Hi all,

Strange problem and looking for your advice.

I have a 2015 Fiesta Titanium X, so it has keyless & start/stop etc. The issue is that when I park in gear, I shut the engine off by pressing the Start/stop button (RPM drops to zero). Then I release the clutch and the car jolts and seems to stall (even though its off?)

I'm finding I have to park the car in neutral, turn the engine off then put into reverse/1st (as required).

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

In all fairness you don't need to leave it in gear anyway. As long as you have completely stopped and put the handbrake on, and ensured the engine has stopped running, the car shouldn't move at all. I doubt it jolts when it hasn't been running for a few hours and put it in gear when parked.

13 hours ago, Crafty14 said:

I shut the engine off by pressing the Start/stop button (RPM drops to zero). Then I release the clutch and the car jolts and seems to stall (even though its off?)

I do not know much about the start stop system here, so could be way off.

But could you be confusing the Sart-Stop system? If it is working (rare on a Ford ), and you come to a halt in a forward gear, then drop the clutch, the engine stops automatically. Pressing the button then sends the Start signal, and it tries to fire up just as you release the clutch?

How long is the gap between you pressing stop and releasing the clutch? If it is too short then the engine might be still be turning hence is being suddenly halted by the engaged drivetrain. I am not suggesting you need to be leaving it seconds before releasing the clutch but just perhaps fractionally longer than you are doing. 

2 hours ago, MJNewton said:

How long is the gap between you pressing stop and releasing the clutch? If it is too short then the engine might be still be turning hence is being suddenly halted by the engaged drivetrain. I am not suggesting you need to be leaving it seconds before releasing the clutch but just perhaps fractionally longer than you are doing. 

About 3 seconds or so - RPM has dropped to zero and the engine is off as its making no noise. Then once the clutch is raised and car jerks.

13 hours ago, Tdci-Peter said:

I do not know much about the start stop system here, so could be way off.

But could you be confusing the Sart-Stop system? If it is working (rare on a Ford ), and you come to a halt in a forward gear, then drop the clutch, the engine stops automatically. Pressing the button then sends the Start signal, and it tries to fire up just as you release the clutch?

I don't think so as the stop/start only engages when you go into neutral not when you press the clutch down. Plus a light comes on the dash when stop/start is in action - which it doesn't when I'm parking.

I wonder if the hill start assist is engaging as you stop with the clutch down, then it releases when the clutch is disengaged so the car rolls a bit? 

10 minutes ago, Crafty14 said:

About 3 seconds or so - RPM has dropped to zero and the engine is off as its making no noise. Then once the clutch is raised and car jerks.

Do you hear he engine and does the tacho show revs when you do this? If not it's just the engine and gear box moving until the play in the system is taken up and the car reaches a rest position. That is; engine reached full compression without rotating further and play in gear box, drive shafts etc at the end of rotation. If you release the clutch with your foot on the brake or the hand brake engaged then it won't occur. 

does sound to me like stop/start could be involved here, you at least need to rule it out. Have you tried it with stop start disabled (disable it a few mins before you are going to park).

I would always leave the car in gear when parked. In theory the handbrake should do the job, but why risk it. I do actually know two people whose cars rolled away when left parked because they had not put the handbrake on quite hard enough it would appear.  It would not have happened if left in gear. 

3 hours ago, isetta said:

does sound to me like stop/start could be involved here, you at least need to rule it out. Have you tried it with stop start disabled (disable it a few mins before you are going to park).

I would always leave the car in gear when parked. In theory the handbrake should do the job, but why risk it. I do actually know two people whose cars rolled away when left parked because they had not put the handbrake on quite hard enough it would appear.  It would not have happened if left in gear. 

Good idea - I'll try that tonight. I'll also try with hillstart turned off as I'm used to doing a hillstart "properly" anyway and never use it

Mine does this and I have a key. Seems the car takes a moment to actually turn off. I've started keeping the clutch in a tad longer than I would with other cars. Or leave it in neutral