Start/Stop stopped working

[gibboson8]

Hi all,

Recently purchased an A3 SB 1.4 COD, just under 1,000 miles. Recently noticed that if I do the usual procedure to get the start/stop function to work when I've come to a set of lights, it no longer turns itself off. I've checked that it's still activated (which it is) but no longer seems to happen. Any ideas as to why this could be?

I'm sure it's something silly!

 

[jaypers777]

It won't work when the car is cold and you usually get a symbol on the DIS with a line through it.

 

[RichardT]

I was going to say the same thing. It also often does not work, or starts the engine after it has stopped, when you are using more power (eg if the lights are on, or aircon etc)

 

[gibboson8]

That would explain it. Thanks for the information guys!

 

[S32B]

As the others have said, everything has to be setup right for the car to use it, even a drop in battery power will turn it off. I was sitting in a carpark waiting for my wife, when I had pulled up the start/stop turned the car engine off, after a while the car started on it's own as the power drained from the battery.

The Engine will not switch off if any of the following happens

The Engine is still cold

A/C is still trying to reach the selected temperature

Exterior Temp is Very High or Low

Windscreen defrost is on

Battery is low

Car is on a steep gradient

The Engine will start again if

The Car starts to roll

Windscreen defrost is selected

You turn up the A/C to a high or low setting

Brake pedal is pressed several times in Succession

Power consumption is too high

Battery charge is low

 

[CHEZ]

Or just turn it off anyway because it's a terrible invention and the damage it will cause over time is ridiculous

 

[Darren92]

Or just turn it off anyway because it's a terrible invention and the damage it will cause over time is ridiculous

Agree. I know the cars have stronger starters and battery's but I have mechanical sympathy and think of the long term damage. I've disabled mine completely via VCDS.

 

[perazzi]

Your Stop/start has stopped starting? Or has stopped stopping?
(I wish I'd been the first reply)

 

[RichardT]

The Engine will start again if

The Car starts to roll

Windscreen defrost is selected

You turn up the A/C to a high or low setting

Brake pedal is pressed several times in Succession

Power consumption is too high

Battery charge is low

Or if you pop it into Sport mode in S-tronic

 

[gbernard]

1 hr after picking mine up I disabled it via VCDS

 

[veeeight]

Or if you pop it into Sport mode in S-tronic

Only for A3's.

This doesn't stop S/S on S3's

See:
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/new-a3-after-one-week-and-800-miles.240897/#post-2417201
http://www.audi-sport.net/xf/threads/stop-start-with-s-tronic.247296/#post-2492542

 

[mfl]

stop/start not working, be grateful

 

[gibboson8]

stop/start not working, be grateful

It was more peace of mind that something hadn't gone wrong, my missus uses the car (and feature) more than me at the moment.

Thanks for the help everyone.. And the opinions

 

[perazzi]

Funnily enough it's one of the electronic toys that doesn't bother me too much; I expected it to drive me mad / buy VCDS.

It has shown up a fault with my driving though. I never realised that I sat with my foot resting on the clutch just below the biting point while sitting at lights, which of course doesn't activate it. Kept looking at the instruments wondering why....

 

[RichardT]

Funnily enough it's one of the electronic toys that doesn't bother me too much; I expected it to drive me mad / buy VCDS.

Yes - I don't know why it bugs folk so much. It's pretty universal on all cars these days. I've got used to it now. If I come to a stop and don't want it to kick in I just turn it off. Otherwise, no problem.

 

[Aluzjunior]

happens the same with meu a3 limousine. no error om vcds, but it wont work (symbol on display).
whats intriguing is randomly starts to work again for one day or two. then stops again.
last time stopped for 2 weeks then worked 3 or 4 times and stopped again.
I did a battery measurement and got 12.3V (engine off)
the most strange is i always do the same route to go to work

 

[Ignition1]

I like Stop/Start - if you apply extra throttle it feels like launch control from stand-still. Probably ruining my gearbox and various other important engine components but meh.

 

[Hartwell]

Interesting that people find this inoffensive environment saving device so annoying. I have a manual so the engine only stops when I am in neutral and my feet are off all the pedals. Of course if you are in slow moving traffic then you feet remain on the clutch and brake as you know that in seconds you are moving forward again. With a recent S-tronic courtesy car i noticed that the engine stopped every time the car stopped, even though I could see the traffic was going to be moving again. Consequently the engine was continuously stopping for just seconds - now that was annoying.

 

[Ignition1]

Interesting that people find this inoffensive environment saving device so annoying. I have a manual so the engine only stops when I am in neutral and my feet are off all the pedals. Of course if you are in slow moving traffic then you feet remain on the clutch and brake as you know that in seconds you are moving forward again. With a recent S-tronic courtesy car i noticed that the engine stopped every time the car stopped, even though I could see the traffic was going to be moving again. Consequently the engine was continuously stopping for just seconds - now that was annoying.

You can control this if you have S-Tronic. If you lightly press the brake pedal (i.e. just enough to stop the car) then S/S won't kick in. If you press it harder then S/S will kick in.

Little feature that I I found - useful in the situation you described when you don't want to turn off S/S completely.

 

[Simon L]

I love stop/start......................err, it stops n starts when you get to junctions..................amaze-balls!! lol

As Ignito says soft press and she keeps ticking over................or for days when u wanna scoot around switch the bleedin thing off..................now where's the harm in any of that!! It's a chicken dinner for sure folks!!

 

[h5djr]

I've had much current 2.0TDI-184 s-tronic quattro for 21 months. The first 9 months I had the Start/Stop in use. I now have it permanently switched off (using VCDS) and I have not found any change in my mpg, so what is the point of it. It may well make a difference in the lab testing that has to be done to give us fuel usage figures but in real life driving it does not seem to make any difference apart from increase the gap required to pull out of a junction or on to a roundabout.

 

[Ignition1]

I've had much current 2.0TDI-184 s-tronic quattro for 21 months. The first 9 months I had the Start/Stop in use. I now have it permanently switched off (using VCDS) and I have not found any change in my mpg, so what is the point of it. It may well make a difference in the lab testing that has to be done to give us fuel usage figures but in real life driving it does not seem to make any difference apart from increase the gap required to pull out of a junction or on to a roundabout.

The delay that S/S provides when pulling out into a busy junction is actually a feature...that "OH S**T !!!!" moment is exhilarating. Can't get enough of it.

 

[Rob2k68]

Mine stopped working but then it started again !

 

[Simon L]

My stopped working but then it started again !

He's on form is our Roberto!! lol

 

[h5djr]

I've always thought it should be called Stop/Start rather than Start/Stop. The system STOPS the engine and then STARTS it again!! Perhaps they thought Stop/Start sounded a bit jerky!!

 

[leosayer1]

It also restarts if you turn the steering wheel...which is very difficult with no power steering.

It will also restart if you're on ACC and the stationary car in front pulls away.

 

[RichardT]

I like s/s as well. As you come upto a junction/roundabout you can just touch the switch to switch the feature off. But if you don't want the feature to delay your takeoff, just drop it into sport and s/s is disabled anyway, and you get a quicker launch.
I agree it probably has little or no effect on fuel consumption, but it will reduce pollution, good in urban areas. Particularly effective on a diesel I would say.

 

[h5djr]

I like s/s as well. As you come upto a junction/roundabout you can just touch the switch to switch the feature off. But if you don't want the feature to delay your takeoff, just drop it into sport and s/s is disabled anyway, and you get a quicker launch.
I agree it probably has little or no effect on fuel consumption, but it will reduce pollution, good in urban areas. Particularly effective on a diesel I would say.

If the S/S is not making any difference to fuel consumption how is it reducing pollution. Any pollution comes from burning the fuel. No more fuel being burned, no more pollution being produced.

 

[veeeight]

Start stop is great for reducing emissions. Not necessarily designed with engine longevity in mind..

The two worst features on a S3 in terms of non-mechanical sympathy, are
Start Stop
Hold Assist



From another post:


"......... there is an electrical coolant pump in circuit when the engine is switched off. Also, part of the oil system is also governed by an electric oil pump, though this is more in the piston cooling oil spray nozzles. HOWEVER - with my personal car - after a high speed run, or a very energetic drive, I do a "cool down" drive of about 3 to 4 mins just to calm everything down, then switch off S/S especially if I'm idling immediately after the run, just to let the engine tick over for a minute or so."

BUT

Although it does circulate coolant after you've switched off, you are still going to get a tremendous amount of heat soak building up rapidly from a stinking hot, non-moving engine.

So - although whilst not strictly necessary to do a few miles of "cool-down" (this is the best way rather than stationary with the engine ticking over) - it is good practice to do so, as this will be kinder in terms of thermal management in reducing the heat soak from a hot engine. Doing a cool down run also helps with reducing the engine bay temps and temps in other components, e.g.; brakes etc.

If I've been doing a sustained "high speed" blast on the motorway - then pull into the services and stop - the last thing I want it to do is to cut out the engine when its stinking hot - so in this instance, I will disable S/S.

Overall, if you've been driving hard, it is still good practice to do a few minutes of "cool down" for the sake of all the components (both inside and outside the engine bay).

And switch Hold Assist Off. The last thing you want to do is to sit stationary with stinking hot brakes, pads clamped against the discs.

 

[cpc_s3]

if its on windscreen heater fan it wont cut in. if you keep on any other three settings it will go into eco mode which means it will. also if the stereo is on too loud ive found and fans are on too high it draws too much current.

 

[Ignition1]

If the S/S is not making any difference to fuel consumption how is it reducing pollution. Any pollution comes from burning the fuel. No more fuel being burned, no more pollution being produced.

I don't think it reduces fuel consumption by much. The fuel you're saving is the fuel that the car would've burned sitting at idle...which isn't much at all. The effect of S/S is that no emissions are being pushed out when your at standstill.

Though I agree it's not that effective at reducing pollution. S/S doesn't last that long, especially more so in summer when AC's are usually on - and summer is when most pedestrians are out and about. Also in slow moving traffic (say - on a busy high street) S/S won't be on anyway.

 

[veeeight]

Bosch:
In the ECE15 measuring cycle, the urban section of the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC), reductions in fuel consumption and emissions of around 8% were meas- ured. This cycle comprises a trip of 7 km with 12 stops of 15 seconds each. In actual urban traf c, stop- ping times can be considerably longer and savings – both in terms of fuel consumption and CO2 output – can be as much as 15%.


Valeo:
The Stop-Start system provides fuel savings of up to 6% in European standard mixed cycle use, and savings of up to 15% in congested city driving.


http://oa.upm.es/7257/2/INVE_MEM_2011_78663.pdf
http://emissionsanalytics.com/do-the-benefits-of-stop-start-technology-outweigh-the-irritations/

But hey. Who the heck believes Audi's emissions claims these days anyway

 

[gamegenie]

Start stop is great for reducing emissions. Not necessarily designed with engine longevity in mind..

The two worst features on a S3 in terms of non-mechanical sympathy, are
Start Stop
Hold Assist

what about that headlight washer system?

 

[veeeight]

what about that headlight washer system?

That just sends OCD detailing types nuts

 

[ARC35]

Hi Folks, just read the thread as I've just started getting the fault warning up. On start everything is fine, no big electrical draws and 10c outside but what is happening and which I cant find anybody else making comment on is. On start up the engine idles at around 800 revs as normal, then warning comes on and idle rises to around 1100 not a huge rise but makes driving in town traffic etc, a pain as it becomes very snatch and grab with the clutch also it doesnt want to get up to temperature. Any ideas? ..... 2010 A3 140bhp

 

[veeeight]

Stop Start not working, can be indicative of another fault somewhere else, which then prevents S/S activating.

The first step is to get the car scanned for fault codes.

 

[0B1001001]

If the S/S is not making any difference to fuel consumption how is it reducing pollution. Any pollution comes from burning the fuel. No more fuel being burned, no more pollution being produced.

The engine load at standstill is quite minor, so the fuel usage will reflect this.

However, if you are in an urban environment and care one iota about other creatures in the vicinity which have lungs, you will leave stop/start on. Especially in a mobile NOx/particulates generator aka diesel! There's much more to it than just fuel usage.

I leave mine on all the time and it's faultless (but then I do have the benefit of having a manual...). By the time my clutch has reached the floor, it's all systems go!

Only time I'd turn it off is when, as others have said, I've been giving it welly for a while.

 

[h5djr]

The engine load at standstill is quite minor, so the fuel usage will reflect this.

However, if you are in an urban environment and care one iota about other creatures in the vicinity which have lungs, you will leave stop/start on. Especially in a mobile NOx/particulates generator aka diesel! There's much more to it than just fuel usage.

I leave mine on all the time and it's faultless (but then I do have the benefit of having a manual...). By the time my clutch has reached the floor, it's all systems go!

Only time I'd turn it off is when, as others have said, I've been giving it welly for a while.

I did read somewhere that more NOx is produced when a diesel engine starts than when it is running normally. How true this, and all the other information being pushed out these days to knock diesel engines, is I have now idea. When I purchased my diesel the big problem was the amount of CO2 being produced and a diesel creates less than a petrol engine. No doubt in a year or so there will be something else to worry about.

Personally I very don't very often drive in large urban areas and much prefer my A3 without Start/Stop.