I forgot to add that there is some evidence that sulfation of the battery electrodes can be reversed somewhat by a long, slow trickle charge. Just as an experiment, if you know someone who owns a cheap 1-ampere slow trickle-charger, you might try putting the battery on slow charge over a weekend and then test if there has been any recovery of stop/start function.

 

Jimw

Well this is very interesting information. I am taking my B-Max in tomorrow morning to my local Ford dealer to investigate the problem with my stop/start, seems you have come up with what it might be. As I said in a previous posting, I know what they will do, stick it on charge all day, say it is now working (as it did when I purchased it last October). Then just like before it will undoubtedly 'fail again' after a few months.

I really think it will take a concerted effort from all B-Max owners to keep on at Ford to come up with a solution. If the stop/start ( which by the way is greatly lauded by Ford in their sales spiel) is not reliable take it away and refund us the cost or.....find a solution

Will report back after trip to dealer tomorrow

 

Hi everybody,I am not trying to put us all on a downer, as I suffer the same issues with stop start, but I, (as I am sure you have done) have googled Stop/start and the issues we have are the same in all systems used by all manufacturers because its the way the system operates. See this from Vauxhall:


The Stop-Start System checks if each of the following conditions is fulfulled. Otherwise an Autostop will be inhibited.
<ul style="margin: 0px 1.5em 1.5em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 11px; color: rgb32, 32, 32; font-family: tahoma, verdana, arial; : rgb240, 240, 240;"><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The Stop-Start system is not manually activated
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The bonnet is fully closed
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The drivers door is closed or the drivers seat belt is fastened
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The battery is sufficiently charged and in good condition
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The engine is warmed up
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The engine coolant temperature is not too high
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The engine exhaust temperature is not too high, e.g. after driving with high engine load
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The ambient temperature is not too low
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The defrost selection does not inhibit an Autostop
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The Climate Control system does not inhibit an Autostop
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The brake vacuum is sufficient
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The self-cleaning function of the diesel particule filter is not active
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; list-style: disc outside;">The vehicle has moved since the last Autostop
[/list]<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 11px; color: rgb32, 32, 32; font-family: tahoma, verdana, arial; : rgb240, 240, 240;">An Autostop may become less available as the ambient temperature approches freezing point.


<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 11px; color: rgb32, 32, 32; font-family: tahoma, verdana, arial; : rgb240, 240, 240;">



Certain settings of the Climate Control system may inhibit an Autostop
So as you can see, all are the same. No solution I am afraid, apart from we should be told all this before we buy (rather than the manufacturers using it as a selling point) so we can choose whether it is worth spending the extra money and all manufacturers should be fair and where in my opinion, customers have been mislead by both the dealers and the manufacturers, if there is no solution then we should be refunded.

 

Following from Specialk,


Some months ago I remember seeing a list of the sensors interrogated for stop/startby a Hyundai ix20 on the Hyundai board - anyone interested may wish to look there. The list is so long it seems a miracle it ever works.



Geriartricus

 

My car went in yesterday for a diagnostic check - everything OK according to the dealer. No idea why the battery was draining. Spoke with Ford Customer Services again this morning who told me to go back to the dealer as I had found out some information from my local motor accessory shop who told me the wrong battery was fitted. Looked on this site today and delved further into the information given by another member yesterday THE SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT START-STOP SYSTEMS.
Very enlightening it was and I now understand that the battery on my car B-Max Titanium 1.0 125 is the WRONG ONE. What should be fitted is the Absorbent Glass Mat 70AH. This battery is required as the Titanium has plus brake energy recuperation which requires the stronger battery. Printed this informaiton out and took it to the dealer and he is going to look into it further before I take the car back next week.Hopefully I will then get a bigger battery fitted. At present my car is fitted with the Enhanced flooded 60AH battery.
It's now up to all B-Max Titanium 1.0 125 owners to get their cars back to a Ford dealer and insist on getting the bigger battery fitted which should have been fitted in the first place. Definitely cost cutting.

 

Yet more information comes to light regarding the problems with stop/start.

Well took my car into the Ford dealer this morning as requested (Titanium 120PS) and left it there all day. Went to collect it this evening and had a chat with the mechanic.


Seems he managed to get the stop/start working by playing around with the temperature controls and it would activate sporadically...he acknowledges that it is a problem and said he was raising a fault report with Ford.


So, is it the battery? is
it the Alternator? damned
if I know, but what I do know is that it is time Ford got off their backside, acknowledged that there is a problem and did something about it!!


As mentioned previously, overall the car is excellent and it is a real shame to spoil it by having this irritating problem. It needs resolving, come on Ford please do something about it NOW


Have also completed the annual questionnaire on Auto Express highlighting that whilst overall satisfied with the B - Max the stop/start issue really does need sorting out. There are too many of us experiencing the same problem for it to be an isolated problem

 

Looks as though we are both on the same wavelengths here. Lets hope now that something is done but we need more B-Max owners complaining.

 

Hello everyone!
I have a B-Max 1.0 EcoBoost 120 PS, and until now I haven't had problems with Start/Stop

It Works great on my car, that was built on the 1st of February 2013.

On the http://www.ford-forum.de/showthread.php?t=125282, you can readabout the conditions for Start/Stop, and in the threadI have found this:

In deutsch:
<blockquote style="margin-right: 0px;" dir="ltr">"es gibt eine rückrufaktion 2U486 wo es um defekte bzw falsch kalibrierte batteriemonitorsensoren geht bei den 1.0 ecoboost motoren . Der sensor ist für die richtige batterieladung sehr wichtig ,möglicherweise sind eure fahrzeuge auch betroffen."
</blockquote>
I have translatedit to English (with the help of Google Translate):
<blockquote style="margin-right: 0px;" dir="ltr">"there is a
recall
action
2U486
when it comes to
faulty
or
mis-calibrated
battery
monitor
sensors
in the
1.0
EcoBoost
engines
.
The
sensor
is very
important for proper
battery
charge
,
maybe
your
vehicles
are
also
affected
."

</blockquote>
Please note, that I don't know if the information is right or wrong!!!

Kind regards

Svend from Denmark



Edited by: Sjust

 

Svend Thanks for the information it certainly sounds a possibility, will let my local dealer know

 

Good find SJust, going from that reference number I have been able to find out the following also :

TSB 2U486

"Research shows that a number of copies of the B-MAX, Fiesta, Focus and C-MAX a battery monitoring sensor with an incorrect profile for the charge state. Because of this incorrect profile can be a worse state of charge are measured then the battery has in reality. When a poor state of charge is measured, it is possible that the Start-Stop function is disabled.




Solution:

The affected vehicles have a new battery negative cable with built-in battery monitoring sensor needed with the correct profile for the charge.




<div style="text-align: center;">

Source site:http://www.fordclub.be/forum/viewtopic.php?p=261327&sid=5b60d025efffe3c729c78cdc60007842#p261327


Edited by: Davis_Zadian

 

Nice One D_Z,Following your post and now I know what to look for, my car was marked up for the battery monitoring sensor so they did it while they were doing the heater cable recall and I have checked under the bonnet and I have a Brand spanking new Negative cable as illustrated

 

Good to hear SpecialK... only you will know if it has made a difference or not... let us know how you get on with the new negative cable...

 

Will do

 

Just a quick follow up:The Stop/Start still does not kick in when I have the A/C on even with the new negative cable. I will monitor other situations as I go.

 

Had a call from local Ford dealer
to ask how stop/start working now, I said it isnt
! he
was very helpful and advised me to switch all aircon
/fan off and try it. I did this later in the day (even though it was boiling hot) and blow me the stop/start worked, tried it over several hours and everytime
with the aircon
and fans switched off the stop/start worked everytime
!!

Called the Engineer later to let him know and he said that Ford are
now aware of this issue and he would expect a software update to be provide
in the not too distant future. Meantime if I want stop
/start facility just gotta
leave the aircon
/fan off, great in winter but right now...hit 32 again here today so will live without stop/start and hope Ford come up with the software update soon.


Full marks to local Ford dealer, the engineer has called me regularly to check and update me, and now that Ford have recognised
there is a problem, things are looking up

Will keep you posted

 

A quick up-date,Following on from keytapper, I have been playing around and it would appear any excess
powerabove normal operating will invalid the Stop/Start system. When we had the storms and it came dark yesterday, the auto lights came on and I had the fan not the A/C on because of the heat. When I stopped the Stop/Start did not kick in but as
soonas I turned the fan off it did, even with the lights on. I have the new negative cable/battery monitoring sensor
fittedand
I'msure it will not make any difference. C'mon Ford, MORE POWER NEEDED !!!!!!

 

<b style="line-height: 18.1875px; color: rgb51, 51, 51; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">Solution:[/b]The affected vehicles have a new battery negative cable with built-in battery monitoring sensor needed with the correct profile for the charge.

Did you also get the corrected charge profile installed. The profile is like a driver for your computer at home. Say you have a webcam on your computer, but install the wrong driver, the camera may still work, but you might be loosing out on other
capability'sof the camera by not installing the correct driver.




Same with the car,
apparentlyalong with the fix of replacing the
negativelead on the battery,
there is a profile change too with tells the car computer how to use the 'Battery monitoring sensor' within the NEWbattery
negativelead, correctly.




Unfortunatelythis is where I cannot find out any information at this time, the profile change could be automatic within the lead, like plug and play, meaning as soon as you connect the new lead, the car
receivesthe new profile from monitoring sensor directly. Or on the other hand, it may need to be a programmed update by the service department, I cannot find this out, my own service department could not answer that question. You may have better luck.

 

Latest update

I was called by the local Ford dealer this morning - same mechanic - who advised me that the update I had quoted him from the forum is for the 100PS version (I have the 120PS)


What I did tell him that following his advice I switched off the aircon
and fan totally and the stop/start worked immediately. As I said in a previous post it did it every time, so we must now await Ford finding a solution to the problem, in the meantime, given the current weather I have forsaken the stop/start for Aircon

 

Sorry for the delay D_Z,I have been trying to find out re:the profile change and all I have been told or the dealer knows about is that the negative lead contains the battery monitoring sensor.
Sorry

 

Hi Keytapper,

I have just returned from a week in the South West where it has been very hot. Every day I drove the vehicle fully laden and really gave it some stick on the flat and on steep hills, some had to be in 1st gear.

Every day, I had the aircon on set to 17/19 C and everything else was one, including the stop-start. The stop-start worked normally as did everything else, such as the heater in late evening when it was cooler. Wipers also worked on the day we had a shower.

I also have the 120PS. My car has been in for the wiring and sync upgrade but as far as I know, no other software changes.

 

Makem

Now I am really confused, either Ford is spinning me yarn or, I happen to have a duff - last one of the week? -car
!


I am due take the car into Ford soon for check up etc
prior to my European trip, lets hope the ''software update'' is available

 

As far as I am aware there is not any software update related to the engine or engine electronics. for the 120PS

The only one related to that I am aware of if for the 1.4 which someone here had installed.

The software I had installed related only to the sync/radio.

Now, apart from the wiper not wiping all the driver screen for UK cars and an very occasional door alarm (when I cause the bodywork to twist when cornering), I don't have anything to report.

I am wondering, having read various comments here and elsewhere if the money saved by stop/start is more than the cost of a new battery over the life of the battery period. Sometimes it annoy me when I get in a short queue and every few seconds it turns off. I would like something on the lines of the wiper control to enable you to choose the 'not moving' period before it turns off.

I wonder if there is some way of measuring the battery status to compare with the 'as new' status to determine the drop.

 

Very frustrated now. I can get stop/start to work EVERYTIME as long as I switch off the a/c or cool/hot air facility!! This cannot be beyond Ford to resolve

Good job I am happy with the rest of the car!

 

Latest update.

I took my car in a week past Monday to reject it and the dealer said he would fit a more powerful battery at their expense. I collected the car at 4pm and was told the stop/start was working. I was asked to try the car for a week and then go back today. Next morning it worked perfectly OK then I realised why = everything had been switched off. I put the climate control and fan on and the stop/start stopped working again. I called at the garage on Saturday and saw someone else who took the car out for a test drive and when he came back he actually agreed that there was something wrong with the car. He came back to me at lunchtime on Saturday and said he had been onto Ford and they had received a communication that there was an "ongoing problem with the software". Its taken longer for my dealer to tell me this than Keytapper's. The software isn't available yet (surprise surprise). To think I have been fobbed off by two Ford dealerships and Ford Customer Services for over 3 months when all the time they knew there was a problem. No wonder they came nearly bottom of the JD Power Survey. Auto Express didn't help much either - they listened to what Ford had to say so I am now cancelling my subscription to them. It's just a case now of everyone not getting complacent and keep battling on.

 

It must then be a software problem with some cars and not with others. I wonder if that is just some specs or just random across all specs because I have never had a problem.