In My Humble Opinion
Mike on stop-start systems.
Stop-start technology is pretty much commonplace on modern vehicles. With vehicle excise duty and fuel prices doing their utmost to stifle any joy out of owning or driving a car, every last drop of fuel must be stored, burned and turned into forward propulsion with a level of efficiency unheard of just 10 years ago. The concept behind stop-start is a simple one: when you come to a stop in traffic, select neutral and lift off the clutch, and the engine cuts out; step on the clutch and the car fires up instantly. Automatic vehicles do the same, although in this case they cut out when you stop and hold the car on the footbrake.
Subconsciously, I find it weird for a car to be able to stop and start while still being in gear technically, but none of this is really new to me. I fondly recall owning a 1980 Cortina 1600 that would regularly cut out at idle in traffic. Funny how this stopped when I replaced the awful Ford VV carb for a twin-choke Weber unit.
Joking aside, how many of you can remember the ES versions of the Fiat Regata and Strada – one of the earliest examples of stop-start technology – first seen way back in 1983? Those early Fiats had little more than an uprated battery to make them work, but today the typical stop-start car has sensors everywhere, to monitor the engine, ambient and battery temperature, and available amps and voltage. Flywheel ring gear and starter motors are heavy duty and the alternators on some models can turn into a motor to fire up the engine in traffic. Owing to the high demand on the electrical system, the weakest link in the chain is the battery itself.
All modern cars today start at the press of a button or turn of a key. They start so instantly it’s almost as quick as flicking on a light switch. Long gone are the days when you had to hold your breath, pump the throttle and give a long turn of the key to coax your Cavalier into life on a cold damp morning. Back then, when your car went from a ‘digga digga digga’ sound to a ‘wuh wuh wuh’ when starting, you had an inkling that your battery was either flat or on its way out. In the modern world of motoring, an early clue of impending battery doom is the stop-start not working.
“It’s a fact that certain car parts are regarded as ‘unsexy’”
Which brings me round to a recent conversation with an acquaintance, who was relating his car woes over a coffee. The chap had recently bought a used 2014 Jaguar XF 2.2D and had apparently bagged a bargain. Alarm bells started ringing in my head as he related the circumstances under which the car had been sold to him.
It had been bought via a leading online auction site whose name rhymes with the pretty Cumbrian village of Tebay, but from a seller who had a low number of registered transactions and whose customer feedback wasn’t exactly on a par with John Lewis.
After owning the car for a few days, my friend made contact with the seller to complain that the stop-start didn’t function. The vendor responded by telling him that, as the car had been sitting around for a few weeks, it would need a few good runs to get the battery in good fettle. However, after a couple of weeks of commuting from the Sussex coast to Horsham – a 50-mile round trip – the stop-start still refused to kick in. After a further volley of emails, the vendor stopped replying and my friend asked me to take a look at it. The issue was clear as day: instead of the correct AGM battery that stop-start vehicles require, a heavy-duty standard battery was fitted – the type you’d find on an old Omega, for example.
As in that case, it’s fair to say that many common faults found on modern cars are down to pilot error or pennypinching. Back in the days when I worked as a manager in High Street motor retail, it was a known fact that certain parts – such as engine oil, tyres and batteries – were regarded as being ‘unsexy’. Those three aforementioned items attracted the most amount of pennypinching for the simple reason that they tend to be distress purchases: you only buy them when you really have to. Only the other day, I eavesdropped on a sales advisor in Halfords showing a customer the correct 0W-30 grade engine oil for his Volkswagen, only for the punter to pick up some Multigrade 10W-40 after the advisor wandered off.
The number of people who think all oils are just oil never ceases to amaze me. Take turbo failure on the 1998 to 2002 Saab petrol cars. This was mainly caused by oil starvation due to excessive carbon deposit build-up in the sump blocking the oil strainer, which was, in turn, often caused by owners using cheaper and incorrect engine oil grades that were unable to cope with the high internal engine temperatures.
It’s the same with tyres. An old school chum owns a small but busy independent tyre-fitting centre. While I was with him chewing the fat one day, a customer rolled in with a two-yearold Range Rover Sport enquiring about part-worns! Incredible, but true.
So just because consumables are bought simply out of necessity, please resist the urge to seek out the cheapest rather than going for quality. If your stop-start has suddenly gone kaput, it may be time for a new battery as these cars are now at the age where battery life is slowly coming to an end. In which case, take a tip from the late Ted Moult when he worked for Everest: fit the best!