General Start Stop malfunction Dualogic

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General Start Stop malfunction Dualogic

cbeeblebrox

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Hi

my wife purchased a 2010 Fiat 500 Sport Dualogic a couple of weeks ago. Generally, the car is in good condition and runs well.

We are, however, a little confused on the start stop functionality, and I believe there's now an issue with this, that I hoped someone else may have come across and can offer some advice.

On a couple of occasions, the car engine has stopped at a junction (as it should), but then, when trying to pull away, the engine fails to start with a warning message displayed of 'Start Stop is Unavailable'. Turning the key in the ignition then starts the engine immediately.

At first, I thought maybe we were doing something wrong. In an effort to let my wife get used to the car, we decided to turn the S-S off.

However, today, with the S-S still turned off, the car engine cut out at a junction and then displayed the message 'Start-Stop is Unavailable' - again, turning the key started the car immediately.

It's only happened a couple of times, but this is obviously a concern, especially if the system should be deactivated.

I'm aware that the S-S system should monitor various aspects of the vehicle and not stop the engine if, for example, there isn't enough charge in the battery. But to stop the engine and then refuse to restart it?

Have booked the car in at the local fiat garage, but they cannot see it for a couple of weeks.

Does anyone else have any similar experience or advice they can offer?

Thanks
 
Almost all SS issues are caused by a "poor" battery, or one that's more than a couple of years old, it will still start the car fine for years to come but the SS basically needs a new battery every 2 years to work correctly especially if used for lots of short trips or round town mostly.
Not sure why it won't automatically start though, I would always disable it personally.

On another topic you may or may not wish to see is this topic(320+ posts ); https://www.fiatforum.com/500/425006-one-only-dualogic-failure-thread.html
 
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I agree with John202020, but there could possibly be a quick dodge to sort it.
Not necessarily going to work, but it's worth a try.

Disconnect the battery via the earth connection. You press the button, lift the connector off, and leave it for an hour or so. This makes all the systems within the vehicle reset and remove all the "stuff".
Reconnect, and try again.
Fingers crossed, it'll be sorted.

if it doesn't work, a new battery is the next idea ........... sadly.
Unless the battery is nursed and continually looked after, three or four years is the end of life for a S/S battery.

Good luck,
Mick.
 
I wouldn't dispute that the car probably needs a new battery to get the S/S working, that's quite likely on a used car. However, it sounds more like this car is simply stalling, especially as it occurs even when the S/S is switched off. The "Stop Start Disconnected" warning just tells you that the S/S will not automatically restart the vehicle as I understand it.

When the engine stops does the S/S symbol appear in the centre display or are the alternator and oil lights etc. showing?
 
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Good point there Piccolo.

When ours stalls ....... which I sometimes do pulling away ............... you press the clutch all the way down, and the engine re-starts. You don't have to touch the key.

Does yours do that?

Mick.
 
Yes Mick, mine does exactly that. I assume it will not do so if the S/S is switched off but, to be honest, I have S/S switched on all the time so I haven't tested it and in any case it goes against the grain to deliberately stall the car.
 
Hi

my wife purchased a 2010 Fiat 500 Sport Dualogic a couple of weeks ago. Generally, the car is in good condition and runs well.

We are, however, a little confused on the start stop functionality, and I believe there's now an issue with this, that I hoped someone else may have come across and can offer some advice.

On a couple of occasions, the car engine has stopped at a junction (as it should), but then, when trying to pull away, the engine fails to start with a warning message displayed of 'Start Stop is Unavailable'. Turning the key in the ignition then starts the engine immediately.

At first, I thought maybe we were doing something wrong. In an effort to let my wife get used to the car, we decided to turn the S-S off.

However, today, with the S-S still turned off, the car engine cut out at a junction and then displayed the message 'Start-Stop is Unavailable' - again, turning the key started the car immediately.

It's only happened a couple of times, but this is obviously a concern, especially if the system should be deactivated.

I'm aware that the S-S system should monitor various aspects of the vehicle and not stop the engine if, for example, there isn't enough charge in the battery. But to stop the engine and then refuse to restart it?

Have booked the car in at the local fiat garage, but they cannot see it for a couple of weeks.

Does anyone else have any similar experience or advice they can offer?

Thanks
Hi, agreeing with what has been posted re the battery. The s/s system requires a larger capacity battery than a non s/s vehicle. My thought is that the battery is under powered for s/s system and perhaps the battery had been replaced with a lower capacity when you purchased the vehicle. You need to check that the battery is one that is correct for the car.
 
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Hi All.

Thanks for the comments thus far - on the advice of a mechanic friend, & in line with Mick's recommendation, I have tried disconnecting the battery yesterday evening and will keep my fingers crossed for the next few days that no further issues appear.

With regards to stalling, I'd hope that is not the issue as, with the dualogic system, that would be more concerning - as far as I'm aware, no other lights were displayed on the system - it just appeared to turn the engine off as per the SS system, but then failed to turn back on again - I'll ask my wife to specifically check if other lights come on if it does happen again, which would indicate a stalling situation.

With regards to the battery, when disconnecting yesterday, it definitely showed some signs of age, so may look to get that replaced if the disconnect doesn't solve the issue - can anyone give the specs of the battery required for this vehicle with SS?

Thanks again for the assistance - I'll keep you posted with developments.
 
Hi All.

Thanks for the comments thus far - on the advice of a mechanic friend, & in line with Mick's recommendation, I have tried disconnecting the battery yesterday evening and will keep my fingers crossed for the next few days that no further issues appear.

With regards to stalling, I'd hope that is not the issue as, with the dualogic system, that would be more concerning - as far as I'm aware, no other lights were displayed on the system - it just appeared to turn the engine off as per the SS system, but then failed to turn back on again - I'll ask my wife to specifically check if other lights come on if it does happen again, which would indicate a stalling situation.

With regards to the battery, when disconnecting yesterday, it definitely showed some signs of age, so may look to get that replaced if the disconnect doesn't solve the issue - can anyone give the specs of the battery required for this vehicle with SS?

Thanks again for the assistance - I'll keep you posted with developments.

Also look for this
fiatstartstop1.jpg
in the centre display. If S/S is operating and stops the engine this symbol should appear.

All the best with it!
 
I don't understand this changing the battery every two years on a SS car. we've just changed our 01 plate Punto evo - seven years on the same battery and the SS was still working fine.
Average journey to work approx. 10 miles, about half on dual carriage ways. The garage always checks the battery at the annual service and have never approached us to say it needed replacing.
 
I don't understand this changing the battery every two years on a SS car. we've just changed our 01 plate Punto evo - seven years on the same battery and the SS was still working fine.
Average journey to work approx. 10 miles, about half on dual carriage ways. The garage always checks the battery at the annual service and have never approached us to say it needed replacing.

A "normal car" battery will start the car fine up to about 5 years under typical use, after this age(so you 70Ah battery might only now be 47Ah say) it will still work but will show signs of stress typically slow cranking when its freezing(a good job modern cars start after a few turns, not like the 70/80's when you needed to crank for many seconds several times that killed a poor battery) its at this point it should be replaced not when it lets you down, note.
The SS system seems to require a battery with 100% "capacity" to allow heavy drains whilst stopped, lights 15A, fan 6A, wipers 6A about 30/40 whilst engine off under certain conditions, pulling 40a from a battery would flatten it in 1 hour, so several mins of many times(stopped) plus starting no wonder the battery needs to be 100% charged and be able to supply 100% of its original specification capacity.
 
We've suffered a battery failure this week - not in the Lounge with S/S ironically enough, but the Pop without it. 3.5 years old and no warning symptoms whatsoever. No instruments and not enough power to run the hazard flashers or even lock the car, just complete blackout. Couldn't even jump start it.

Had to get it trucked to FIAT unfortunately, not knowing what the issue might be, so it turned into an expensive exercise.
 
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