2011 Volvo S60 - Stop/Start Help!

[chrismscotland]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a little advice, I bought in mid January a 2011 Volvo S60 R-Design Drive with the 1.6 engine and stop/start system from a Lexus dealership.

From Day 1 the stop/start didn't work simply indicating "battery charging" no matter how long I drove the car or if I turned off all of the electrical gizmos (Sat Nav, Heated Seats/Windows, etc)

The car went back into the garage to have this looked at along with some issues with the keyless entry.

Having got the car back the Stop/Start system does seem to at least engage now, normally it works at the first "stop" on my journey switching the car off and then back on again when I press the clutch however it then usually just goes back to "Battery Charging" again now matter how long I drive for...

I notice though that if I do a full car stop/start (via the Start/Stop Button) that the system kicks back into life.

The dealer (Lexus) have had the car back to Volvo and said there's nothing wrong with it but I can get it back in for another look.. I'm not hopeful of them finding anything additional and they're saying its working as it should.

It was back in again late last week (as Volvo have quite a lead time for bookings), again it comes back working but by the next morning it works at the first "stop" and then just reverts to battery charging. I drove 150 miles yesterday on a mix of A road, Motorway and a bit of city driving, surely that would have been more than enough to keep the battery charged?

 

[Orionaut]

Isn't the most likely thing the battery being shagged??

Does the battery have "Volvo" written on it (In which case it is likely to be the one it left the factory with)

Even in a standard car a five year old battery doesn't owe you anything. On a stop/start system I would expect the useful reliable life to be somewhat less than this!

 

[chrismscotland]

Isn't the most likely thing the battery being shagged??

Does the battery have "Volvo" written on it (In which case it is likely to be the one it left the factory with)

Even in a standard car a five year old battery doesn't owe you anything. On a stop/start system I would expect the useful reliable life to be somewhat less than this!

Thats what I'm thinking but the dealer I bought the car from claims the battery is fine, I'd happily replace it but given the dealer was aware the fault was there when I bought the car I feel they should be paying for it given they've had 2-3 attempts now at trying to fix it to no avail.

 

[Skeeter]

Them "fixing it" likely won't go any further than start it, drive it, stop, it turns of, declare it working.

I'd definitely change the battery. It's not going to cost you a fortune.

 

[Dav4]

What is the point of stop start on new cars I just don't get it especially on premium style cars are people that bothered to save a penny's worth of fuel while they are at the lights for 5 seconds ?
I was in built up traffic a while back next to a new BMW with my window down and all I could hear was his car stopping and starting next to me and I found it annoying so don't know how anyone can put up with that all day in traffic.
Surely it's bad for the car to stop and start so frequently for years on end

 

[Orionaut]

What is the point of stop start on new cars

It saves enough "MPGZzzz/CO2zzz" to put the car into the next tax band down.

At the high end, this is quite significant! (And is therefore all that matters! )

As a driver however, it would drive me mad!

As a Mechanic, I would not only be driven mad, I would also be seriously worried about how this is killing my Battery/Starter, and most expensive of all, My flywheel Ring gear!

(I know there are other ways of doing this BTW, like with via the alternator, which changes some of the economic dynamic but not all of it)

I would most definitely NOT want start/stop in order to save me a mere 2/3 MPG! (or even 4/5)

 

[kaiowas]

What is the point of stop start on new cars :confused

It's just another way to exploit the EU drive cycle and get a lower emissions result/official fuel economy figure, it serves no practical purpose in the real world

 

[FreeStream]

My 2012 V60 is also doing the same thing.

Main battery is on its way out IMO, S/S stops working if it thinks the battery is less than 72% full (how it works that out I do not know!)

New AGM (MUST be AGM if it is a manual) type battery should fix it (might need the battery status reset at Volvo - may get away with it otherwise).

Cold weather doesn't help - I'm waiting to replace mine as I'm hoping warmer weather will sort it out. Car starts fine after 48 hours standing with my dashcam running so it isn't that knackered.

 

[Orionaut]

Thats what I'm thinking but the dealer I bought the car from claims the battery is fine, I'd happily replace it but given the dealer was aware the fault was there when I bought the car I feel they should be paying for it given they've had 2-3 attempts now at trying to fix it to no avail.

The battery may be fine from the POV of normal driving (And therefore normal battery testing).

However, it may not be fine from the POV of stop/start which is a very different operating cycle.

(You could easily find oneself doing more "starts" covering 5 miles of inner city driving with a stop/start system in a single journey than you might do in a month or more traditionally!)

If the battery is the problem I am however surprised that there is not a fault code being generated by the battery charging controll system.

However. It may not actually be that clever.

My first point would be.

If the battery has "Volvo" on it, that would be my first choice to change it for a new one (of suitable quality/duty! and see where you go from there.

I would not expect a car with stop/start operating to have a battery survive more than a couple of years, certainly not five, really I wouldn't!



(My second would be to disable the stop/start if you can!)

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Most stop/start systems have a minimum temperature where below this the system does not operate, my wife's car is 3c with the current cold spell the system hasn't been operating regularly for the last couple of months. I suspect the Volvo system will be similar and it may have no issues it probably worked when in the workshop as it would be relatively warm.

A quick google and Volvo only state a minimum temperature of around freezing which isn't very helpful.

 

[chrismscotland]

Hi everyone, many thanks I wasn't expecting such a quick response!
I agree I think at this point the issue is a battery thats on the way out, I have heard the 5 year limit mentioned in the past and I suspect from knowing where the car was owned before (Glasgow) its likely that its been doing a lot of stop/starting in that 5 years before I got it.

I think I'm just annoyed at the dealers trying to get out of replacing it, at roughly £180 fitted for one of these AGM batteries its not a lot but I really feel that the garage should be doing it given the fault has been known (and attempted to be fixed) since I bought the car in January. I'll have a look tomorrow and see if I can see "Volvo" on the battery, I think it is the original one though.

The temperature doesn't help but it does explicitly tell me when its not working due to temperature, I know cold weather will not play nice with the battery but more recently its been milder so I'd have expected this to play little role in my troubles now.

 

[FreeStream]

Hi everyone, many thanks I wasn't expecting such a quick response!
I agree I think at this point the issue is a battery thats on the way out, I have heard the 5 year limit mentioned in the past and I suspect from knowing where the car was owned before (Glasgow) its likely that its been doing a lot of stop/starting in that 5 years before I got it.

I think I'm just annoyed at the dealers trying to get out of replacing it, at roughly £180 fitted for one of these AGM batteries its not a lot but I really feel that the garage should be doing it given the fault has been known (and attempted to be fixed) since I bought the car in January. I'll have a look tomorrow and see if I can see "Volvo" on the battery, I think it is the original one though.

The temperature doesn't help but it does explicitly tell me when its not working due to temperature, I know cold weather will not play nice with the battery but more recently its been milder so I'd have expected this to play little role in my troubles now.

Easy test you can do, after 12 hours standing the battery voltage should be 12.6 or higher, if it isn't it's a fairly good indicator that the battery is weak.

Mine is in the low 12s after 24 hours.

 

[IAmATeaf]

My wifes Yaris has stop/start and to be honest with the windows up you can hardly tell when the engine starts due to the sound insulation. On her car, a couple of short journeys and it does tend to disengage itself but beyond that anything else that puts a severe load such as the rear window heater or the AC and it disengages itself. When I first drove her car my initial thoughts were that it wasn't that well thought out as it clearly needs a larger battery to be able to make the most use out of i.e. in everyday town traffic but I guess as with everything they do the minimum that the official regulations allows them to get away with.

 

[James Poyntz]

I may be years too late to join this forum but I'll give it a shot. Like others I have 1.6D Drive S/S which spends it's entire life charging it's battery. S/S is isolated in "My Car" and has been since I have owned it. Thus no prior knowledge of the issue as it was not required. Owning 2 other V70's and looking to retire 1 has to go. I do all my own maintenance where I can and if I'm stuck I ask. As I am asking, you can guess I'm stuck.

What I can't fathom is the 2nd moped style battery that's been stuffed in the scuttle where a wiper motor or something similar should be. As the main battery will thump a John Deere tractor into life on a cold January morning, will hold charge and start the Volvo after standing for 10 days or more and an alternator that gives better than new readings I think the only battery issue might be caused by the appendage stuffed in the scuttle.

As I prepare the car for it's new home I am mindful that somebody somewhere might want this facility and as everything (yes everything) else on the car works just fine,I should like to get to the bottom of the issue.

If the solution involves a visit to "A Stealer" then I'll let it go unrepaired. It's just run in now 214000k. Not bad for an under 7 year old 1560cc. That's a lot of charging.

Pleased to join you I'll make my contributions where I can.

 

[NickK]

I have a 2 year old pug 3008 suv 1.6D (8k Miles ) and the s/S battery is a measly 75Ah. The car does start S/S after a good 600 mile round trip! The diesels need a lot of use to keep the AGM battery topped up enough.

I’d have loved a 90-100Ah in there for this very reason. However the battery control is programmed with it’s charge characteristics but I don’t know if that’s mechanics citing voodoo.

 

[IAmATeaf]

My 3 series managed 2-3 stops/starts before it decides that it I longer can. I personally don’t find it annoying as I’m quite cocooned from all the stop/start noise but I do normally disengage it when approaching a busy roundabout/junction as the last thing I want is for the engine to stop and start as you inch forwards.

 

[Maverickuk2022]

An interesting post. I have a 2010 Volvo v50 DrivE 1.6D. I got it a couple of years ago and stop/start was working fine for about a year ut was also doing 20k per annum at that time. Since then Im only doing a few runs a month of around an hour. Stop/start stopped working. An overnight charge with a Halfords trickle charger sorted it out for a few days. Anyway it transpires it needs a new battery. The one on there is indeed a volvo 70A 760Ah AGM which is a stop/start battery. It would appear these batteries are designed for super powerful quick start but wont stand too many cranking sessions if ever required. Whereas a normal battery would. So even though you plug a meter onto battery it appears fine at 12.6v+ it can actually be no good when the BMS requires certain things to check out. One of these is the SOC to be around 60% or above I guess. Most cars can easily suffer 50%. BMS stats tell me the battery (using a foxwell pro lite reader) is 1645 days (so around 4.5years and due for a change in these stop/start fussy vehicles but in anything else could easily go on another 2 years) old and a SOC of 55% but still calling its status as reliable. Anyway I the bought a foxwell BT100 battery tester and took the battery off the vehicle to charge for a few days on intelli trickle. This charger is pre stop/start or agm etc so it too expects to see certain parameters to be met when charging. However IT thinks the battery is fine and stops charging beyond a few short power boots just to keep topped up. The BT100 is showing the battery as needing replacing (good bit of kit). It was 12.2v when I took it off car SOH was 52% SOC 53% RES MR 6.06. Fine on an old escort but no good on a finicky V50 which has a 1001 inbuilt electronic gremlins (aka Peugeot/Citroen/Ford and many other 1.6 TDCI type cars using same floorplan/mechanics. Same cars just different badges and little details) to cut a story short and a few tests later its now 24hrs on very slow maintenance charge. Its now showing 13.28v (after 20mins disconnect to settle battery) Measured 449EN - Rated 760EN - SOH (state of health) 60% - SOC (state of charge) 100% - 5.29 RES - and still showing as battery needs replacing. The moral of the story is even though the battery would seem ok (without the meters) and its starts and runs fine (as long as you have no starting issues anyway then it would fail quickly) the battery is no good as a stop/start battery. I am also wondering if the poor battery is also the fault of the many electrical gremlins and false warning messages etc over the last year or so. It would seem the BMS/CEM are just a little too touchy and looking for a perfection of ideal circumstances most cars just dont require. If in doubt get yourself the foxwell gear, or at least the battery tester to get some insight into whats happening on your car (I assume VIDA also does all this but seems a bit ancient for stop/start/BMS etc?) I have a new battery coming (stick to the specified battery as well inc amps and cca) and will hopefully clear everything up then. I have no doubt famous last words....... Lovely cars. drive like new and zero rust for some reason but an absolute electronic PITA and very expensive. Volvo techs no good whatsoever...if a jobs worth doing and all that jazz... I dread to think how many mug punters have been fleeced by these inbuilt design flaws.

 

[DXP55]

OP has probably sorted it now as it was 2 years ago

 

[Maverickuk2022]

OP has probably sorted it now as it was 2 years ago

Hopefully but still topical today unfortunately.