Hello, this is my first post so hope this makes sense to people!


Hadn't used my call all weekend and this morning used to get into work. I was in heavy traffic so was trying to use my stop/start. When I was not far from home the stop start would kick in and then about 10 seconds later the engine came back on again. I kept trying throughout my journey when I got to work it was about a 30 second gap between it stopping and starting but before it was always a long few minutes that it would stop.


The only thing I can think of is that I did leave my lights switched on all weekend but I thought the lights automatically switched off when the engine was off? It started up perfectly normally.


Any suggestions? Do you think I just need to drive it around a bit more - Really don't want another trip to the garage


Any help would be appreciated


Thank you

filmlover25 said:

Hello, this is my first post so hope this makes sense to people!


Hadn't used my call all weekend and this morning used to get into work. I was in heavy traffic so was trying to use my stop/start. When I was not far from home the stop start would kick in and then about 10 seconds later the engine came back on again. I kept trying throughout my journey when I got to work it was about a 30 second gap between it stopping and starting but before it was always a long few minutes that it would stop.


The only thing I can think of is that I did leave my lights switched on all weekend but I thought the lights automatically switched off when the engine was off? It started up perfectly normally.


Any suggestions? Do you think I just need to drive it around a bit more - Really don't want another trip to the garage


Any help would be appreciated


Thank you

Click to expand...

Hi filmlover25,

Welcome to the forum by the way!

There are quite a few S/S topics on the 500 section if you use the search function, but sure you can have a nose when you are more familiar with the site.

The way you described the system working is probably OK to be honest. There are lots of different parameters that need to be fulfilled in order for S/S to work in the first place (I think they are listed in your manual).

But sometimes the car will restart relatively quickly if the battery is under high load, or maybe if it is slightly lacking in sufficient charge to keep the engine stopped for any longer. This is actually a very good feature as it means your battery is not being put under too much stress - the last thing you want is for it to die when you are out on the road

A long drive around might well do the trick, but I honestly wouldn't worry too much right now. If S/S stops working altogether, then it will probably be down to the battery not quite having enough charge for it to activate - certainly not an uncommon thing in winter.

Let us know how you get on over the next few weeks, if you need more help then sure there will be plenty of others who can offer assistance.

You have put my mind at rest, thank you


I will give it a couple of weeks and see how I go


Thank you

filmlover25 said:

You have put my mind at rest, thank you


I will give it a couple of weeks and see how I go


Thank you

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Yes, that's the best thing for now.
Make sure the car gets a good run instead of short hops, and the battery should be ok.

If not, get back to us.

Good luck,
Mick.

Hi,

I was thinking about posting a similar but hadn't gotten round to it.

My Stop/Start doesn't work when the car's in neutral. Which is a shame. I've heard that it could be low npbattery charge, like the poster above mentioned. I did notice the other day that when it was really cold and the engine wasn't warmed up it didn't work but later on during that journey it did. Curious.

The only way of proving that it is the battery or not, is to do a full charge on it with a battery charger.

Disconnect the earth quick release, and charge the battery for a few hours. Reconnect, reset the date and time, and go for a drive to check the S/S.

If it's working properly, it should remain stopped for the full three minutes.

Make sure you don't have the wipers on full and the full beams on etc and that the engine is warm and that the car is warm inside.

Attached is an excerpt from the handbook.

Good luck,
Mick.

I bought a battery charger this weekend and charged my battery. Didn't take long before the charger said it was full. Hasn't made any difference to it starting either

Cyberface said:

I bought a battery charger this weekend and charged my battery. Didn't take long before the charger said it was full. Hasn't made any difference to it starting either

Click to expand...

Yes, that the typical symptom of a weak battery I observed during charging with Ctek Charger. Battery impedance is high, leading to quickly voltage drop under load and restart.

Bought a new battery some weeks ago (60Ah Moll EFB battery manufactured in week 40/2015 for 110€) and all problems solved actually . Now the external charger charges much longer until showing full, what was never the case with the former Bosch EFB battery.

This battery has been replaced by the dealer (after 2 EXIDE replacements) during warranty period in March 2013 and did never perform like the new Moll brand (1. rank in two independent tests comparing EFB battery's made by EXIDE, Varta, Banner, ...).
Let's see what about long time performance of this brand...

I'm sure a new battery would solve the problems. I'm just not sure paying £100 just so it stops/starts on its own is worth it!

Cyberface said:

I'm sure a new battery would solve the problems. I'm just not sure paying £100 just so it stops/starts on its own is worth it!

Click to expand...

That is the main question in a nutshell.

I had your problem ......... it's well documented on here ............ and I had your quandary too. What swung it for me to get a new battery, was the continual stopping and restarting (after a few seconds). Yes, I could have pressed the button on the dash to disable S/S, but that would have needed to be done every single time I started the engine. Later models retain the switch position even when you switch off. Mine didn't, so it was annoying.

The OLD battery is now working absolutely perfectly in our elderly Clio, so there's not much wrong with it as a "normal" battery, but it was terribly annoying in our 2011 500TA.

Since fitting a new battery, all is perfectly well.

Regards,
Mick.

Cyberface said:

I bought a battery charger this weekend and charged my battery. Didn't take long before the charger said it was full. Hasn't made any difference to it starting either

Click to expand...

IF the battery is supposedly fully charged, but struggles to start the car - then it's faulty

as others have said, there are so many parameters restricting the operation of
Start\Stop

My punto required the seatbelt to be plugged in before starting.. MY ECU had 1340 logged faults for this "crime":shakehead:

worked perfectly once the fault codes were cleared

Charlie

varesecrazy said:

My punto required the seatbelt to be plugged in before starting..

Click to expand...

That would be VERY annoying indeed.

What happens if all you want to do is drive your car down the drive to your gate?
What happens if you want to start the car just to reverse it?
What happens if all you want to do is start the car to warm up and then go back indoors to get ready to go?

Hundreds of occasions when you wouldn't need or want a seatbelt, so no wonder your fault codes ramped up.

Regards,
Mick.

I have had the same issue occasionally in my 500C, the engine suddenly firing up after stopping in the proper fashion. It's typically happened at traffic lights when making the very short journey to the supermarket. I kinda assumed it would be tied into battery charging. Reading the responses here has put my mind at rest. I do try to do a bit longer trip from time to time to keep everything healthy; after all, I know that a series of less-than-a-mile journeys aren't good for any car, regardless of Stop/start. So basically, I really don't think I have a problem. Other than that, the car has absolutely fine, and I am delighted with it.

Hi guys, how do I use the S/S feature? Because I only managed to let the engine stop at red light 2 times (and it starts back after 2 seconds) but don't know how I did it. After those two times I haven't been able to do it again. I don't know how to do it, please help!

My battery is good because I have a volt meter build in and the battery is always on 14.4 when engine is running and 12.6 when engine is off. And when I let the car stall on purpose the S/S kicks in and turns the engine back on.

My only problem is not knowing how to S/S the engine on command.

UltraFiatboy said:

Because I only managed to let the engine stop at red light 2 times () but don't know how I did it. After those two times I haven't been able to do it again. I don't know how to do it, please help!

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Operation of the S/S system is automatic; you don't have to do anything.

"and it starts back after 2 seconds" is a sign the battery isn't up to scratch. Changing the battery (make sure you get one suitable for S/S equipped cars" is the obvious next step.

UltraFiatboy said:

My battery is good

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If you want S/S to work reliably, good is not enough. The battery needs to be excellent.

This is my battery voltage with only key on the "on" position and with my engine on.

But my battery still isn't good enough?

Apparently good voltage isn't an indicator of battery health. Those are the same figures I was getting when I bought my car new in 2013. When the S/S stopped the engine (if it worked at all) the volts would drop from 14.2V to under 12V in a matter of seconds and the engine would restart.

Although the car was 'new' it had been sitting in storage for 10 months without the battery being charged and this it seems took the edge off the latter's performance - as far as the S/S was concerned anyway - though it still worked normally for everything else.

Once the battery was replaced S/S immediately started working properly and has done ever since.

UltraFiatboy said:

But my battery still isn't good enough?

Click to expand...

That's right. You almost certainly need to replace the battery if you want S/S to work correctly.

jrkitching said:

Operation of the S/S system is automatic; you don't have to do anything.

"and it starts back after 2 seconds" is a sign the battery isn't up to scratch. Changing the battery (make sure you get one suitable for S/S equipped cars" is the obvious next step.



If you want S/S to work reliably, good is not enough. The battery needs to be excellent.

Click to expand...

Well it needs to be in neutral with the clutch released but you should be doing that when stoped anyway

chris3234 said:

Well it needs to be in neutral with the clutch released but you should be doing that when stoped anyway

Click to expand...

Without that it would never have stopped at all. If it doesn't ever stop, then there are sensors to check before doing much else.

It's the "restarting after 2 seconds" that points to insufficient energy in the battery. This is extremely common, and often reported here; almost certainly a new battery will fix this. In fairness, just occasionally there have been cases where the alternator isn't charging correctly, but these are few and far between.