Hi

 

First time poster here.

 

I recently bought a 2014 Ford Fiesta 1L Ecoboost Titanium X, from Arnold Clark and it came with a 60 day warranty.

The day after I got it home, the car wouldn't start so gave AC a call and after I jump-started the car and took it back, they replaced the battery with a new Goliath G100 one (believe this is an AC own brand). This was about two weeks ago.

 

The car has the auto start/stop feature, but in the last few days this has become troublesome. When I stop and put the car into neutral, the engine stops as it should, but then when I press the clutch, the engine struggles to come back on. Sometimes it won't restart at all and the engine will stall. When this happens, I have to turn off the car and turn it back on. 

 

Looking at the specs of a replacement battery on Halfords, Varta and the RAC, the recommended battery for start/stop models is:

- 650 amps CCA

- 12 volts

- 65Ah capacity

 

However, if I compare this to the Goliath G100, these are:

- 640 amps CCA

- 12 volts

- 70Ah capacity

 

I think they have used the wrong battery and that's why the engine struggles to come back on. I've got the car booked in next week for them to look at it again, but would like to push them into putting in the correct battery.

 

I can't find any official documentation from Ford as to the correct battery I need (got the above info from various battery websites). Where would this be? It's not in the owner's manual. What is the battery requirement for this vehicle?

TIA

Reset the Battery Monitoring System - search youtube

Be sure to fully charge the battery before resetting the BMS.  Sounds like it was reset at too low charge, so the car thinks there's enough charge left to restart easily, when there isn't in reality.

(PS - Who thought Goliath was a good name for a battery?  I'd always be worried about stones taking it out...  )

If you can confidently say that out of the 114 parameters that are required before Stop/Start works, all of them have been fulfilled except the battery State Of Charge then possibly you could investigate that.

Of the specifications of the batteries you list above the Goliath 70Ah is very slightly better. True the CCA is given as 10 Amps less but in real life none of the batteries will ever give the full rated current which was obtained in laboratory test. Just like you never get the MPG that manufactures claim.

As Dave has said you can reset the BMS which I'm sure for a short while will get S/S working but then it will most likely gradually just cease. 

Thanks for this. The start/stop does start pretty early - within 500m of my house on my morning commute, it will kick in at the lights and the car has been on less than 3mins.

I'll take the car for a spin on the motorway to allow the battery to fully charge, then reset the BMS. Or should I take the battery out and charge it with a mains charger, put it back and reset the BMS?

Thanks for you advice

You don't need to take it out to charge, just disconnect the earth pole

If u fancy a drive out at the weekend , how far would you need to drive to give the battery a good charge?

To the Moon and back would get it charged to around 80%

Modern cars do not charge batteries the same way as cars from the 1980's. They are equipped with smart charging systems that will increase the charging current to the battery to ensure the fastest possible charging in the shortest time.

The down side of this is that on almost all modern vehicles the battery will only be charged to a maximum of 80% all in the name of saving the dolphins and allegedly reducing emissions.

Once your engine RPM is around 1250 then the alternator able to generate it's full output. Driving faster or driving with a higher engine speed does not increase the charging to the battery. Depending on the initial state of charge of the battery and also what equipment is being used then 5 to 7 miles will put back in to the battery the amount of charge it took to start the engine.

 

Hi,

I replaced the battery in my 2013 Fiesta Titanium last month. We have owned the car since 2016 so can be fairly confident the battery removed was the original. Reset the battery monitory during the swap and all good, including auto stop start.

Original Ford battery, 590cca, 60Ah SAE T6, BV6N-10655-AA, 12V 100RC 

Rough sizes H=175, L=278, W=175mm 

Fitted Yuasa YUAYBX7100, 12V 65Ah 650A Yuasa EFB Start Stop Battery 

Hi  (to Unofix in particular)

Thanks for your help on my wife's Fiesta.   For other readers it is a 2012 Fiesta Titanium Econetic 1.6 Diesel with Start/Stop.  Somehow all of the earlier post has disappeared or I cannot find it.  That is why I am replying here which is a similar topic.

The start/stop system has started to work today after I reset the BMS.  This post suggests charging the new battery before the BMS is reset.  Would you recommend me doing that.  I have a smart charger to do that.

The new battery I have fitted is the Yuasa 7100 series mentioned above.

 

Hi again, and you're correct all of your previous posts have been deleted 🤔 I've no idea why, perhaps @alexp999 might know what happened to them.

With regards to your new battery, you've kind have gone about it in reverse. The battery is now fitted and the BMS has been reset. You can still charge the battery for at least 12 hours, it won't do any harm. Do not reset the BMS again, it will now calculate the correct SOC provided that you connect the battery charger negative lead to the chassis earth point and not to the battery negative.

1 hour ago, unofix said:

Hi again, and you're correct all of your previous posts have been deleted 🤔 I've no idea why, perhaps @alexp999 might know what happened to them.

With regards to your new battery, you've kind have gone about it in reverse. The battery is now fitted and the BMS has been reset. You can still charge the battery for at least 12 hours, it won't do any harm. Do not reset the BMS again, it will now calculate the correct SOC provided that you connect the battery charger negative lead to the chassis earth point and not to the battery negative.

Moderation log shows I hid the thread. No idea what happened, it wasn’t intentional. I must have pressed a wrong button yesterday. Sorry, I’ve reinstated it. 

Thanks for all your help.  Really appreciated.  I have learned a lot.