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Auto Stop/Start not working


FezMan
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I've been wanting to avoid posting this due to it probably being 'another' of these posts on this topic

I've had my Focus around 2 weeks now, and not once has the auto start stop worked for me. I just get the greyed out (A), and then if I go into the vehicle info it says its not working due to the battery charging.

Now its been 2 weeks and its till saying this and the vehicle has been driven obviously multiple times, how long am I supposed to give it before I decide there's a problem?

Or is there anyway I can sort of 'reboot' it into action. Ive had the drive mode In normal and eco and neither are triggering it.

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2 minutes ago, alexp999 said:

Journey length?

Its had fairly decent journey lengths, but by that I mean normal 20/30 minute daily drives. My previous fiesta though it would work pretty much within 5 minutes.

I have a feeling the Ford dealer I purchased from had it for around 1 month where it might have been sat not doing anything which probably hasn't helped. Although it was a good 2 hour drive home from there when I picked it up.

I think ill find an excuse to go on a long drive this weekend and see if that helps, but like I've seen somebody say already, a long motorway drive isn't apparently something that would kick it into action 😞 

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battery is probably a bit low from where it's been sat around and it's a cooler time of year, which usually increases your electrical load.

Might need to charge it manually if you want to save yourself some long journeys to top it up.

It's not going to be worth the fuel saving though to get it working.

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Just sitting in the car with the ignition on, doing updates, playing around with settings like we all do when getting a new car etc has a big power draw in these cars. It may take some time before things settle down.

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Just think of the wear and tear you're saving on your starter motor and ring gear. Our Mk3 only worked sporadically for a week or two after we bought it and then didn't work for around 5 years until I recently replaced the battery and reset the BMS.

You could try giving it a good charge, if you're in a situation where you're able to do that, then resetting the BMS.

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Cheers guys,

luckily its not something that actually effects the car in any form so I think ill just leave it then and see if it sparks back to life

the battery shows no signs of being drained or anything but like you say with the amount of tech on cars now its probably been working overtime 

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On my current car (not a Ford but same principle). the stop/start stopped working. I ended up doing 1 180 mile round trip and then A 300 mile round trip before it started working again. However, it now does not work as have only been doing short journeys recently. If it is greyed out though then that might indicate a problem wit the system. Mine was green but just flashhes.

 

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Try this worked on mine
turn the car on for 10 seconds, press fog lamp switch 5 times, then press hazard switch 3 times. when the battery light flashes, turn the ignition off

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

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Stopped working on my MK4 Focus. My previous car's, BMW's, i never once had an issue with the START/STOP not working.

Just add the START/STOP to the ever-growing list of weird things that don't work or work when the wind is in the right direction!!

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Mine's hardly every worked, not that I care.

Weirdly though even when I did similar journeys to the missus, her Fiesta SS would always work, and has always worked in both the Mk8s she's had so far.

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13 minutes ago, Guy Heaton said:

Mine's hardly every worked, not that I care.

Weirdly though even when I did similar journeys to the missus, her Fiesta SS would always work, and has always worked in both the Mk8s she's had so far.

I usually turn mine off on the Fiesta anyway, but on the odd occasion I forget to do so, it always seems to work, even at times when I get this message, presumably because the battery is low. Weird, indeed!😃

20190220_095534.thumb.jpg.453971c0fc7114dad5ab3537348d759a.jpg

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Focus seems to have a real issue with it's BMS functions in Mk4 Focus. It affects the Nordic countries most IMO, since during the last winter, ppl (including me) were experoiencing issues with fuel aux heaters not working (with me even in mid-august) on a cold morning, and battery SOC dropping even to 40-55% even if the car is run regularly. Ford is not always replacing the BMS sensor/module at the moment, since it would only help for a while, maybe from days to months. They're searching and waiting for a full fix.

Also, one of the symptoms is S/S not working due to low battery SOC and system not charging the battery properly. One option would be to detach the BMS sensor off from battery negative terminal connection.

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  • 3 months later...

Bringing back a dead thread to maybe help someone else who has the issue out

Took it to Ford after 4 months of my 'Start/Stop not working due to battery charging' (as it says in the centre dash).

They diagnosed its a faulty battery and ordered me a new one which all have fitted next week.

I also have had the above picture of the '...ignition off to save battery' often and also the parking sensor/warning noises only coming out of what sounds like a single speaker (didn't realise this was a battery issue until recently)

Had the same issue with the parking sensors on my old MK8 Fiesta, sort your batteries out Ford!!

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  • 1 year later...

Had a similar problem even when I had done 2 long journeys. Spoke to my ford dealer and the mechanic said to put the battery on a 24hr charge. If you want to do it without removing the battery you should connect the positive lead to the battery terminal positive and the negative lead to the chassis. There should be a negative bolt near the battery to use. My stop start worked as soon as the car was running up to temperature. If you have to remove the battery you just connect to the battery terminals

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1 hour ago, Happy Dave said:

Had a similar problem even when I had done 2 long journeys.

This is the comprehensive guide to AutoStart issues...

 

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  • 1 year later...

Any news? Do you know how could it be fixed.

Should the battery be recharged?

Should the battery be changed?

The ignition on, fog light and hazard light thing does it work?

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2 minutes ago, Bol said:

Any news? Do you know how could it be fixed.

Should the battery be recharged?

Should the battery be changed?

The ignition on, fog light and hazard light thing does it work?

?

have a read of the previous post where there is a comprehensive guide to start/stop!

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On 10/5/2020 at 8:41 PM, Morty1977 said:

Try this worked on mine
turn the car on for 10 seconds, press fog lamp switch 5 times, then press hazard switch 3 times. when the battery light flashes, turn the ignition off

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
 

It appears it works. Did this a few hours ago and it worked for now.

 

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43 minutes ago, Bol said:

 

Well done, you just followed the instructions to reset your cars' BMS! 🤣

 

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Will that be harmful?

The battery icon didnt flash on the dash.

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Just to insert myself on this thread as well lol...

Resetting the battery Monitoring System on the mk4 is more of a trick than a fix and it's certainly not a cure, but it's not harmful. The start-stop will start working for a while until it learns that the battery isn't holding enough capacity to function again.

The fix is to have a healthy battery fitted by Ford.

The cure is to have an uprated AGM battery fitted. I suspect the stock EFB battery fitted to the mk4 was always under spec for the demand. 

 

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10 minutes ago, Karbonfaiba said:

Just to insert myself on this thread as well lol...

Resetting the Battery Monitoring System on the mk4 is more of a trick than a fix and it's certainly not a cure, but it's not harmful. The start-stop will start working for a while until it learns that the battery isn't holding enough capacity to function again.

The fix is to have a healthy battery fitted by Ford.

The cure is to have an uprated AGM battery fitted. I suspect the stock EFB battery fitted to the mk4 was always under spec for the demand. 

 

It is not entirely unharmful.

Resetting the BMS resets the recorded age of the battery, without changing the battery that means the BMS assumes the battery is newer than it is and cannot properly account for an aging battery.

An AGM battery also isn't the answer. The car's charging system is designed for EFB. AGM has different charging profiles and ideal voltages. You're potentially wasting your money over a decent EFB.

The best advice is to use a trickle charger/maintainer to keep the battery topped up if you're not doing the miles. When it is time to change, get the largest EFB the car's platform was designed for, from a decent manufacturer. Then keep that topped up/maintained too.

I'd never waste money getting a battery from Ford. They are specc'd to be cheap and are lower capacity despite being twice the price than you can get in the same dimensions from aftermarket.

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I appreciate folks that want to follow the factory protocols and all your points are valid.

I have been closely monitoring my charging management for 3 months using Forscan logging and I believe it to be reliable, with an expected 14.7V charging from my alternator, expected absorption and float cycles controlled by the vehicle. It's manually programmed as a precaution (although I have reason to suspect the BMS reset takes care of this bit itself) There is a case to be made that 0.2V higher voltage requirement from the alternator will reduce it's working life.

But I find the idea of using a trickle charger, during the normal daily running, to be an unacceptable living standard.

I'm not researched at all on alternative EFB batteries to be honest. I have a AGM Bosch S5A08 fitted, perhaps you could suggest a suitable EFB then - so everybody reading can make an informed choice, as I would also agree with you about Ford's costs!

 

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