SOLVED: Auto Start Stop On - Vehicle Charging

t4thfavor

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***2/14/2019 Update*** Solved, Issue Has Not Reoccurred

So I have 250 miles on my Ranger, and the Auto Start Stop feature has stopped working. I know some of you would be ecstatic if this occurred, but I drive in stop and go traffic quite often, and it's moderately useful for me. Plus I don't want broken things on a week old truck.

When I go to the bottom menu in the fuel economy screen it says "Auto Start Stop Enabled - Vehicle Charging". The feature has not worked in 2 days from what I can tell.

Hitting the start stop button shows the green icon that says the feature is disabled, and when stopping I see a similar but grey icon with a line through it.

Any ideas?
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j0shm1lls

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So I have 250 miles on my Ranger, and the Auto Start Stop feature has stopped working. I know some of you would be ecstatic if this occurred, but I drive in stop and go traffic quite often, and it's moderately useful for me. Plus I don't want broken things on a week old truck.

When I go to the bottom menu in the fuel economy screen it says "Auto Start Stop Enabled - Vehicle Charging". The feature has not worked in 2 days from what I can tell.

Hitting the start stop button shows the green icon that says the feature is disabled, and when stopping I see a similar but grey icon with a line through it.

Any ideas?
I'd have the dealer test the battery for a dead cell. That's most likely the culprit. My '13 Raptor had a bad battery on arrival, and my '16 RS battery didn't last too long and I was having the same issue of start stop not working. I ended up just replacing it with an Optima though, no problems since.
 

khyros

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There are tons of things that'll prevent S/S from activating. That doesn't mean that there's a problem with your vehicle. It sounds like the culprit for you is a low battery state of charge, either because you're having a key off battery drain, you're only doing short trips such that the alternator doesn't have a chance to charge the battery (not a problem, just a condition that'll prevent S/S), or a battery not retaining the charge.

Depending on what you have as far as tools, you could connect an amp meter to your vehicle to record your key off current drain, and if it's high, then you can start pulling fuses to find the culprit, or you could just take it to the dealership and have them check the battery. Replacing batteries on new vehicles is sadly a very common issue.
 
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t4thfavor

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OK, so it worked fine on the way home last night, and it was once again AFK this morning. I'm guessing that it's disabled when the headlights and heated seats are on, but even well after the heated seats are off, the Auto S/S feature is still disabled. I drive 55 miles one way to the office, so it's not short trips. I'd suspect it was due to temperature, but it was in the high 30's here in Detroit, and even made it into the 40's later in the day. Seems that both times I used the remote starter (both seats on full blast, heat on full blast when remote starting) that this has occurred. I'll keep everyone posted.


EDIT: If I just RTFM, I'd guess it's due to the windshield defroster being on. It's snowing and crappy here, so I guess I just ASSumed that it would function under "normal" driving conditions.
 
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rangerdanger

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OK, so it worked fine on the way home last night, and it was once again AFK this morning. I'm guessing that it's disabled when the headlights and heated seats are on, but even well after the heated seats are off, the Auto S/S feature is still disabled. I drive 55 miles one way to the office, so it's not short trips. I'd suspect it was due to temperature, but it was in the high 30's here in Detroit, and even made it into the 40's later in the day. Seems that both times I used the remote starter (both seats on full blast, heat on full blast when remote starting) that this has occurred. I'll keep everyone posted.


EDIT: If I just RTFM, I'd guess it's due to the windshield defroster being on. It's snowing and crappy here, so I guess I just ASSumed that it would function under "normal" driving conditions.
Did reading the manual help?

I'll follow up in a few more days but it sounds like this issue is tentatively "solved".
 
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t4thfavor

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Nope, all HVAC off, still didn't work on the way home today. I'm going to check my battery voltage tomorrow morning before I start it.
 
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t4thfavor

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It seems to be related to ambient outdoor temps, it worked fine yesterday when outside temps were over 25F.
 
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t4thfavor

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Yeah, even though it hasn't worked since the temperature went south of 30F I'd say it's solved. The solution is that start stop is to get that extra EPA boost, and isn't really practical or reliable anywhere it gets cold :)
 

WXman

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For whatever it's worth, they just added ESS to the Jeep Wrangler for 2018 as well. My ESS system died after 6 months of use. They put a new Intelligent Battery Sensor on it (this is usually a sensor on the negative post of the main battery). Next they replaced the aux. battery (vehicles with ESS usually have two batteries, not one). Finally, they reprogrammed the PCM to make the Jeep "learn" how to use ESS again. All total, I was without the vehicle for two weeks.

Since then it's been working flawlessly again. Make sure your dealership knows to dig deep...ESS issues can be complicated to solve.
 

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Last week mine was doing the start stop at 5 degrees.
 

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Last week mine was doing the start stop at 5 degrees.
It is fine to save a few drops of fuel , I wonder what is the additional wear and tear cost, after a couple of years, on the starter ect from restarting 20 + times a day vs 6
 

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I'd have the dealer test the battery for a dead cell. That's most likely the culprit. My '13 Raptor had a bad battery on arrival, and my '16 RS battery didn't last too long and I was having the same issue of start stop not working. I ended up just replacing it with an Optima though, no problems since.
I reccomend going immediately to the dealer. Two days ago went to go to the store and fx2 would not start or jump. It seems the auto start stop feature can be an indicator for a failing battery as it had stop working and the menu displayed Veh Charging. So you don't get stranded take it in for servicing ASAP.
 

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