Stop Start Is It A Wast Of Time ???

[hotrodian]

As the title said, is it a waste of time, or an excuse to get lower emission figures??? the reason I ask is what good is a system that doesn't operate when the heater is set below 17 degrees, in the summer when you have no electrical equipment on it doesn't operate but in the winter when you have the possibility to have the heater fan on full ,heated front screen on heated rear screen on, wipers on, heated seats on, lights on. why would you want to put extra drain on the battery starting the engine ???? surly it should be the other way round, and yes I do know if there is too much drain on the battery it doesn't work either, another reason it is useless. as an addition to the above all turbo engines should be allowed to idle for a couple of minutes before turning off the engine. ( it tells you this in the manual) The reason for this is to let the turbo cool so that the oil in the turbo bearings doesn't burn off leaving the bearings dry causing wear on start up, and premature turbo failure. so what happens when start stop operates? yup as soon as you finish your journey,The engine stops and the turbo is still at operating temp, very clever :o . so what do you think??

Discuss.

cheers Ian

[FiestaZS90150]

If you read the manual in the Sand S seciton its very well explained that it some conditions like you mentionned it doesnt work. Between what and what temp, stuff like that.

And it also says that it only turns of when it can turn of. And i have seen that after reving it doesnt switch off straight away since its only supposed to switch off when safe for the turbo =D

you can switch it off =).

[Stoney871]

It's all flash and no function.

TBH, it doesn't do anything you can't do yourself with the key if stuck in a jam.

[FiestaZS90150]

very much true i have to agree. Mine never works since i leave the hhouse get on the motorway and 45minutes later i top at work lol. no traffic lights or jams so dont ue it much. When i went to spain for holiday in traffic jams it was a pain.I turned it off. Sometimes you stop and before you accelerate it cuts out. So annoying XD

[Willy]

well like OP said, if you set your temp to minimum it doesn't cut in anyway so during the summer you don't use it.

I find it never works for me because I never take the car out of gear when i'm stopped which in turn stops the car from shutting down.

[E5GDM]

I never take the car out of gear when i'm stopped

Poor clutch.....

[cuke]

Works fine on the Fiesta, broken on the Focus, same journey same ambient temps. I'm surprised it wouldn't work when the temp is set below 17c as it monitors the inside and ambient temps and will start up the engine accordingly. I think the temp would need to be set much lower than that. It doesn't put more strain on the battery as it has one that is specific to that purpose as is the alternator as well...

[Roderick Pask]

Well at least it gets us zero Road Tax.

[hotrodian]

a bit of a mixed bag there, so would you recommend it as an option,? I know I wouldn't,

Cheers Ian

[hotrodian]

Well at least it gets us zero Road Tax.

So does my old chevy,!!!

[Roderick Pask]

I use stop start when I think about it. Wouldn't bother me if it was not fitted.

[damocl]

Poor clutch.....

Sitting in a traffic jam with it in gear and the clutch down puts no strain on it what so ever.

[FiestaZS90150]

its not an option mate. At least not in France =). They all have it except the lowest level trim.

[GazzaC]

Sitting in a traffic jam with it in gear and the clutch down puts no strain on it what so ever.

But why do you insist on leaving the car in gear with clutch depressed when in traffic? What do you gain?

[E5GDM]

Sitting in a traffic jam with it in gear and the clutch down puts no strain on it what so ever.

What about the thrust bearing & springs on the pressure plate? Got to be safer putting the handbrake on & into neutral when you can.

[DAN222]

i think it all depends on where you live and where you have to travel.

I live in west midlands, and have to do the birmingham root regularly (which if you do it - you know its a pain the !Removed!).

So i find stop start very useful.

Im always putting the car into neutral.

For me if im at a traffic light and leave it in gear, i find it very uncomfortable both for me and the car.

Their is times when stop start can be very handy, and times when you need to turn it off as it becomes a pain, i think its just down to the routes you take and your driving preferences.

[Early-1800]

Mrs's Audi has stop start and a dual clutch s-tronic gearbox. (can't remember what Ford call their version).

Stop start is bordering on dangerous when traffic is busy but not chocker. Every junction/roundabout you roll up to it cuts out just has you are trying merge into moving traffic. The stop starts takes a fraction of a second to fire up the engine, then the computer controlled gearbox takes a fraction of a second to decide to set off. In that time the approaching car is almost on top of you and so you to give it some welly, totally negating any saving in fuel when the engine cut out for 2 or 3 seconds.

I can see in a large city nose to nose rush hour crawl it will prob save fuel. When no traffic is about and you never stop it won't come into operation. At all other times it just a frustration. Mrs has it turned off most of the time.

[Willy]

It only works when your out of gear and released the clutch. So by the time you've done all that and applied the hand brake it's time to set off again.

[FiestaZS90150]

It only works when your out of gear and released the clutch. So by the time you've done all that and applied the hand brake it's time to set off again.

Your too slow :P Just kidding.

dont tell me in the UK you have to put the hand brake on when you stop? lol

[MartynS]

You know it!

[cuke]

Hi, handbrake isn't really needed if you've hill assist anyway....

[tomroscoe]

Well I love SS (stop start). In fact I put off buying a Fiesta till this engine and SS arrived on the scene, because there was no way I was going to tolerate a diesel stopping and starting on me - the noise would drive me bonkers. And anyway, this little 100PS petrol is simply light years ahead of Ford's clumpy diesel.

OK, it does mean we have to replace the battery with a 'special', but as the battery on my old Mondeo was still going very strong after 12 years and more than 100k miles, I've no doubt that this one will last the course too.

SS saves you money all the time (and especially thrust bearing costs). You can't beat it, however fast you snick the car into first. And you can over-ride it by switching off the A/C at the lights (but keep the recirc running) - that'll make the SS come into play. If you roll forward the engine starts automatically and there's a lot of clever monitoring going on all the time to stop the turbo overheating, to keep the brakes boosted, the screens heated and so on.

It's a wonderful system. The Yaris has a quieter SS but the rest of the car isn't a patch on the Fiesta, and surprisingly the Toyata is't as statistically reliable either.

tom.

[jimrex]

My Start/Stop works more often than not. The dealer described it to me as for use when at a level crossing or a long traffic light, when you know you are going to be sat for a bit. I don't tend to use it in heavy stop start traffic, otherwise it's on-off on-off constantly which can't be any good.

[Willy]

My Start/Stop works more often than not. The dealer described it to me as for use when at a level crossing or a long traffic light, when you know you are going to be sat for a bit. I don't tend to use it in heavy stop start traffic, otherwise it's on-off on-off constantly which can't be any good.

Second that ;)

[Loz Cheung]

yeah i have nothing against stop/start ever since having it. i actually miss not having it on the ST now!

I dont sit at the lights in gear, i always have it in neutral so it was second nature. Depending on how the traffic creeped along, i would also switch it off as the 20 yards of crawling would counteract the starter motor firing up for the 2nd+ time.

Works more in a manual, less so with an auto. Auto drivers just want it to work on the brake pedal without putting it in neutral either, so the cars always going to be caught off guard at junctions.

I'd also rather have a diesel in silence sat at the lights than listening to a tractor engine!