bpg
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Post by bpg on Dec 19, 2022 14:45:01 GMT
Three presses on the start button and five presses of the brake pedal within a few seconds* and see the little battery light on the dash light up for a few seconds then go out. * That's what I think I did, I know it wasn't something you'd do by accident. Looked it up and that was wrong, ignition on do not start the engine, flash the main beam 5 times and press the brake pedal 3 times within 10 seconds of the ignition going on. That only works for cars with stop/start without stop/start involves the rear fog light and hazard warning light switches. It sounds 8bit but at least you can do it yourself without having to have a laptop plugged in with a £4,000/user licence piece of software hooked up. |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Dec 19, 2022 15:22:10 GMT
...ignition on do not start the engine, flash the main beam 5 times and press the brake pedal 3 times within 10 seconds of the ignition going on. Crikey, I'd better change my cockpit drill. Poor car must be bewildered.  |
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Dec 20, 2022 14:22:17 GMT
47 miles today to Oxford and back. DRLs only (LED anyway) and minimal ancillaries. And no problems, although it had been running for more than 40 miles before the ECO light turned green, and 45 before it actually stopped. Even then, it restarted before the red traffic light turned green.
So what have we learned? The car reported more than 13V from the battery all the way, even before I set off, and settled at 14.5V. So, consistent with the AA tester, it does seem more than capable of starting and running the car, provided it’s not -5°C for days on end. It’s still not very good at stop-starting it, but it hasn’t been for years and it’s possible even a new one would be no better.
Which makes me think that I might just do better to keep the old battery and my £255. I may well have job-related reasons for replacing this car in 2023 — I’m rather hoping I will — and that means the number of deep-cold starts I’ll ask it to do now is probably in single digits. Unless it takes a noticeable turn for the worse in the next cold spell, I’m inclined to stamp this one No Further Action.
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Post by EspadaIII on Dec 20, 2022 15:33:10 GMT
The Mini has stop/start. On a very cold Saturday night after a minimum of 26 hours at below freezing temperatures it chose to operate the stop/start function within a mile of setting off. 200 motorway miles later, it would not stop/start at the next opportunity to do so. Makes no sense whatsoever. You would have thought that a four year old car, driven 200 miles at motorway speeds with only really headlights using much additional electrical power would fully charge a battery.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Dec 20, 2022 17:46:06 GMT
My Focus is 28 months since registration, built 31 months ago. Can't remember the last time the stop start worked.
It can be on a recondition charge for days, stop start still doesn't work.
This car has not broken 10,000 miles despite three separate trips to Friedrichshafen, Cornwall and Islay.
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Post by Alanović on Dec 21, 2022 9:13:31 GMT
Never owned a car with stop/start. Driven a couple and have been confused by it activating sometimes, and then not activating at other times. Weird.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Dec 21, 2022 10:06:22 GMT
There’s a fairly well-defined set of conditions that will prevent it from operating — cold engine, low battery charge, heavy ancillary load — so there are times I don’t expect it to work. (It’s not a surprise anyway because of the yellow-green ECO indicator.) But other CLSes I drove before buying mine seemed more willing to do it than this one is.
I like it when it does work. Just wish it worked more often.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Dec 21, 2022 15:43:10 GMT
Just to make a liar out of me, stop start working again in my Focus.
Weird thing is the engine was stone cold when it cut in, engine temp was still deep blue i.e. water temp under 70°C outside temp 11°C, aircon set at 21°C.
Cold start, drove straight off, first stop after 200m at traffic lights and the engine cut out.
The car was on a recondition charge most of last week and has not been used for about three weeks before today. Cars eh !
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Dec 21, 2022 16:07:54 GMT
Mine did better today, although when I left home, the ECO indicator didn’t come on at all — a situation that never rights itself until I stop and restart the ignition. But this was the return journey, with a stop on the way. I think each sharp voltage dip corresponds to a stop-start activation.  |
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Dec 21, 2022 16:46:57 GMT
Is your car not throwing any warnings at 11.6v WDB ? My S60 starts losing it when the battery is low 12s.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Dec 21, 2022 16:51:34 GMT
No. I can’t see this information while I’m driving, so I presume that when the voltage dips below a threshold, it simply restarts the engine if I haven’t already done so. The AA battery man (perhaps I should call him the AA’s battery man) said that 11V was the usual minimum for normal operation, and this plot suggests the car is managing itself to stay above that.
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Post by Alanović on Dec 22, 2022 9:15:04 GMT
Maybe get a battery conditioner, Dubya, I've got an AA one which cost about 30 quid I think. I stick it on the Corolla and the Civic every couple of weeks or so if they haven't moved much. No danger of a failure to start then if (when) another cold snap arrives.
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Post by Humph on Dec 22, 2022 11:25:34 GMT
All these tales of wonky batteries, saggy bottoms, errant gearboxes and so on do seem to be a bit functional of the old use it or lose it adage.
If you just keep driving the things they seem to appreciate the abuse!
😉
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Dec 22, 2022 11:54:24 GMT
Maybe get a battery conditioner, Dubya, I've got an AA one which cost about 30 quid I think. I stick it on the Corolla and the Civic every couple of weeks or so if they haven't moved much. No danger of a failure to start then if (when) another cold snap arrives. I just can't be bothered with all that, especially the faff of running cables across the drive. My battery is essentially healthy and I can always manufacture an opportunity for the car to get a 40-minute run every ten days or (usually) less. And, to pick up Humph's point, it's another major point in favour of EVs. The i3 doesn't need this constant fussing; I just charge it when I want to use it and off it goes. It's a genuine transport appliance, not a machine that has to be minded for its own benefit. |
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Post by Humph on Dec 22, 2022 12:49:56 GMT
Excellent misrepresentation of my point and swerve to suit your agenda!
Gold star!
🤣🤣🤣
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