Breaking Project: How to Fix a Dead Nissan Leaf

The other night, my wife came home and informed me that the interior lights of my 2011 Nissan Leaf were on.  I rushed out to turn them off, and discovered that they had probably been on for 2 or 3 days, and that my Lithium Ion battery was fully discharged.

2011 Nissan Leaf

In short, what happened was that I had accidentally "parked" my car without taking the car out of Neutral, which meant that the car never fully turned off.  Since the car was still on, the dash lights stayed on.  As the 12V lead-acid battery (that controls the lights and dash) started to drain, the Lithium Ion battery (which powers the motor) used its own charge to keep the 12V battery functional. 

When I tried to turn the car off so that I could start recharging the battery, I discovered that the car wouldn't turn off.  Weird!  Apparently this is a problem with some of the Nissan Leafs.  I couldn't turn the car off, and I couldn't charge the battery with the car on!!!

As it turns out, there are two solutions.  There is an easy solution, and a difficult solution.  Take your pick.

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EASY SOLUTION

For this solution, you will need the following items:

• A finger

1) Sit in driver seat of car

2) DON'T depress brake pedal

3) Push the "ON" button with your finger

4) Repeat (up to 3 times) until car turns off

*Please note, that I have only read that this method works, and did not actually test it out.

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DIFFICULT SOLUTION

For this solution, you will need the following items:

• ratchet/socket wrench with variety of socket sizes
• 3 wooden skewers
• duct tape
• 6 small neodymium magnets
• lantern
• maglite flashlight
• 3 AAA batteries
• dry leather gloves
• raincoat

1) Make sure that it is a dark and rainy night before you begin working on the car

2) Put on raincoat and dry leather gloves

3) Turn on lantern so that you can see what you are doing

4) Pop the hood of the Nissan Leaf & locate the 12V lead-acid battery

Under the hood

5) Use the socket wrench to remove the negative lead of the battery

6) Go back inside and wait for 10 minutes

7) Return to the car, and attempt to screw the negative battery lead back into place

8) Drop the nut into the hood area

Drop nut somewhere under this stuff

9) Look under car and realize that there is a plastic cover on the underside of the car

Good luck getting this thing off.

10) Try to turn on maglite. Realize that batteries are dead.  Replace batteries.
11)Shine maglite into hood area, until you find the nut waaaay at the bottom in an impossible-to-reach location

12) Swear profusely

13) Use ratchet to start removing the plastic cover on underside of car

14) Realize that you won't be able to actually remove the cover, give up, and put screws back in place

15) Swear some more

16) Go back inside.  Duct tape 2 wooden skewers together, with the neodymium magnets on the end.

Magnet Stick!

17) Return to car.  Use "magnet stick" to reach deep into the hood area, realize that your stick is too short, and go back inside to add a third stick.

18) Back to car again. Use "magnet stick" to snag the nut, and pull it out.  

*This will go easier if you are an "Operation" expert.

19) Reconnect negative lead of 12V battery (don't drop nut this time)

20) Congratulations!  Your car is off!

21) Plug charger into front of car, and start charging!

Be aware that it will take a VERY long time to recharge your Nissan Leaf with the trickle charger. In fact, it will probably be a couple hours before the battery admits that it isn't dead anymore.  Plan for about 20 hours to get a full charge.