Technical Start&Stop in stop-and-go traffic

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Technical Start&Stop in stop-and-go traffic

Don't you? To use an oft-quoted statement on this forum, maybe you should RTFM. I've never been in the position where I don't know that the engine will stop or not.

I've only had my car for 4 months, but I'd have to agree that I don't know in advance if the S&S is going to work or not. I appreciate that there are several criteria for when it should work and when it shouldn't, but you can't be aware of every single factor and know that S&S is going to work.

Actually, isn't owning a Fiat a bit like that anyway? You never know if anything is going to work like it did last time you used it?:)
It might have fallen off since last time!
 
I've only had my car for 4 months, but I'd have to agree that I don't know in advance if the S&S is going to work or not. I appreciate that there are several criteria for when it should work and when it shouldn't, but you can't be aware of every single factor and know that S&S is going to work.

Actually, isn't owning a Fiat a bit like that anyway? You never know if anything is going to work like it did last time you used it?:)
It might have fallen off since last time!

I'm sorry but that's an incredibly daft thing to say.

Do you know what most of the people who have issues with S&S have in common? They've not read the manual......... if you read the manual you'd be aware of the factors......
 
I'm sorry but that's an incredibly daft thing to say.

Do you know what most of the people who have issues with S&S have in common? They've not read the manual......... if you read the manual you'd be aware of the factors......

Sorry, but I've read the manual.
It's not as simplistic as you make out. There are often occasions when the S&S doesn't come on (or is that off?) when you expect it. I'm not saying that it's a fault, but it's not 100% predictable.
 
Sorry, but I've read the manual.
It's not as simplistic as you make out. There are often occasions when the S&S doesn't come on (or is that off?) when you expect it. I'm not saying that it's a fault, but it's not 100% predictable.

I'd agree things aren't that simple. For S/S to work without issues, the system must be fault-free & setup correctly AND the driver needs to drive in accordance with the instructions in the manual. I suspect that some, but not all, of the cars out there do have technical faults in the system - faulty or incorrectly adjusted sensors, intermittent connections, or whatever. Those cars won't behave properly however 'correctly' they are driven. Equally, there are also some cars that are fault-free, but are driven in a way that causes the system to stop working &/or keep triggering warnings, and all that is needed in those cases is to educate the drivers.

It's all too easy for dealers to respond to complaints by just assuming it's the driver's technique that's wrong, rather than properly troubleshooting the system and fixing any faults found - but I can also appreciate dealers getting exasperated when customers return perfectly good cars when they haven't bothered to read and understand the instructions given in the manual.

That said, the fact that many of the problems are down to 'user error' shouldn't be used as an excuse to fob off those people whose cars have a genuine technical fault, so if you think your car isn't working as it should be, persevere until it's been properly fixed.

Such as? Seriously, I'm at a loss here, mine's always behaved impeccably predictably.

So has mine. But I don't think that fact justifies the argument that everyone else's problems must necessarily be down to user error. Just because my car was delivered with a properly functioning S/S system doesn't mean that all the cars must have been.
 
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Such as when I come to a halt and put the car into neutral and lift my foot off the clutch.
Isn't that when it's meant to work?

I've tried assessing the criteria for it to function (as far as you can in the few seconds that it might take before traffic starts moving again), but I would have expected it to work, yet it didn't. I'm not saying it happens all the time, or it would be back to the dealer. But there are occasions when there seems to be no reason for it not to work.
You are probably correct in that there is some other factor that I haven't considered, but at the end of the day, it's true what hemmertolesen said: it's not 100% predictable
 
It's all too easy for dealers to respond to complaints by just assuming it's the driver's technique that's wrong, rather than properly troubleshooting the system and fixing any faults found - but I can also appreciate dealers getting exasperated when customers return perfectly good cars when they haven't bothered to read and understand the instructions given in the manual.

I can imagine the problem is that as we've seen on this forum people get very shirty when they're told that they're driving wrong.

I'm sure there are some faulty cars out there, but IMHO I reckon the failure rate is probably only a couple of percent.
 
One final thought: ecoDrive says I've saved a massive £1.72 as the result of Stop&Start!
Hardly worth the effort of the technology? But that's down to my living in the country and not needing it too often
 
It's not exactly 'technology'. It's a beefy starter motor, and a few switches and tapping into the CAN network in the car, and a flooded cell beefy battery.

TBH, I think how archaic it is to have ones engine running when stopped in traffic, I live in London and couldn't imagine how much quieter the place would be if cars weren't idling all of the time.
 
One final thought: ecoDrive says I've saved a massive £1.72 as the result of Stop&Start!
Hardly worth the effort of the technology? But that's down to my living in the country and not needing it too often

I'd take any figures that come out of ecoDrive with a large pinch of sodium chloride.

Using S/S for very brief stops may in fact be counterproductive. There may be an additional fuel overhead when restarting the engine, which in some cases could actually be more than the fuel saved by stopping it.

But it's certainly useful if you've stopped for more than about half a minute & I find it makes the car a little bit more comfortable to drive in traffic.

TBH, I think how archaic it is to have ones engine running when stopped in traffic, I live in London and couldn't imagine how much quieter the place would be if cars weren't idling all of the time.

Very true. The real benefits in terms of air & noise pollution may actually be more significant than the fuel saving.
 
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I used S&S a lot today and noticed that it wouldn't work within a few minutes of a cold start, or after i used the reverse gear (probably riding the clutch for about 2-3 secs). Other than that it worked every time. The first few days I had the car S&S was way more erratic, but that might be because of low battery charge.

And for the record, I'm not complaining about it. I have no issues with it not being predictable (to my limited cognitive functions) - that's the way it's designed: To make sure criteria are met so it can start again.
 
As I say, please read the manual.

To remind all, S&S will not operate in the following conditions:

1. Engine not warmed up - need to be at least 2 blobs on the gauge
2. Heated Rear Window on
3. Heater blower on full
4. Wipers on full speed
5. After having depressed the clutch pedal for more than 2 minutes
6. Reverse gear engaged
7. Drivers door open, or seat belt unfastened.
8. Battery not sufficiently charged.
9. Outside air temperature below a certain level (warning on multifunction display)

It's really not that difficult.
 
S&S will not operate in the following conditions:
...
5. After having depressed the clutch pedal for more than 2 minutes
...

Please clarify. S&S will engage the engine as soon as the clutch is pressed, so what’s with the 2 Minutes?

To add to your list, according to the manual:

10. A minimum speed of 6mph has not been reached since the previous halt.​
 
If the clutch has been *depressed*, i.e. sitting in traffic in gear for more than a couple of minutes, you'll get a S&S error.

In terms of the car being left out of gear but idling, if you leave it for longer than 3 mins, the engine will be stopped and you'll have to turn ignition off/restart to start it again.
 
I've got a Punto Evo 1.4 as a loaner for the weekend and S&S works EXACTLY as others have said it should.

Roll up to the lights, engine warm, car in neutral, foot off the clutch, speedo reaches 0 and the engine cuts out. Foot down on the clutch and it fires up again. Rather simple. Now to try and break it :p
 
I've got a Punto Evo 1.4 as a loaner for the weekend and S&S works EXACTLY as others have said it should.

Roll up to the lights, engine warm, car in neutral, foot off the clutch, speedo reaches 0 and the engine cuts out. Foot down on the clutch and it fires up again. Rather simple. Now to try and break it :p

One nice feature is that if you inadvertently stall the engine, pressing the clutch down fully will instantly restart it:).

Another thing to try is to apply the handbrake after the engine has stopped - that too will trigger a restart.

And you can develop the art of inching the car downhill in traffic without restarting. You need to keep the speed down & also maintain some hydraulic pressure in the braking circuit (3 discrete brake applications will also restart the car).

A shame there isn't a user-editable 'stopstart.cfg' file to tweak the settings to suit individual preferences.
 
One nice feature is that if you inadvertently stall the engine, pressing the clutch down fully will instantly restart it:).

I may or may not have used that feature 3 times. Clutch is very different on the Punto Evo so I've been stalling like it like a bitch :)
 
Another thing to try is to apply the handbrake after the engine has stopped - that too will trigger a restart.

Are you sure? That doesn't happen on my 500... following the lively debate I had previously with 306maxi I've been trying to limit the amount of time I'm using the clutch and am now finding myself taking the car out of gear and coasting to a stop at most junctions, and as I come to a stop the S&S activates and the car cuts out. I'm then able to apply the handbrake and take my foot off the brakes, and the car does not restart.. only does so when I put my foot down on the clutch again.
 
Are you sure? That doesn't happen on my 500... following the lively debate I had previously with 306maxi I've been trying to limit the amount of time I'm using the clutch and am now finding myself taking the car out of gear and coasting to a stop at most junctions, and as I come to a stop the S&S activates and the car cuts out. I'm then able to apply the handbrake and take my foot off the brakes, and the car does not restart.. only does so when I put my foot down on the clutch again.

Not completely sure exactly what else has to be there but on a couple of occasions recently applying the handbrake triggered an unwanted restart. I'll do a bit more testing next time I'm out in the car & report back.
 
Likewise. Got a 130 mile drive looming this afternoon so will experiment whenever I have to come to a stop! :)
 
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