Nissan Leaf 2015 S - general maintenance
This article shows tips for maintenance of various car parts: replacing windshield wipers, spare lug nuts, how to jack the car, etc.
Spare wheel lug nuts
Long story short - after much searching I’ve finally found out that Nissan Leaf 2015 uses M12 1,25 lug nuts; you can buy spare for example from Biltema: Wheel Nut Kit M12 x 1,25, 35mm, Art. 33-3305.
Note that the replacement lug nuts only work with the steel rims originally bundled with the car; if you bought aluminium or other custom rims you need to shop there for spare lug nuts.
Tightening the lug nuts
The tightening torque is 112 NM; I recommend getting a proper torque spanner such as Momenttiavain 40-210 NM. The socket size is 21”.
Jacking
Nissan Leaf’s underbody is not flat but instead there is a pinch rail or a pinch weld; this nissan leaf jack video contains more information.
What’s totally weird is that I’ve failed to buy pinch rail jack adapter in Finland. The Nissan dealership, Motonet and also Fixus simply told me that it’s not being sold in Finland, and that I should simply jack the car and risk twisting of the pinch rail. Probably everyone simply uses a hockey puck or similar. The best thing might be to order a pinch rail jack adapter from AliExpress or Amazon and have it delivered to Finland, but that could be rather expensive.
I tried to order something from AliExpress, but the rubber is not strong enough: it twists and bends almost to the point of the car falling off the jack stand.
I ultimately purchased Biltema’s Jack Pad and a couple of hockey pucks - looks to be working the best.
Tyres
P205/55 R16
Windshield wiper replacement
- Rear windshield wiper: 250mm; I bought Bosch Rear H250 wiper in Motonet;
for replacement tutorial see the Nissan Windshield replacement video
- Or get Bosch Rear H250 at Autodoc
- Front windshield wipers:
- Driver’s side: 650mm/26” Hybrid; I bought Bosch AeroTwin Retrofit AR26U/AR650U in Motonet
- Passenger: 400mm/16” Hybrid; I bought Bosch AeroTwin RetroFit AR 16 U / AR 400 U in Motonet. The page also links to a video showing how to replace the wiper.
- You can also buy both wipers as a pair: Bosch AeroTwin Retro AR653S at Autodoc.
Where to buy them:
- Biltema: Nissan Leaf Wiper Blades but they’re frequently out-of-stock
- Motonet stacks the good quality Bosch wipers - I recommend shopping for windshield wipers there.
I’ve discovered the wiper exact part types via Bosch Wiper Blade finder which will find AR26U and AR16U exactly as above. You need to put Nissan Leaf 2018 there since the page doesn’t seem to recognize Leaf 2015 anymore.
- The AR stands for “AEROTWIN Upgrade” whatever that is,
- The U stands probably for Hybrid, or god knows what.
12V battery
Check out this youtube video on replacing the 12v battery in nissan leaf 2014, and also Why 12-Volt Batteries in Electric Cars Get Sick.
US-made Nissan Leaf 2015 battery group is 51R; the dimensions should be 238 x 129 x 223 mm; the terminal connector diameter is 17mm. Make sure to pay attention to R which says that the positive terminal is to the right. (measured on my leaf: W=230mm, D=123mm, H=200mm, height including the terminal connectors = 220mm).
The battery CCA is 410 which gives the Ah rating of ~38 according to BatteryEquivalents Group 51 and 51R and 360 EN according to CCA->EN Table.
In Finland here are proper replacements for the battery:
- BATTERY SMF 12V 45AH
- Sznajder-Silver 45Ah/360A akku P237xL127xK225 -+
- Sznajder 45Ah/340A akku P237xL127xK225 -+
- Exide EB454 45Ah/330A akku P237xL127xK227
I’ve bought the “Sznajder Silver” battery from Motonet and it’s working well.
Beware: Nissan Leaf only charges its 12V battery when:
- It’s powered on and there’s 14V coming from the traction battery,
- Or when the traction battery is being charged.
Therefore, the 12V battery will NOT be charged when Leaf is:
- powered off with charging cable unplugged, or
- Leaf is done charging and is not charging anymore (e.g. after it charged its main traction battery to 100%)
Therefore, when you leave your Leaf charging for a month in a cold weather, it’s possible to find the car with a dead 12V battery even though Leaf was connected to the charger for the whole time.
Technical Data
- Manufacturer:Nissan Motor Mfg Corp USA
- Manufacturer Address:983 Nissan Dr , Smyrna TN 37167-4405
- Product Type:Passenger Cars
- Make:Nissan
- Model:Leaf
- Body:Hatchback/Liftback/Notchback
- Drive:FWD/Front Wheel Drive
- Number of Seats:5
- Number of Doors:4
- Fuel Type - Primary:Electric
- Engine Power (kW):81
- Transmission:Automatic
- Check Digit:8
- Model Year:2015
- Plant Company:Nissan North America Inc.
- Plant Country:United States (USA)
- Plant State:Tennessee
- Plant City:Smyrna
- Battery capacity: 24kWh
Dimensions
- Length: 4445 mm
- Width: 1790 mm
- Height: 1565 mm
- Wheelbase: 2700 mm
- Ground clearance: 160 mm