When replacing a battery pack, battery ECU, or powertrain control module on a Nissan Leaf, a few steps must be taken which may not be immediately apparent to either the shop owner or the technician, and which may affect scheduling.

Nissan's Consult III+ scan tool will be needed to complete any of these procedures. For example, if you plan to replace the battery ECU (referred to as HV Battery by the scan tool, and as LBC or Li-Ion Battery Controller in service information), you'll need to first upload battery data from the old battery ECU to the Consult III+, replace the battery ECU, and then download battery data from the Consult III+ to the replacement battery ECU. These tasks are relatively straightforward.

The fun starts after the faulty component has been replaced and DTCs have been cleared. Typically, the Leaf's powertrain control module (referred to as EV/HEV by the scan tool, and as VCM in service information) will then set a new DTC: P3102 (Invalid Battery) after a battery pack, battery ECU, or powertrain control module has been replaced.

[2013 Nissan Leaf S, Scan Data]

The DTC indicates that the battery pack must be registered or re-registered with the powertrain control module.

Service information directs the technician to perform Li-ion battery ID registration, and may refer to a Li-ion Battery Registration Operation Manual, depending on model year. However, information on this procedure cannot be found in Nissan's repair manual, and none of the CONSULT III+ menus include the option to do so. Time to do a bit of digging.

The contact email address on Nissan's service information website (nissan-techinfo.com) does not go straight to Nissan, but to Tweddle, a third party that manages websites for OEMs. This means that there will be a bit of a delay as Tweddle escalates the issue to Nissan, provided that the technician clearly explains that there is a gap in service information and scan tool function which needs to be filled.

After a few emails back and forth, Nissan provided me with the Li-Ion Battery Registration Manual (a one-page procedure, really), and let me know that I would need to purchase a battery registration security card and adapter, part number J-47446-EV-DIAG, from Nissan's tooling website (nissantechmate.com), which is also run by a third party (Bosch Automotive Service Solutions). I was already aware of the existence of this card, but that information alone was of no help unless I had the authorization to purchase it.

You cannot order the card online, but must call Bosch to get approval to purchase the card. If you're not a dealer, you need to show proof that Nissan has approved the sale. I got an email address from the person on the other end of the line, and forwarded them the email I'd received from Nissan.

[Nissan Battery Registration card]

Once I had received the battery registration security card (which also comes with the Li-Ion Battery Registration Manual), I inserted the card in the scan tool and made sure that the computer had recognized it as new hardware. I now had a new tab (Load Batt ID) in the Diagnosis (All Systems) menu for the powertrain control module. You may have to scroll to the right to reveal the tab.

[2013 Nissan Leaf S, Scan Data]

From there, the scan tool walks you through the procedure.

[2013 Nissan Leaf S, Scan Data]

[2013 Nissan Leaf S, Scan Data]

Registration is almost instantaneous.

[2013 Nissan Leaf S, Scan Data]

Overall, the information access process took about a week from the time I contacted Nissan to the time I had the card in hand. My impression was that most of the folks whom I encountered along the way were not used to receiving a request for this card from the independent sector, but that all were more than willing to help once they had dug up the necessary procedures for fulfilling the request.

Jack from California

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