Nissan Leaf

kennethsmyth

McGiver wrote: »

The Germans crashed a gen1.5 Leaf to see what happens. The results aren't good.

https://youtu.be/KzBotW7KLeo
https://youtu.be/dclFMzKSJMA

Note: This is supposed to be a car with Euro NCAP 5 stars...

EDIT: NCAP are tested at 30 and 50 kph allegedly.

Bull**** the results aren’t good, do that to any normal car and it wouldn’t even stay together it would be in two half’s.

graememk

kennethsmyth wrote: »

Bull**** the results aren’t good, do that to any normal car and it wouldn’t even stay together it would be in two half’s.

I wonder how other cars compare, looks like the battery didn't explode tho!

Also this is why a tree is one of the worst things to hit, normal poles just snap

McGiver

kennethsmyth wrote:

Bull**** the results aren’t good, do that to any normal car and it wouldn’t even stay together it would be in two half’s.

Yeah upon second thought, this is isn't a standard test. And surprisingly the battery didn't ignite, so I'd say it's actually fine given it's Nissan

McGiver

graememk wrote:

Also this is why a tree is one of the worst things to hit, normal poles just snap

Yep. Hitting a tree at 75kph seems to be deadly...

NIMAN

McGiver wrote: »

Yep. Hitting a tree at 75kph seems to be deadly...

Well Duh.

Were they trying to make evs look bad.

graememk

McGiver wrote: »

Yep. Hitting a tree at 75kph seems to be deadly...

Hitting a tree at 75km/h in anything is pretty deadly

McGiver

graememk wrote:

Hitting a tree at 75km/h in anything is pretty deadly

Oh yeah. I didn't say in Leaf specifically

McGiver

NIMAN wrote:

Were they trying to make evs look bad.

You could argue that the battery didn't catch the fire or explode so this is actually a positive thing!

Gumbo

NIMAN wrote: »

Was there ever a recall done for the rear axle issue?

KCross wrote: »

No, you had to complain and show that it was out of spec and demand it be done... obviously before the 3yr warranty was up!

No, not officially but the shim kit part number kinda lets us know that Nissan knows. But the problem is that it rear its head until NCT time and that’s 4 years, but the warranty is 3 years so my advice would be to get a full Alignment test after 2 years but that’s a bit late now for 2014, 2015 and similar cars.

I got mine done with some goodwill but still cost me a couple of hundred euro through Nissan in Airside.

tom_tarbucket

kceire wrote: »

No, not officially but the shim kit part number kinda lets us know that Nissan knows. But the problem is that it rear its head until NCT time and that’s 4 years, but the warranty is 3 years so my advice would be to get a full Alignment test after 2 years but that’s a bit late now for 2014, 2015 and similar cars.

I got mine done with some goodwill but still cost me a couple of hundred euro through Nissan in Airside.

Does this apply to leafs from 2011-2017?

Gumbo

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Does this apply to leafs from 2011-2017?

Yes. Mine was 2014.
It’s also applicable to the new L40 as I believe Nissan still use the solid rear axle.

KCross

kceire wrote: »

It’s also applicable to the new L40 as I believe Nissan still use the solid rear axle.

Surely the issue is resolved by now for newly built cars?!!

I thought it was an issue just for the initial gen 1.5 Sunderland built cars (2013-2016)

Gumbo

KCross wrote: »

Surely the issue is resolved by now for newly built cars?!!

I thought it was an issue just for the initial gen 1.5 Sunderland built cars (2013-2016)

You may be right. I can’t 100% confirm. I was of the opinion that the L40 was still a solid rear axle so the problem was still possible.

NIMAN

So if my Leaf has passed an NCT then it definitely hasn't got the rear axle issue?

creedp

KCross wrote: »

Surely the issue is resolved by now for newly built cars?!!

I thought it was an issue just for the initial gen 1.5 Sunderland built cars (2013-2016)

My 2016 L30 is fine. I just replaced the original Michelin energy rear tyres with 107k km on them and they wore perfectly even. The front nokian eline passenger tyre wore faster on the outside. However I only got 24k out of the front tyres so will be going back to Michellin energy next time.

Edit. Sorry I forgot to take account of the 14k km done on winter tyres so it was 93k kms done on original rear michellin energy tyre

McGiver

kceire wrote:

Yes. Mine was 2014. It’s also applicable to the new L40 as I believe Nissan still use the solid rear axle.

How does the issue manifest?

KCross

kceire wrote: »

You may be right. I can’t 100% confirm. I was of the opinion that the L40 was still a solid rear axle so the problem was still possible.

It probably does have a solid beam rear axle but surely Nissan have fixed the design of it and made it more robust as I think the issue is that it bends a little which put the alignment out. I'd expect they've beefed it up a bit to stop warranty claims.

I havent heard of L40's having the issue but maybe its too early to tell.

NIMAN wrote: »

So if my Leaf has passed an NCT then it definitely hasn't got the rear axle issue?

Not necessarily.

You need to eyeball the rear tyres and see that they are wearing evenly.


Also note that it doesnt happen every Leaf. Seems to be somewhat random.

Gumbo

NIMAN wrote: »

So if my Leaf has passed an NCT then it definitely hasn't got the rear axle issue?

Yes. It should. E picked up on the rear slip test. Have a look at your results and see if you passed by a good margin or just scrapped a pass.

creedp wrote: »

My 2016 L30 is fine. I just replaced the original Michelin energy rear tyres with 107k km on them and they wore perfectly even. The front nokian eline passenger tyre wore faster on the outside. However I only got 24k out of the front tyres so will be going back to Michellin energy next time.

Edit. Sorry I forgot to take account of the 14k km done on winter tyres so it was 93k kms done on original rear michellin energy tyre

My rear tires were perfect too. Even wear across both on the rear. I only realized I had the issue when it failed the nct on rear slip.

McGiver wrote: »

How does the issue manifest?

You fail the NCT on rear slip test/alignment. And you physically can’t go to an alignment shop and adjust like you would with any other car.

deadduck

kceire wrote: »

Yes. It should. E picked up on the rear slip test. Have a look at your results and see if you passed by a good margin or just scraped a pass

Ah nuts. My 152 had its first NCT a few weeks back, and I think the rear slip allowance is +/- 20%. My result was 19

KCross

deadduck wrote: »

Ah nuts. My 152 had its first NCT a few weeks back, and I think the rear slip allowance is +/- 20%. My result was 19

Check the rear tyre wear, particularly the rear passenger side.

It wont matter if its only slightly uneven but it could also be massively out which will result in premature wear and replacement of the tyre.

Since you are already out of warranty your best bet is to use the shim kit rather than replace the axle. Your local mechanic should be able to do that.

tom_tarbucket

deadduck wrote: »

Ah nuts. My 152 had its first NCT a few weeks back, and I think the rear slip allowance is +/- 20%. My result was 19

How does this look?
I think it’s right on the limit, but not sure if the rest of this limit is hard to reach etc

Gumbo

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

How does this look?
I think it’s right on the limit, but not sure if the rest of this limit is hard to reach etc

Your at -17. The fail is at -18.
Iirc after the fix, mine dropped to like -8.

I think yours is slightly out but it passed this time round. When is your next test? I’d maybe leave it till then and see if there’s any change unless of course if your chewing through rear tyres.

tom_tarbucket

kceire wrote: »

Your at -17. The fail is at -18.
Iirc after the fix, mine dropped to like -8.

I think yours is slightly out but it passed this time round. When is your next test? I’d maybe leave it till then and see if there’s any change unless of course if your chewing through rear tyres.

Ah sugar. Test was done November 2018. Next test is November 2010.

Gumbo

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

Ah sugar. Test was done November 2018. Next test is November 2010.

Talk to Phil in electric autos. He posted on Facebook about a local garage that can do the shim kit even cheaper than what I got it for with goodwill from Nissan.

From memory it was less than €200

deadduck

tom_tarbucket wrote: »

How does this look?
I think it’s right on the limit, but not sure if the rest of this limit is hard to reach etc

Double checked mine after seeing your post, mine’s the exact same (17/18). I remembered it was only passed by 1, but not 19/20 like I originally posted.

I’ll have to take a look at the tyres now and see if there’s anything obvious going on. But as said, if all looks good, I’ll leave it go until the next test and then get the shim kit fitted if needed

tom_tarbucket

kceire wrote: »

Talk to Phil in electric autos. He posted on Facebook about a local garage that can do the shim kit even cheaper than what I got it for with goodwill from Nissan.

From memory it was less than €200

Ok. Good to know. Less than 200 is good. Was original fix equal to replace whole axle or what? And presume vey expensive?

NIMAN

Do the rear tyres wear faster than the front?

If skim kit needed, do they wear unevenly?

McGiver

kceire wrote:

You fail the NCT on rear slip test/alignment. And you physically can’t go to an alignment shop and adjust like you would with any other car.

OK don't have that. Passed nct last Jan. Can it still appear? It's 151 L24.

NIMAN

Just checked my NCT and mine was -1

zilog_jones

KCross wrote: »

It probably does have a solid beam rear axle...

If it was a solid beam axle it wouldn't get bent out of shape so easily. Torsion beams aren't solid