That stop/start again!

[orcadian]

I know I posted earlier about the non appearance of stop start on our Mk3 (Sept 2015) Jazz which we picked up in December and had lots of advice about the idiosyncratic system and its dependance on a multitude of parameters often checked at start up before it would work. Well it did as I said work now and then but today it really blew most theories out of the water.
It was raining heavily early today as I dragged the wheelie bin up the long drive so when I got in the car which hadn’t been used for a while, Christine was driving and because I was like a wet dog everything steamed up as we made our way towards Town.  Lights on, heater and rear window on, aircon on to clear everything and wipers at full tilt (and I was charging my phone!).  We stopped about 6 miles from home, still with everything on and the stop start worked!

Confused of Orkney🤓

[trebor1652]

Hi confused of Orkney

It just goes to show that the battery is in tip top condition.
Must admit that when you are stopped at traffic lights and the engine starts by itself, it is a little disconcerting. But hey how, you get used to it.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

[orcadian]

Wow, that’s a revelation and explains what also happened today.  I had nipped out of the car on an errand when the car stopped itself as reported.  Christine left everything as was because I was only going to be a minute (yeah, right!) As is usual in Orkney, I saw someone I knew and got talking.  When I got back to the car she had been fiddling with buttons for the radio menu and said that the car had started itself - I thought she must have pressed the clutch pedal but she was adamant that she hadn’t.
Thanks for teaching me something new!  Even at nearly 70, everyday is a school day.

Ian

We do have traffic lights but they are kept in a box in Kirkwall and only used on special occasions, so rarely get held up by them.

[John Ratsey]

The engine will restart if it thinks the cabin temperature is getting too far from the set temperature or if accessories are using a lot of electricity and ithe car then worries about the state of the battery.

[orcadian]

Thanks for that John,
Although I try to keep up with technology, I’ve only seen this event of engines starting on their own on a poltergeist type film years ago 🤓. It does seem now though that my initial fears of a failing battery after such a long period with lack of use was unfounded and mainly due to low ambient temperatures.

Ian

[Jocko]

I’ve only seen this event of engines starting on their own on a poltergeist type film years ago

"Christine".

[orcadian]

Will you tell her, or will I?

Ian

[peteo48]

I have now come to accept that the system is impossible to understand in a common sense way. That doesn't mean that there are not technical issues beyond the understanding of non engineers like myself - just that it will operate in circumstances that are, on the face of it, unfavourable and will not work after, say, a 100 mile motorway trip.

Today it's wet and cold. I have driven to and from Manchester. Didn't work at all on the way in even though it was dry. On the way back, in heavy rain with aircon, lights, wipers and radio on, it worked almost immediately after setting off.

[John Ratsey]

Today it's wet and cold. I have driven to and from Manchester. Didn't work at all on the way in even though it was dry. On the way back, in heavy rain with aircon, lights, wipers and radio on, it worked almost immediately after setting off.

That's likely to be because the battery didn't pass a test which is only done when the engine is started (perhaps voltage when starting the engine?) and the system doesn't then assume that after an appropriate distance that the battery is adequately charged. If, however, you were to stop after a few miles and restart then the auto-stop could well have worked for most of the outbound trip.

My experience is that my HR-V's battery will only stay sufficiently well charged for a maximum of 4 or 5 days parked before the auto-stop goes on strike. The antidote is to charge the battery the day before the next trip.

[peteo48]

My Jazz behaves in a similar fashion John. Takes some time after a holiday to reach the required state of charge. I'm sure it knows what it is doing!

[Graham Smith]

Here's an example of how the manual isn't easy to get info from...
I was driving today and was surprised when the auto-idle stop wasn't functioning though I hadn't turned it off with the switch and it had been operating okay just previously... The indicator in the multi-information display showed the icon that says the auto idle stop was not functioning. I looked on P109 and it just says... " Appears when Auto Idle Stop does not activate for some reason." - Not very helpful! I eventually tracked it down on page 411 where a small notice says that the auto-idle stop does not activate when "...the fan is turned on and the mode control dial is turned to demist"  !!!! Now, I would never have guessed that was why it wasn't working! Turned off the fan and the auto stop worked again.

[orcadian]

Hi Graham,
We’ve had our mk3 since December last year and I have now resigned myself to the fact that only the system architecture boffins at Honda know when the S/S system MIGHT or MIGHT NOT operate, trouble is they probably work for Huawei now!
It’s a bit like the weather, some days it rains when you didn’t expect it to.  So instead of an umbrella, I’ll take my bus pass with me.  I’m just going to live with it.  Just wait till you younger folk have to put up with self driving cars - I’ll be outta here before then!  Still loving the car though including the 10% over optimistic computer figures.

Ian

[Graham Smith]

Hi Graham,
We’ve had our mk3 since December last year and I have now resigned myself to the fact that only the system architecture boffins at Honda know when the S/S system MIGHT or MIGHT NOT operate, trouble is they probably work for Huawei now!.....
Ian

I also own a 1973 Triumph Spitfire (now mothballed in my son's garage) and I know exactly how most things in it work and can fix stuff as needed. (e.g. fiddle with the carbs to set the right tickover speed, clean water out of the distributor cap and so on...) But modern cars? No chance. Have you noticed in film & TV someone is driving a car and something goes wrong so they stop and lift the bonnet to look at the engine.... What a pointless thing to do! They wouldn't have a clue!

[culzean]

Hi Graham,
We’ve had our mk3 since December last year and I have now resigned myself to the fact that only the system architecture boffins at Honda know when the S/S system MIGHT or MIGHT NOT operate, trouble is they probably work for Huawei now!.....
Ian

I also own a 1973 Triumph Spitfire (now mothballed in my son's garage) and I know exactly how most things in it work and can fix stuff as needed. (e.g. fiddle with the carbs to set the right tickover speed, clean water out of the distributor cap and so on...) But modern cars? No chance. Have you noticed in film & TV someone is driving a car and something goes wrong so they stop and lift the bonnet to look at the engine.... What a pointless thing to do! They wouldn't have a clue!

The good news is that despite their complication modern cars are chalk and cheese with reliability and longevity than older 'simple' cars. ( ignore the reliability part if thinking about jerman cars  )

[orcadian]

The good news is that despite their complication modern cars are chalk and cheese with reliability and longevity than older 'simple' cars. ( ignore the reliability part if thinking about jerman cars  )
[/quote]

I can only partly agree with you about longevity - 04 plate Vauxhalls litter many ‘end of life’ breakers yards and many others of a similar age are in the same cemeteries because an ECU costs twice the value of the car.  My Daimler SV8 is 20 years old next year and still worth more than I paid for it - and sought after.  At present I’m resurrecting an MG RV8 which is 26 years old and will probably never end up as scrap due to its value. Still got a 49 year old Mini too!  I will concede the bit about reliability but in 54 years of motoring and motorcycling I’ve never returned home on a breakdown truck - maybe just lucky? Yes, I’ve occasionally had to fix stuff when out on the road.

Ian