According to the handbook, the Stop Start will not operate if engine is not warm enough, or battery levels are low. As your rightly mention, with the A/C running, which uses more electric power, it should not be stopping if it's a battery issue.
Does your restarting happen when it's not been running for very long?

 

I went 240 miles to Edinburgh last weekend. At no time going up on Friday did the stop start/work. I expected it not to work when we left as previously there had been a lot of short journeys and I think the battery was a bit low. However after 240 miles I did expect it to work in the Edinburgh city traffic but it didn't. The car was parked up all day Saturday. When I came to use it Sunday morning S/S worked.

Mine does seem a bit hit and miss. I suspect the battery is not perfect as the car is an ex-demonstrator and it is possible that the battery may have been flattened on a number of occasions by the car being displayed with doors and boot open. However this is one of the downsides of buying a demonstrator and if it needs a new battery in a year or two so be it.

In summary I think there are so many things that can effect stop/start that you or I will never get to the bottom of why it works or doesn't.

 

It took a long time and a few long trips before my S&S started working. However it still sometimes turn off the engine and then turn it on again after 5-10 seconds even though I don't touch anything.

 

I find this really weird, I do a dozen short journeys of 1-2miles a week and my S&S always activates (if I forget to turn the damn thing off).

The air con is always running & the G does one good journey of approx 30miles a week


The reason I detest it so much is that the activation point and the natural clutch bite point are differefent, I have to push the clutch in further to restart the engine and consequently look and feel like I'm dithering on pull off

 

Ours never works, Steven, but then maybe that's because our start-up procedure is:
1. Turn key
2. Switch to 'D'
3. Turn off S&S
4. Drive off with a smile, .

 

Mine, when the car was brand new, worked but now after some 500 miles it stopped ? It seems to me that it learned that it make no sense for our traffic to deactivate engine as almoast all stops were under 30 seconds. So now I am not "angry" because it does not work (it was almoast my silent wish that stays in this way ) but more qurious why is it this way.

 

It definitely seems hit and miss on here. Ours works everyone after a cold start. We drive in the city so it gets a good work out!

 

i now automatically switch mine off, as last Saturday, the starter motor decided to throw a wobbler. the nice man from the AA said they are getting endless calls from owners of all manner of cars with SS, all with faulty starter motors. some fail, some just stop in the wrong position, and need jumping back into life, by being shorted out.
mine was the latter. however, need to have it looked at, and hopefully get the starter changed.
so we have lost confidence in the SS for the time being. and kill it immediately.

 

I hate the start stop feature, its the first button i hit when i get in the car and wish there was a way to disable. I doubt very much it saves a lot of fuel.

 

+1:thumbs:

 

Utter pain in the arse.

If I could change one thing about the G it would be to let you permenantly disable the Stop Start in the dashboard settings rather than have to switch it off every journey.

 

Would it not be possible to get an Auto Electrician to reverse the operation of the switch so, i.e. so you have to press it down every time in order to switch the SS on?

 

I doubt it. Prob programmed into ECU to be on.

 

Well this morning it is coming up as unavailable with permanently illuminated warning light.. However last night I had the ignition on with radio on while I cleaned the car thus draining the battery a bit. I am told that once the battery goes below 85% capacity S&S shuts off.

 

Leave it a week, see what happens.

If you put pressure on the steering or it rolls slightly when stopped, it immediately restarts,

We have it on the Merc and the MiTo and it has a life of its own, but eventually you can second guess it.

If that lamp is still on after a week, book it in, as it might just be pedal switch issue.

 

Thanks CJ. Good to know it's not confined to just the Alfa then. Light has since gone off but still comes up unavailable. I'll leave it a week or so and see how it goes. It has another run to Crail on Friday so get the battery back up to peak power hopefully.

Otherwise car is just amazing, and with todays much welcome sunshine I finally got to see the Etna Black at its best . . .

 

Mine says unavailable pretty much all the time. Never had the warning light come on though. The warning light means 'Stop/Start FAULT'

 

I want it to be off all the time instead of forgetting to shut it off and then engine stops for one second when getting out of parking.

 

When moving back and forward to get out of a parking space S/S should not operate as the car has to be in neutral and the clutch released for it to turn off the engine.

Hence press clutch; change from forward to reverse gear (or vice versa) and release clutch to move in opposite direction. Thenm S/S does not come into play

 

Stop Start

Consider that the life of starter motor is determined by how many cycles it oerforms If you get 10 start/stops on one jouney instead of just the one, you can basically reduce the life of the motor by the same factor. It is okay for being stationary in traffic jams for longish periods, but like any thinking person, you would switch off manually anyway.
Read an article in German mag as to how these things are contributing to even more traffic jams by depleting the battery to the point where you don't get a restart, then cause another traffic jam! Switch it off and use your head!

 

Try doing this.

1. Car in neutral, clutch up,
2. When engine cuts put the car in 1st gear but DO NOT PUT YOUR CLUTCH DOWN,
3. The engine will stay stopped and will not restart on its own, only if you put the clutch in at which point you are already in gear ready to go..

The car may beep and ask you to depress the clutch. If it keeps doing this after a few times then it may be worth popping into your local dealer and asking them to give it a check over.

David @ Bauer Millett

 

Mine decided to stop working last week, I sort of miss it when I stop at traffic lights, how can I make it come on again?
Gerry

 

Had the G 2 weeks now and all the dash ever says is 'stop start unavailable'. Surely it must be set incorrectly as my Audi company car has it and it works perfectly, shuts off and restarts when you would expect it to. Think a ride back to the Alfa dealership is in order!!

Take it for a long drive drive - 100miles+. Then keep using it. You probably need to go 12-15 miles a day to keep the battery topped up.

 

Had the G 2 weeks now and all the dash ever says is 'stop start unavailable'. Surely it must be set incorrectly as my Audi company car has it and it works perfectly, shuts off and restarts when you would expect it to. Think a ride back to the Alfa dealership is in order!!

 

Read an article in German mag as to how these things are contributing to even more traffic jams by depleting the battery to the point where you don't get a restart, then cause another traffic jam! Switch it off and use your head!

I seriously doubt there are enough start-stop equipped vehicles in the German car population yet for this to be even measurable.

And even if the S&S system wasn't disabled if the battery level is low (and that's "low", not "nearly depleted"), the effort needed to restart a warm engine is far lower than for a cold start.

Maybe some manufacturer's implementation is broken, but like FIAT Group, most of them use the same Bosch stop-starters (including BMW and Volkswagen Group, incidentally).

 

I can't stand stop-start myself, my wife's company vw has it. When I drive it I keep the clutch pressed down at the lights. If you want to stop it working it should be easy to unclip the microswitch on the clutch pedal which will then disable it permanently. Could possibly affect the cruise control though? My mate's G s/s constantly gives him problems, being reluctant to fire quickly enough. I believe it's only really fitted to acheive unrealistic official mpg figures.

 

I find stop-start excellent, mine has never once not kicked in when it should (air con on very cold, rear window demister on etc being things to stop it).

I reckon I spend up to 10 minutes sitting idle in traffic each journey to work, overall it will be making a significant fuel saving.

The missuses FIAT 500 auto came with it too, for the fiorst week after picking the car up it never once kicked in, even after a very long motorway drive to charge the battery, later that week it came on and has worked faultlessly since. It almost seems like the car has to kind of learn your driving style!

 

Disconnecting the pedal interfaces definitely kyboshes the cruise control Mr Clutch.

 

Mine has never worked - December 2010 2.0 170bhp Giulietta - Is there anything wrong with mine!?

Thanks!

 

I find the system always turn off car when going downhill no matter what's the weather condition.