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Rubbish ford stop start.


Hangman3
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I had a 2011 Focus with Stop start that only seemed to work as & when it wanted to. I discovered that the AC comes on for any excuse like recycling the ignition, touching any controls of the heater, blower & screen heater. I found that if the AC is on, then there is no chance of the stop/start working. I also found that it would never work unless I had moved at more than say 25-30mph. Even then it would only sometimes work. I presumed that there was a problem with it & had to accept it.

I have recently upgraded to a 2016 Focus that has the same issues, but this one works even less regularly than the other, although with this one I do get an icon come up where it would normally be green (if working), it has a pale white stop/start icon with a line through it.

Are these systems completely ***** or am I missing something?

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The AC doesn't keep coming on if you set it properly.  Set the climate to Eco, don't hit the 'max demist' button and don't set it to windscreen only.  The AC should stay off then.  However you are right that the SS wont work if the AC is trying to lower the temperature, once the desired temp is reached and it doesn't need the compressor running to maintain then the SS can cut in if other parameters are also met.

If you haven't reached 25mph on a journey I doubt the battery would have been able to recharge sufficiently since starting to allow the SS to work.

If you're regularly doing short, slow journeys then the SS won't work much.  Personally I found it worked a few times every journey on my 2012 Focus and the same on my current 2012 Golf, depends massively on the type of driving you do.

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It depends on a lot of factors, in cold weather it rarely come on due to demands on the battery and sub-systems. I can get stop/start working regularly normally but with A/C on when you just start the car won't allow it to kick in but after 10-15 min it works normally, this is due to it stabilising to the temp needed. In warm weather it's more reliable as the battery can hold it's charge and there's less drain. A/C, screen heaters and similar devices are high drain devices, and the A/C will go into a low-power mode when S/S kicks in. I've also seen S/S fail to kick in if you have a high amperage charger for phones/USB-C type connections.

This said most of my trips are 10mile + at around 40mph which allows the battery to reach optimal charge fairly easily, so your mileage may vary if you're dotting about the city centre. It'll also might be worth getting a battery check, as S/S is more sensitive to older or low-residual charge batteries. Another option is store the car in warm garage(!), as that allows it to handle the cold weather easier.

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I’ve a mk4 . S/S didn’t work at all for a week there then last few days worked every time. Cold engine, blowers on , headlights on rear heated windscreen on ...still worked , starting at lights 50m from my house after an all night cold start. Short journeys always too. 

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I've also got a Mk4 & I'd say 95% of time Start/Stop has worked even from cold. It says in the manual something about pushing slightly harder on the brake peddle

to get it to work (Or is that the Autobrake??) - these cars are so full of tech in the end I just want to drive it from A to B and not be stressed by it all.

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Engine wear at start up and following 8 seconds equals the wear of a 500 mile trip.   SS is just a new cars sales ploy !!!

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I can understand that with short journeys the battery may not have the boost for the SS to work but quite regularly I take a trip to Exeter which is a 20mile trip at average 45-50mph and it is still intermittent even with power draining items off.

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Have you checked the condition of your battery? In your 2016 car if its still running the sh*tey FoMoCo battery it came with it will be coming to the end of its miserable life by now. Put a nice Yuasa or something in it and you might find SS working better.

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Start/stop that never actually works sounds like the best kind of start/stop to me. Most annoying feature ever fitted to a car.

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On 1/21/2020 at 9:22 AM, Hangman3 said:

I can understand that with short journeys the battery may not have the boost for the SS to work but quite regularly I take a trip to Exeter which is a 20mile trip at average 45-50mph and it is still intermittent even with power draining items off.

That's not enough mileage to put in a good charge. If you're normally only doing short runs, the battery charge % will still be way down. Get a decent battery charger for a Start/Stop battery, fully charge it, and then see what happens. If you still have problems, it's highly likely your battery needs replacing. With short journeys, you need to be using a battery charger every few weeks, as car batteries are not meant to have a low discharge for long periods of time.

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On 1/14/2020 at 6:01 PM, Botus said:

Engine wear at start up and following 8 seconds equals the wear of a 500 mile trip.   SS is just a new cars sales ploy !!!

Source?

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13 minutes ago, YOG said:

With short journeys, you need to be using a battery charger every few weeks, as car batteries are not meant to have a low discharge for long periods of time.

 S/S has been around long enough for Ford to figure out how to make it work even for short journeys. Having to charge a car battery every few weeks on a 2019 car means there’s something wrong with the battery or the car. Mine didn’t work for a while there , I’ve not changed anything but now works every time..all I do is short journeys. 

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1 hour ago, JB_Zetec_S said:

Start/stop that never actually works sounds like the best kind of start/stop to me. Most annoying feature ever fitted to a car.

Switches off with one button if you don't like it...

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33 minutes ago, Alex.S said:

 S/S has been around long enough for Ford to figure out how to make it work even for short journeys. Having to charge a car battery every few weeks on a 2019 car means there’s something wrong with the battery or the car. Mine didn’t work for a while there , I’ve not changed anything but now works every time..all I do is short journeys. 

Unfortunately, it would appear that Ford, for many people, haven't worked it out yet! Short journeys with our Citroen, produce a similar problem, though to a lesser degree. It appears that one of the many operating parameters of Start/Stop systems, is that there must be a high % of charge in the battery before it will work (I believe Citroen must be above 70+%). When you take into account the amount of amps it takes to start a car, plus heater/blower fan, aircon, heated screens/seats, etc., it's no wonder short journeys don't replace all that is used. Obviously, not using a car on a regular basis + short journeys, helps to exasperate the problem.

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15 hours ago, The Finance Guy said:

Switches off with one button if you don't like it...

It does, but you have to do it every time you get in the car. You should be able to permanently disabled it. 

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For type approval it must default on. This isn’t Ford stipulating this. Same goes for auto lights, drives modes etc.

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23 hours ago, Alex.S said:

 S/S has been around long enough for Ford to figure out how to make it work . 

it does exactly what all manufactures intend...  enjoy the new engine / car, it'll come round very soon

the fact a few misguided fools actually want it working is probably another ploy, make it play up all the time and they'll earn a bit more of your cash, then offer you a new one that doesn't play up

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7 minutes ago, Botus said:

it does exactly what all manufactures intend...  enjoy the new engine / car, it'll come round very soon

the fact a few misguided fools actually want it working is probably another ploy, make it play up all the time and they'll earn a bit more of your cash, then offer you a new one that doesn't play up

Still no source for your claim?

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7 hours ago, alexp999 said:

For type approval it must default on. This isn’t Ford stipulating this. Same goes for auto lights, drives modes etc.

Yes, good point. We often blame the manufacturer for things we don't like (and I'm no exception), when in reality it's something mandated by the legislators.

With the current drive on emissions I can't see the ability to turn off start stop being available for much longer.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On ‎1‎/‎23‎/‎2020 at 10:44 AM, JB_Zetec_S said:

It does, but you have to do it every time you get in the car. You should be able to permanently disabled it. 

No biggie, whenever I start my Focus I simply switch it off and lock all the doors, 2 button presses in about a second :rolleyes:

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3 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

Good grief he's annoying! :unsure:

No, just American........😀

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2 minutes ago, sussamb said:

No biggie, whenever I start my Focus I simply switch it off and lock all the doors, 2 button presses in about a second :rolleyes:

You could save one of those presses using FoCCus…  It's a single click to active drive-away locking on the Mk3! :wink:  

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