General Calling all start 'n' stop owners!

[306maxi]

I had a very new 500 with S&S (a 1.2 manual) on Friday while our 1.2 Dualogic, which does not have S&S, was having the peeling paint on its parking sensors repainted.

I have never driven a car with S&S before, but found the system completely intuitive to use and 100% reliable.

In fact, I did my damnedest to make it malfunction, but couldn't get it to go wrong no matter what I tried.

Not sure what difference it made to my consumption mind you.

Same experience I had with a 1.4 Punto Evo. I got it to malfunction because i was slipping the clutch for a while whilst reversing (as you do) but other than that it just worked just fine. Which makes me wonder whether a good deal of the issues are just people who either don't drive their cars properly and ride the clutch, hold the clutch in at the lights for long lengths of time and so on...... or people who simply see a warning (when there is meant to be one like if you reverse and slip the clutch) and crap their pants.

Of course bits go wrong, of course they do. But so few people on here have actually needed to have parts replaced that it says to me that it's more likely to be user error. S&S is simply set up to work with someone who is driving how they should.

 

[RobinPJ]

Same experience I had with a 1.4 Punto Evo. I got it to malfunction because i was slipping the clutch for a while whilst reversing (as you do) but other than that it just worked just fine. Which makes me wonder whether a good deal of the issues are just people who either don't drive their cars properly and ride the clutch, hold the clutch in at the lights for long lengths of time and so on...... or people who simply see a warning (when there is meant to be one like if you reverse and slip the clutch) and crap their pants.

Of course bits go wrong, of course they do. But so few people on here have actually needed to have parts replaced that it says to me that it's more likely to be user error. S&S is simply set up to work with someone who is driving how they should.

... or maybe Fiat and Bosch (the system is a Bosch one isn't it?) have beefed it up a bit and made it more resilient in more recent cars.

 

[306maxi]

... or maybe Fiat and Bosch (the system is a Bosch one isn't it?) have beefed it up a bit and made it more resilient in more recent cars.

Possibly, but none of the Fiat techs on here have advised that this has happened, plus very few people have actually had bits replaced which means that the garages couldn't find any fault.

 

[Chrisilda]

... or maybe Fiat and Bosch (the system is a Bosch one isn't it?) have beefed it up a bit and made it more resilient in more recent cars.

I'm gonna ask the AA department and let you know LOL

 

[CptBill]

drove my girlfriend's twinair dualogic for about week.
No complain even with the dualogic. I wouldnt say that start stop is completely dumb. Had no problem leaving it activated. It was a pleasant surprise to see how smooth it was working.

Funny thing though was that today it was behaving funny. At every traffic light, start stop was being activated for about 1-2 seconds and then the engine would start up. Even though i was stopped and my foot was still on break.
Yes the weather was cold (about 5C) but it would make more sense for start stop to not get activated rather than being activated for 1-2 seconds in every traffic light. :bang:

 

[allan1954]

march 2012 fiat 500 brand new 100 miles stop start only works on the odd ocasion.no warning triangle wish i had seen this forum before buying.

 

[catherinej]

march 2012 fiat 500 brand new 100 miles stop start only works on the odd ocasion.no warning triangle wish i had seen this forum before buying.

Get some miles on and the battery charged up and it will probably be working fully.

 

[306maxi]

Allan, actually read this thread, it's nothing to be overly concerned about.

 

[jrkitching]

Allan, actually read this thread, it's nothing to be overly concerned about.

:yeahthat:

A fair percentage of new 500's have this exact problem when first delivered (though they wouldn't, if dealers did the PDI conscientiously )

Most (though not all) resolve without further intervention over the first few days, provided you actually drive the car.

If you are one of the unlucky minority & the problem persists, take it back and insist they fix it properly.

 

[allan1954]

306 maxi read all 37 pages when you buy a new car you except every thing to work jim the original poster has said only a software update on the car can fix this problem.

 

[catherinej]

306 maxi read all 37 pages when you buy a new car you except every thing to work jim the original poster has said only a software update on the car can fix this problem.

Err I had the problem and I didn't require a software update? I just required miles putting on the car to charge the battery up.

 

[jrkitching]

Err I had the problem and I didn't require a software update? I just required miles putting on the car to charge the battery up.

but the service departments should be well aware of the need to deliver new S/S equipped cars with a fully charged battery, so why are so many folks having these transient problems? :bang:

306 maxi read all 37 pages when you buy a new car you except every thing to work jim the original poster has said only a software update on the car can fix this problem.

The info in that first post is now well out of date. Until the introduction of the 2010 models, S/S was an optional extra & very few cars were delivered with it. Very early cars may indeed have needed a software update to work satisfactorily, but over time, new factory builds would be delivered with the later software already installed.

 

[allan1954]

i will try the battery charge would it be safe to charge the battery on the car or should i try to remove the battery leads.pdi booklet not filled in your info please.

 

[catherinej]

I'd just go out and drive ir.

 

[jrkitching]

i will try the battery charge would it be safe to charge the battery on the car or should i try to remove the battery leads.

Personally I'd charge it in situ but be aware of the special precautions needed when charging the battery in S/S equipped cars.

You can charge (or even jumpstart) the car by connecting to the +ve terminal on the battery and the false -ve battery post, or (alternatively and better) between the +ve terminal and a secure earth point on the chassis. Never connect external power between the physical battery terminals with the battery in the car as this may permanently damage electronic components.

On S/S equipped cars, FIAT do not recommend removing the battery unless it is being physically changed.

From experience, I've recharged a completely flat battery on a friend's car with an elecronicallly controlled Halfords charger connected between the +ve terminal & the chassis without problems & without affecting S/S functionality.

pdi booklet not filled in your info please.

The real question is whether they actually did anything to check the car over.

Too often these days, garages think a PDI consists of quickly removing the worst of the surface contamination with a Brillo pad & filling in the appropriate section of the service booklet. For an extra £300, they will also seal in what's left of the surface contamination with Supaguard .

 

[allan1954]

thanks for the reply other fiats i have had they were allways pdi but not this one.i will give it a over night charge and report back here later on.

 

[The Littlest Hobo]

I have posted elsewhere but my car was collected on friday and the SS has worked faultlessly. The car had been in stock for less than 2 weeks so maybe it hadnt had time to lose charge.

Very happy with my pdi and valet. Trust me i was picky

 

[allan1954]

i went back to the fiat dealer who sold me the car i told him about the battery solution as said on here.he told me to charge the battery overnight and if that does not sort it out to return back the car to them for further investication.i said why do you not charge the battery overnight before delivery to the customer as this was brand new.he said some cars have a problem some do not.they offered to keep the car and charge over night but i would have had to get a taxi home and return my cost £20.

 

[flashyphotos]

Mine is back in again with the Dealer on Thursday for S&S

S&S worked on day collected, then failed to work (Even with a 300 Mile motorway trip), Returned to Dealer on day 7 who confirmed it was not working put it on computer and said battery was low, (Blamed it on bad PDI procedure), even though I explained a 300mile trip should have resolved this!

After his charge it worked fine again for 24 hours, then failed again, so its now booked in again for Thursday to see what they can try and blame it on this time,

Obviously there is something amis in the Battery/Charging circuit, this car does not sit for days (Its 2 weeks old and covered 1000 miles, yet the S&S has only ever worked on the dleivery day and the day the dealer had it on charge)

 

[Super Uwe]

Mine is back in again with the Dealer on Thursday for S&S

S&S worked on day collected, then failed to work (Even with a 300 Mile motorway trip), Returned to Dealer on day 7 who confirmed it was not working put it on computer and said battery was low, (Blamed it on bad PDI procedure), even though I explained a 300mile trip should have resolved this!

After his charge it worked fine again for 24 hours, then failed again, so its now booked in again for Thursday to see what they can try and blame it on this time,

Obviously there is something amis in the Battery/Charging circuit, this car does not sit for days (Its 2 weeks old and covered 1000 miles, yet the S&S has only ever worked on the dleivery day and the day the dealer had it on charge)

Sorry to hear you're still having problems with the system - it must be very frustrating given that you'd had no trouble with your old 500.

When they say they blame the PDI procedure, are they essentially blaming themselves then?!