Mk4 Start Stop Not working

[Waggy]

59 minutes ago, Glenn65 said:

Sounds like a plan, I might give that a try and see what happens. 

The trouble seems to be, whether you go for a long run, charge the battery externally, or reset the BMS, the problem comes back within a few days. But let's get one thing straight, this is not a sign there is anything wrong with the battery whatsoever. Lots of cars were no problem at all until the lockdown, mine included. Once it had stood a few days and I started getting a low battery warning, whatever I did would only provide a temporary fix and would not get the car back to where it was. It's as though the system has reset itself to a different level and nothing will budge it. You just have to learn to live with it for now, whatever you find will work for you. Despite what people say, nobody on this forum really seems to know exactly what is happening and how to fix it. Or do they?

[Mark-UK]

Long motorway runs to fix s/s, I drove 135 mile, parked the car for 3 days drove 135 miles back, the s/s worked ONCE, never to work again, well actually it did work one other time about 12 months later, thought I'd stalled the car)

 

Lets all just admit fords s/s system is a piece of junk, that they don't want to fix.

[StephenFord]

6 minutes ago, Mark-UK said:

Lets all just admit fords s/s system is a piece of junk, that they don't want to fix.

It's basically an ill conceived concept. It's puts on untold strain on many ancillary parts for the engine too, continuously stopping and restarting it again. Any competent engineer would tell you that's no way to treat a mechanical/electrical device. You either run it, or turn it off, you don't continue to stop/start it!

[Glenn65]

Seems I’ve opened the proverbial can of worms with this one... lol

I reckon I’ll just have to keep an eye on it and see what happens as it sounds like it’s a pretty random thing and unless everything is 100% right for the system to work it won’t. 
I’m guessing somewhere in the handbook it’ll say for the system to work I need to have my 3 weetabix, where my lucky pants and make sure I don’t use anything electrical while driving on a Tuesday for it to do it’s thing....

[steve67]

I got myself one of these.. no start stop issues now😁https://www.ctek.com/uk/products/car/mxs-5-0-uk

[Comares2001]

Principle of Operation

The system is designed to help reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by stopping the engine when it is idling, for example at traffic lights. Your vehicle has an enhanced battery and starter motor that are designed for an increased number of engine starts.

The system does not stop the engine under certain conditions, for example:

If you have opened the driver door.

If you have unfastened the driver seatbelt.

If your vehicle is at high altitude.

If you have switched the heated windshield on.

If you have selected certain drive modes, for example sport.

If the engine is warming up.

If the outside temperature is too low or too high.

If the battery charge is low or the battery temperature is outside the optimal operating range.

To maintain the interior climate or reduce fogging.

[VFR800]

I have a solution to the Start Stop issues on Fords.....buy a BMW, had 2 of them, and it never gave a problem, never!!! 😉

[Wino]

3 hours ago, Mark-UK said:

Long motorway runs to fix s/s, I drove 135 mile, parked the car for 3 days drove 135 miles back, the s/s worked ONCE, never to work again, well actually it did work one other time about 12 months later, thought I'd stalled the car)

 

Lets all just admit fords s/s system is a piece of junk, that they don't want to fix.

There's an easy explanation for that. You drove the return journey after the first part of your trip and the wind was blowing in the wrong direction 😆

[NortonSS]

Mine started working today after almost a year.

[Waggy]

3 hours ago, Mark-UK said:

Long motorway runs to fix s/s, I drove 135 mile, parked the car for 3 days drove 135 miles back, the s/s worked ONCE, never to work again, well actually it did work one other time about 12 months later, thought I'd stalled the car)

 

Lets all just admit fords s/s system is a piece of junk, that they don't want to fix.

Whatever people's opinions about stop/start, the root cause of this problem is nothing to do with stop/start at all, it's the way the "smart" charging and BMS is configured.

[unofix]

I think I've seen a programme where they fixed the problem of charging the battery, seemed to work quite well

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfNfwNWWphI

 

[steve67]

If you go to the battery manufacturers website and use the battery finder.. you will see that the battery manufacturer recommend a higher amp battery than the one supplied by ford..

Some information..

https://www.varta-automotive.com/en-gb/technology/start-stop-system

[Comares2001]

 You sure? For my MK4 Varta recommend 65A EFB which is only a negligible 5A more than original fitment that was probably special Ford fitment as its  N/A in the Varta listings

[FezMan]

Hi Glen, 

do your rear or passenger doors open/lock with keyless entry?

My S/S never worked since I bought the car and only the driver and boot opened with keyless entry

after a few months of driving (to see if it just needed to 'charge') I decided to take it to ford who diagnosed it was a faulty battery, who then ordered me a new one and has worked since, along with the passenger/rear doors 

Worth taking it In while its all under warranty 👍

[unofix]

Hi FezMan, I'm a little puzzeled about your keyless entry problem. It is a standard option that you can select on the dashboard menu to have it "Unlock All" or just "Unlock Driver" are you saying that the unlock option didn't work and Ford changed the battery and this fixed it?

[FezMan]

1 minute ago, unofix said:

Hi FezMan, I'm a little puzzeled about your keyless entry problem. It is a standard option that you can select on the dashboard menu to have it "Unlock All" or just "Unlock Driver" are you saying that the unlock option didn't work and Ford changed the battery and this fixed it?

Thats right, I don't mean universal unlock. I think thats where you have the option to have either just the drivers door or all the doors unlock when you press the button on the key?

All 4 doors you should be able to walk up to and 'open' or tap the 3 little bumps and lock the door, as long as the key is in proximity 

this only worked on my drivers door and the boot though. I also had the 'tinny' parking sensor/alert sounds (as ive seen some describe It on here) and the S/S didn't work. All from what I gathered on this forum are battery related issues

Took it to ford who like I say diagnosed a faulty battery, they ordered a new one and fitted it the next day and jobs a good en 🙂

[Glenn65]

All my doors lock /unlock as they should. To be honest, I’m not going to the expense of a new battery until the current battery doesn’t start the car.

As it stands, I’d like the S/S to work but not that much. We have a few longer runs planned over the next few weeks now that the lock down restrictions have been lifted a bit more. so can see if that helps.

It worked when we first got the car, but it was driven from London to Larkhall to be delivered, so if that didn’t work nothing would have, so probably why it was ok for the first few days we had it. Since then it’s been more short trips so as described before it is probably that, that’s affected it.

(edit: this is my first car to have ever had S/S so it will be a learning curve)

[Alex.S]

I’m sure charging the battery will work but I’ll be fkd if I’m having to charge the battery on an 18 month old car. 

[Glenn65]

1 minute ago, Alex.S said:

I’m sure charging the battery will work but I’ll be fkd if I’m having to charge the battery on an 18 month old car. 

That’s my thoughts too. I’ll just admit defeat and accept it’s a crap system.

[Alex.S]

1 minute ago, Glenn65 said:

That’s my thoughts too. I’ll just admit defeat and accept it’s a crap system.

I mentioned earlier mine stopped working approximately 2 months , been working well for a year now.  🤷‍♂️ 

[FezMan]

7 minutes ago, Glenn65 said:

All my doors lock /unlock as they should. To be honest, I’m not going to the expense of a new battery until the current battery doesn’t start the car.

 

No expense, its all under warranty. I got them to fit me 4 new door edge protectors while they were at it as they didn't fully open and clasp onto the doors, and also a new alloy as it was like the metallic coating was peeling off on one of them

no questions asked, take full advantage of the 3 year warranty while you can, doesn't hurt booking it in for them to have a quick look!😉

[Glenn65]

3 minutes ago, FezMan said:

No expense, its all under warranty. I got them to fit me 4 new door edge protectors while they were at it as they didn't fully open and clasp onto the doors, and also a new alloy as it was like the metallic coating was peeling off on one of them

no questions asked, take full advantage of the 3 year warranty while you can, doesn't hurt booking it in for them to have a quick look!😉

Sounds like a plan! I’m also new to new cars! I’ve been used to running cars well out of warranty, so don’t have a clue.

it’s a Ford Direct car too so as far as I’m aware it gets full unlimited milage warranty as if it was a new car.

[FezMan]

9 minutes ago, Glenn65 said:

Sounds like a plan! I’m also new to new cars! I’ve been used to running cars well out of warranty, so don’t have a clue.

it’s a Ford Direct car too so as far as I’m aware it gets full unlimited milage warranty as if it was a new car.

My last 3 Fords have been Ford Direct cars and I've never had a single problem with using them to fix things within the warranty you get from them.

They've never tried to get out of fixing or ordering a part or asked questions etc, even times when ive thought 'surely they've never come across this before and won't know how to fix it' they do 👍

You'll drop your car off first thing in the morning once you've booked it in and they'll call you in the afternoon to pick it up, or they'll want to keep it overnight as they'll have ordered something which 99% of the time is next day delivery for them, and you'll get the car back the day after.

The only time that didn't happen is when I had to have a whole new gear box fitted on a 2017 Fiesta when it was only 1.5 years old.. Would have cost £1000+ had it not been under warranty, they had it for around 10 days but gave me an EcoSport to drive around in the meantime 😅

[Glenn65]

7 minutes ago, FezMan said:

My last 3 Fords have been Ford Direct cars and I've never had a single problem with using them to fix things within the warranty you get from them.

They've never tried to get out of fixing or ordering a part or asked questions etc, even times when ive thought 'surely they've never come across this before and won't know how to fix it' they do 👍

You'll drop your car off first thing in the morning once you've booked it in and they'll call you in the afternoon to pick it up, or they'll want to keep it overnight as they'll have ordered something which 99% of the time is next day delivery for them, and you'll get the car back the day after.

The only time that didn't happen is when I had to have a whole new gear box fitted on a 2017 Fiesta when it was only 1.5 years old.. Would have cost £1000+ had it not been under warranty, they had it for around 10 days but gave me an EcoSport to drive around in the meantime 😅

Sounds good, we have a few things to do over the next few days as we had this week off, but maybe once I’m back at work I’ll give them a call and see what the score is. 👍😁

[Wino]

Hold the front page .............

Stop start has actually worked numerous times today 😮

As usual got in the car and the voltage was reading it's normal 11.6v and showing 14.9v when running as it hasn't moved in almost 48hrs. 

Drove to a destination 16 miles away which was mostly motorway dropped off what I needed to and returned home.

Got the phone call to say items were ready so drove back the same way and as I came off the motorway and stopped at the junction the damn thing worked and for a further 4 times in stop start traffic 🙄

By this time the voltage was reading 14.3v so when I got my items and returned to the car I checked what it was reading before I started it up and it was on 12.7v and remained showing 14.3v all the way home 👍

A combined trip of 64 miles in total.

Will see what it reads in the morning as I have to collect something from a local store tomorrow.