Can I disable my car’s engine stop/start feature?
Q&A
Question: We are writing to you with a suggestion and a good question about it. Suggestion: Like many new vehicles, our Chevy Cruze has the stop/start feature. We understand its purpose; but it is most annoying in many ways. We found an easy workaround that negates this annoying feature, and it might be worth sharing the idea with others.
At startup, we put the shift lever in L gear and then paddle shift to L6. The Cruze goes through all normal gears when driving, but the engine does not shut down at stops. We are annoyed no longer. And, there is no doubt that the battery and starter motor will live a longer life using this L6 option. My question: Does driving in L6 around town and/or on the highway hurt the transmission is any way?
B.E. Answer: Ugh! No stop-start disable switch? Most cars and light trucks employing stop-start technology have them, and there’s a lot of folks who are grateful for the button, even though it must be pressed each time the vehicle is driven. Stopping the engine while the vehicle is at rest and quickly restarting it as one’s foot comes off the brake pedal got its start with hybrid vehicles and European gas and diesel vehicles, where their emissions-mileage certification drive cycle has about twice as much idle time as we do in the States. Stop-start is a fairly inexpensive means of achieving perhaps a five to 10 per cent fuel-economy gain and reducing emissions on a wide scale. While hybrids do much better on fuel economy and emissions, they’re only a small fraction of the vehicle fleet, and stop-start is now found on most new vehicles sold.
A typical gas-engine vehicle will wait till the engine and catalytic converter are at operating temperature and the battery is well charged before employing the feature. There are additional hurdles to overcome. An electric pump that maintains automatic transmission fluid pressure, and air conditioning and heating to some degree, will require a restart within a couple of minutes to function well.
Done well, typically using a hybrid’s motor-generator, operation is seamless and quiet, and the huge hybrid battery and electric A/C compressor allows long engine-off periods. Others use a beefed-up starter and heavyduty AGM battery, and sometimes things can get a little jerky. Your Cruze gets higher marks than many for smooth starts, but I can appreciate the desire to cancel operation, at least during certain driving situations.
Hacking the system using the shifter as you have will cause no issues as, with the exception of second gear, manual shifting basically sets the upper-gear limit in operation. Selecting the top gear will simply allow normal automatic shifting functions. This would be a great time to ask folks for their input on stop-start favourites and dogs! I’ll compile and forward the results.
Q: My CD player is broken. It seems a few CDs might be stuck in the changer. I cannot insert or extract any CDs, but the CD player will replay a few songs from two or three of the CDs that are stuck inside. Lexus quoted over $1,000 for a replacement. A repair shop quoted $500 for a used stereo plus labour. Now I’m wondering if a repair shop could pull the stereo and see if the CDs can be manually extracted, and if that would fix it. What do you think?
G.T.
A: I admit to burning most of my CDs to flash drives or SD cards. A bit of a hassle, but they do take up less space in the console. A couple of tricks include pressing the eject button while smacking the dash with the heel of your hand, or slipping a credit card over the top of the CD and another card beneath, then squeezing and pulling out the CD. Tip: Do not use copied CDs, as they are often thicker than originals and labels exacerbate the potential for jamming. The cost of having a shop do the labour of removing your unit just to take a look is probably not worthwhile.