Advice: Spontaneous Turtle First Day of 2017 ownership

[Lothsahn]

Thank you for that clarification GerryAZ. I misunderstood. Your explanation may also explain why even though I could accelerate in turtle mode, the car seemed sluggish to me. Of course I had only 2 days of driving experience and drove with the turtle light on about 75% of the time,, so I could be wrong about this.

The Leaf should be quite peppy, especially at slower speeds. While it's not at all like a Tesla, I've found my Leaf to have excellent acceleration and instant throttle response. If your car seems sluggish, it's likely due to the turtle mode, unless you're used to driving muscle cars or referring to acceleration at highway speeds.

 

[gncndad]

Sluggish? Not normal. Many here have complained of rapid FE tire wear, as it's so easy to spin the tires from a standing start.

OP: You have more patience and trust than I do. I would not want my "new to me" car to need ANY dealership tech intervention within the first YEAR of ownership. I'm also wondering if the deal Carmax gave you on the sale is worthy of your patience. Carmax is traditionally higher priced than other sources.

Good luck with the dealer EV tech. I hope he finds and solves your "turtle" issue!

 

[BW908]

24 hour update on my case. Nissan techs identified two problematic battery cells, one very depleted and one partially depleted. Nissan authorized replacement of both. They tell me that when they actually open up the battery pack they will do further troubleshooting to see if they can identify any cause for this, and if so, there could be justification for a full battery replacement (for example, if there was some sort of leakage). But right now it looks like cell replacement and they'll have me on my way.

If that's the case, and no more engine lights materialize during my next five days of the refund warranty, I will feel good about this purchase. The price seemed to be on the lower end of what one might expect for the model/year/mileage/battery capacity, and now it will have been fully inspected, cells repaired and still have 5 years of battery warranty. It's been a bit of a hassle, but I now know more about the essential system of this care than I will on any other used car, EV or ICE.

One thing I would say coming out of this is that Nissan would do well to create a specific sensor for this issue. Getting the turtle light seems like overkill. That and CarMax should certify some of their techs on the basics of EVs if they are going to sell them. No way the tech should have told me to ignore the tutle light. Thanks again everybody.

 

[LeftieBiker]

One thing I would say coming out of this is that Nissan would do well to create a specific sensor for this issue. Getting the turtle light seems like overkill.

I believe that Gerry already explained that the BMS is protecting the pack from having on or more cells fail completely and "bricking" the car at the side of the road by going into Turtle mode. Reduced power mode is meant to get you home or to a dealership for immediate repair. It's the equivalent of the "limp home" mode that ICE vehicle computers have - or at least used to have.

 

[BW908]

Final Report. On Saturday August 8th I "returned" the car to CarMax. I didn't actually have the car. It was still at the Nissan dealer being "repaired." After replacing two battery cells, the car was still throwing the "turtle mode" light when the tech started it at a full charge. As of Friday August 7, the tech said they were trying to figure out what could be going wrong. Thinking it might be a bug in their own tools, they brought in another diagnostic machine from another dealer. Nope. They said Nissan corporate was telling them that maybe they replaced an incorrect cell. (Something about not correctly reading the cell diagram and replacing the correct cell number, but on the wrong side of the battery bank.) I have to say, that did not inspire confidence. It seems as if the local dealer is at an impasse with the Nissan corporate.

In the meantime I was able to work with a private party who was buying out their lease on a 2018 because they found out they will not be commuting again through the remainder of the lease. I like the idea of the greater range, and still having about a year on the general warranty for this vehicle.

I don't know what to say about the 2017 and Nissan's inability to diagnose and repair that vehicle. Remember, it only has 2000 miles on it. So the exact nature of the problem, and the solution, remain a mystery.