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Auto idle stop 1.5 manual

33K views 152 replies 32 participants last post by  VTIorDTEC 
#1 ·
Having spent a warm morning in a 1.5 turbo the auto idle stop never worked once (not switched off) and the dashboard display showed a battery charge light. Did a 40 mile round trip with light traffic and no radio, Climate control etc on. Is this normal and how long does the battery take to charge. Car done 400 miles from new. Temp gauge read normal after a couple of miles. Outside temp about 24C
 
#16 ·
I've seen it not come on due to the battery a fair bit, but also due to the A/C or engine temperature. Once it kicks in, it seems to keep working, but I do get the impression that it's a bit sensitive about the battery voltage (assuming that's what it's checking). It doesn't bother me too much as whether it stops or not, it's pretty unobtrusive.
 
#24 ·
Sorry Superteach, was probably replying incorrectly to your query.

Just realised that when the stop start does not activate the Civic tells you the reason why.

On one of my previous cars the stop start would not activate for some reason if you had the Climate Control in off position.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Hi!
We have the very same problem with our Civic 1.5 MT Sport Plus Gen 10 2017/18. I would be able to tell you a very long story of quite embarrasing details of how poorly Honda dealership here in Finland have handled the case but to make a very long story short:
We have the same behaviour in our car as describled here already, the S&S does not work in general, if it works then very irratic. When starting from cold engine, you get all the normal messages that you would expect from a cold start (cold engine, A/C) but then you basically always get the battery symbol. We have complained about this and the car have been at service several of times for correction. So far they have replaced the battery, battery sensor and ECU. They have even fitted a smart charger so we are 100% sure the battery is always fully charged. We also have engine heater installed. Still, the S&S does not work... I have a 13 year long background in automotive engine/transmission development and do know a thing or two about cars, so I have carried out some investigations on my own. I have found out that if I restart the engine (30sec shutdown) after getting the battery symbol then the S&S works perfectly after that. Well at least until you shut it down next time and have it standing for more than 30 minutes. Then to get the S&S to work again you need to do the restart procedure again. For me this has been 99% successfully repeatable. I have made a test report to Honda dealer with the described test cycle and restart procedure but it seems Honda is not capable to solve the issue even though they have admitted it is a known fault in the 1.5 MT application. This restart process is for sure not a fix, but it might point you in the direction of the root cause. And as I have told the dealer, if this would have been a phone, a TV or any other product, no customer would have accepted to restart the device every time to get access to the full set of features - that would have been a clear buy-back. Now, may I ask someone in the crowd here to test this restart process and post the result here? I am curious to know if this restart fix is unique for our car or not. Thank's!
 
#28 ·
Yep, mine frequently doesn't work with the battery symbol indicating why not. I'll try your suggestion and see if that does the trick. If it does, I feel yet another letter to Honda Customer Services coming on.
Do you have to switch the engine off for about 30 secs or will just an off/on cycle 'fix' it.
 
#30 ·
After some more in depth browsing it's clear this is a known issue with the "battery symbol" malfunctioning of the "idle stop" or "start&stop" system, not only in the 1.5 Civic but also in the 1.5 HR-V. There are some threads in the hrvforum but no solutions presented as far as I could find. My wife have had the last 4 generations of the Civic, I have owned one 2005 CR-V, one 2011 Insight and my first Honda was 2002 Civic Type-R, this is first time we experience any problems, so I guess we have been lucky. But to be honest reading about how Honda handles the idle stop issues as seen in most of their recent models and not been able to solve it actually stunns me.
 
#81 ·
I have the same issue with 2018 registered Civic sports+, dealer has had it back 4 times, the last time test were carried out and the results were sent to Honda. There reply was the systems were working OK. I was told that the auto idle stop logo with the battery logo showing means that it has not completed the task, but no one can define what is meant by that. I have done 3 journeys of over 258 miles and every time I stop it shows the auto idle stop is not working.
Ray Jordan
 
#32 · (Edited)
I have just been told exactly the same comment that you received, ref. to your thread "10G Niggles. Letter to Honda":
On my dealer's Warranty Manager's suggestion, I have recently written to Honda about the three niggles that I have with my Prestige that should really have been sorted long ago. He also said that the more people who complain directly to Honda, the more likely they are to sit up and take notice.

I was told by my local contact that Honda have not received "enough" of claims from the customers regarding the malfunctioning "idle stop / start& stop" system in the Gen.10 1.5 Civic with the behavior described (battery symbol) to open a deep investigation to find root cause and countermeasure. Therefore, I strongly encourage everyone with the malfunctioning "idle stop / start& stop" system to make an official claim to their dealer or even better directly to Honda.

I am pretty sure, many customers do not recognize the fault, or they are somehow convinced by their Honda contact that it is "normal" when they make the claim or they dislike the feature and do not care, but at the end of the day, you have been sold a car that is not working according to specification and that have to be recognized and corrected. Like it or not, the feature have impact on the fuel consumption and the system is one important feature of the car to meet the legalization / certification requirements of CO2 and fuel consumption and be allowed to be sold.
 
#33 ·
I appear to be one of the fortunate few!!

Mine works fine, and I often have to 'deactivate' the stop / start when at 'busy, moving junctions' so that I don't have a pregnant pause before I can pull away, waiting for the car to fire up.

I only commute within a 5-7 mile radius, so nothing special.
It does seem to have a bit of a mind of it's own, and I have CC on nearly continuously at 19.5C - just to maintain pleasant and dehumidified.

Generally I have to wait for the engine to warm up, and invariably it'll kick in at most traffic lights once the engine's warm.

Al.
 
#37 ·
Yes, 1.5 Prestige.

I had an 8G before and sold it on still with it's first battery at 10 years old using 'battery management'.
With the 10G you've no chance - it decides when it's going to drain the battery irrespective of whether lights are needed or not, 'though they are led's I suppose!!

I find the car, to be most polite, something of an enigma.
I haven't really warmed to it, yet do find it excellent in most areas, just very frustrating in quite a few!!

Al.
 
#35 ·
I tried the stop/wait/restart the engine trick this morning a couple of times. It didn't work for me. Still got the 'battery' error. TBH I don't really care because with it not working, I don't have to turn it off every time I start the car, but I do agree that it should work properly as designed rather than not work properly as delivered.
Must have a word with my dealer later and see what he says.
 
#36 ·
OK - understood, thank's for trying!
Seems then it is not working on all cars. Still I would say you have a problem with the system and it should be addressed to Honda.
We actually had once exactly the same car, 1.5T MT Sport Plus, when our own car was in for "repair". That car had the very same malfunction and the "re-start process" did work on that car too to make the Idle Stop work until the next longer stop (few hours stop). In my opinion, even if you don't like the feature as such and don't use it, if it does not work the next owner of the car might have another opinion and you might end up with an argument when selling. Having the second hand value in mind all owner should pay attention to all of these kind of issues / niggles as a way to protect their "investment".
Let's see if there is someone else here that can try this or confirm the same problem. I am also engaged in a thread at motor-talk.de, a German motor site and there are people there having exactly the same problem. https://www.motor-talk.de/forum/start-stopp-automatik-beim-1-5-turbo-t6211826.html
 
#38 ·
Just had another go in mine. The stop/wait/start routine worked this time. Perhaps I didn't wait long enough yesterday. I had SWMBO in the car and she gets a bit excited about that sort of thing. I'll try it again later.
I phoned my Honda dealer and the girl on the desk said to switch off the auto headlights, but when I told her that I fully charged the battery with my battery charger last night and it had only had one start, she said "I will pass this on to the guy who deals with the guarantee work". I await his call.
 
#39 ·
OK - interesting - looking forward to more of your feedback!
I have escalated the issue here in Finland from the dealer to the Honda importer CEO who I spoke to yesterday, so as high as I can get locally Finland. I hope now he will put some pressure on Honda but I will also try to find a way for me to be in direct contact with Honda on a higher level but I do not have any contact yet. I will try to use the same contact as you used for your "niggles letter" but I am not sure if they handle claims outside of UK. There is no e-mail, just old school post address?
If someone could point me in the direction I need to go to get into Honda, I will appreciate a lot.

As mentioned I have same topic going on in an German site but I have not been able to locate any similar thread or discussion in any forums in Finland or Sweden.
There is one German person who will also try this "re-start" process.
 
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