't even know their own cars, who will?! They should know from the VIN exactly what was put into the car when they made it, right? And the car should throw error codes pointing to some specific failure, no? I really thought that in these modern, probably computerized systems one just needed to "follow the rabbit" to find the hole...
I have to go there in person and see what they are actually doing, last week the car was partly disassembled and it would take some days more, but on the other I could pick it up for the weekend?...

Sorry, just frustrated...
 
It's possible that the top end Leaf lacks the heat pump in warmer climates. If that is the case, then it is indeed the resistance heater that has failed. There have been relatively few PTC failures from 2014 on, but they do still occur. It could also be just a blown fuse for the PTC, but then they have to find out why the fuse blew...
 
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