Intermittent Turtle Mode, Cold related?

[drive2ski]

Did a lot of searching (and had one unsuccessful trip to the service center) so seeing what experts on here might suggest -

About a week ago, After not driving our 2025 R1S DPM for maybe a week , with it parked in the cold (single digits to 20s F) not charging. we charged for a few hours before leaving for a road trip. The L2 charging started slow but eventually got there. About 10 mins into the drive we experienced our first ever turtle mode (about 4k miles on the ship total). Thinking this might be cold related, we pulled over after a while and warmed the battery and performed a hard reset. This seemed to work well and we drove the remaining 150+ miles without incident and even used the car a few more times for daily driving the following week. Mostly in a garage., some charging.

Then, 2 nights ago, the car was outside (30 degrees) and I went to pull it into the garage to charge ahead of another 200 mile road trip. Immediately turtle mode. I was able to get it back to “normal” with the preconditioning and a reset and some driving around town.

All the same, I got it into the service center the next morning (yesterday) and they concluded it needed two updates to address cold weather issues. The 46.30 update just came available after I made the appointment. They did the updates (though weirdly my software says it is on 46.30 but that the 46.30 update is still available, side issue)

sadly, turtle mode came back after about 2 hours into our road trip last night. Again, able to get back to “normal” with a precondition to about 70 then reset.

I’m trying to get back into service. Hopefully just a calibration or sensor issue that the preconditioning (effecting battery or motor temp) gets around.

anyway, curious if anyone has thoughts/suggestions here or experienced something similar.

thanks!

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[emoore]

Not cold related at all. I've never had seen turtle mode on my truck and it's been in below zero temps. Something is wrong with yours.

 

[Time2Roll]

How limited was speed while in turtle?

 

[drive2ski]

It’s a mix. When I first experienced it, didn’t limit it at first , then it went away, but came back shortly and limited to 50mph. Since then, I don’t think the speed was limited - I could go past 50 At least. Definitely impacted drive modes and regen.

 

[COdogman]

I think there are 2 different turtle mode speeds, and each is related to whatever system might be failing. One is around ~20mph and the other is ~45mph. I am wondering if your HV battery or the charging module might be failing, but I would assume they checked those when you had it in the first time?

Regardless, this sounds like one of those weird issues that will only get sorted out at the service center anyway. They will get you back on the road. I had my HV battery go bad and it was behaving similar to what you describe except mine would only turtle mode if I plugged into a DCFC charger. Hard resets would clear it until the next iMessage I tried to fast charge again

Another possibility is the 12v battery. In the past it seems like that is the diagnosis after some of these strange issues.

Sorry you are having this trouble

 

[Hauser37]

How do you do the preconditioning if not driving? I normally turn the cabin heat on and turn on the seats etc for 5 -10 minutes if the truck is outside and cold? Just curious. Also never heard of turtle mode?

 

[godfodder0901]

How do you do the preconditioning if not driving? I normally turn the cabin heat on and turn on the seats etc for 5 -10 minutes if the truck is outside and cold? Just curious. Also never heard of turtle mode?

Manually press the button to precondition the battery for DCFC. And the turtle mode is very common on all vehicles. It's a self-preservation mode intended to prevent further damage from use. The dash icon is a literal turtle.

 

[Zamot]

I have had the turtle mode engage twice this week. I can reset by placing in park and the going back into drive. It has been cold here as well. Both times the temp was in the teens, battery was at 60-70 % I was driving highway speeds about 15 minutes into the drive. I do have a scheduled appointment. I will follow up with the results.

 

[Zamot]

I have had the turtle mode engage twice this week. I can reset by placing in park and the going back into drive. It has been cold here as well. Both times the temp was in the teens, battery was at 60-70 % I was driving highway speeds about 15 minutes into the drive. I do have a scheduled appointment. I will follow up with the results.

Service tech messaged that the inverters need to be replaced, Front and rear. I dont know much about this so will ask questions after repairs are completed.

 

[drive2ski]

The end resolution for me was a faulty senor in the front drive. Might have be more sensitive in the cold, and would go for days without issue. Now its been over a months since the fix and only saw turtle mode return once for a brief moment starting the car in the cold sleet/rain.

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