Hi all,

In my mk8, the start stop system does not seem to come on anymore. I have actually seen it work for the past 4 months I would say. Battery voltage can vary in my car as I have a dashcam wired in which can take the battery down to 12v but usually, it's up around 14v. My journeys vary from anything like 3 miles to 15 miles in one go but in either case, it just does not come on. 

Does anybody have any advice? Any ideas will be much appreciated 🙂 

Is it cold out there? I believe the system is inactive at temperatures below 4 degrees Celsius, to protect both the battery and prevent you from getting really cold. :-) 

At least, that is what I remember from the manual on my previous Fiesta. 

Have you switched it off by accident in the instrument cluster settings , think the mk8 it  might be an option in vehicle settings? 

Yes, it’s around 4 degrees in the mornings so that could be playing a part too but as it hasn’t been on for a very long time, I think it would be something else and also, I’d expect it to come on during the afternoons when the temperature is up to near 7-10 degrees.

It’s definitely on as well, I just get the start stop symbol come up with a line going through it to suggest it’s unavailable. 

My stop / start usually works perfectly but, during the late cold weather, it hasn't been working.

Check for diagnostic codes too, there may be something.

When o had the original efb battery fitted it didn't activate below 3 degrees with my current agm battery fitted I have had it activate at -6 so I don't think it's related directly to temperature but the ability of the battery to restart the engine I cold conditions. Cold batteries have less starting power 

First thing I do when I start the car up is switch the stop start off, don't like this feature on any vehicle I drive , if I am sat in traffic at railway crossing or some other obvious long hold up then I will switch off the engine myself if need be, have seen this type of system malfunction on lorries before then causing a problem for everyone else around you.  

I normally do the same as @steve1312, switching off as soon as I get in the car and then, depending on what route I am taking,  briefly switching it back on when approaching a point where a known lengthy delay exists eg level crossing.

I say "normally" as I don't usually need to bother when temperatures are generally low and/or high demands are being made on the battery as I have found over the years that the various systems disable themselves under such conditions.

I've had several cars of different makes wth start-stop and none have had an option to switch it off permanently within the vehicle settings menu, I've not found an option on the Mk 8 either though it may be possible with Forscan?

Apparently in the States you can buy a gizmo for the F150 truck that piggybacks on the start-stop switch and switches it off automatically every time you start. Not seen anything similar here/for other models though, but sounds a handy idea.

My own reason for not leaving the system on permanently btw is that leaving home I am faced with 5 traffic lights within the first half mile, all of which require a brief stop and I have been surprised that the start-stop is generally triggered, even though the engines on the various cars cannot have been properly warm. I then found that after those first few cycles (which I cannot believe do the engine any good) the systems never worked again for the rest of the journey anyway.

 

In all fairness, I actually prefer the system off for similar reasons as you guys but wanted to see what could be the reason behind it not working at all. I dug around in the menu a little bit and on the info screen for the Auto Stop Start it says "Engine on due to vehicle charging" so I guess that kind of solves my issue or at least gives me a reason why it isnt working. It's likely to do with my dashcam taking up charge from the battery when the car isnt on but that's something I'm happy leaving as is and in a way, it does me a favour as I don't have to switch the auto start stop each time I drive 😉 

In my case, whilst the temperature may play a small part, the system hasnt actually worked since around September when the temperature wouldn't have had any impact. 

As far I know, unless Forscan can do it, there isn't a way to permanently switch off the auto stop start. 

You can try to reset it by doing the following...

1st press the engine start button and leave it at least 20 seconds so everything has started up (not the engine, just the electronics)

2nd turn on your dipped headlights

3rd, flash your main beams 5 times then firmly step on the brake pedal 3 times.

After this wait a few seconds and the battery symbol on the dashboard will flash a few times to let you know that the system has been reset.

This worked for my Ford Fiesta active 2018 

Sad, very sad.

11 hours ago, unofix said:

Sad, very sad.

Ai bot?

6 hours ago, DaveT70 said:

Ai bot?

Possibly, or the classic case of a little knowledge is dangerous 🤣