The stop/srart on my 2015 Ford is real pain becuase it shuts the engine down suddenly when you might be about to pull out of side road or into a roundabout/traffic circle. That is actually dangerous because it can cut as you move of. We disable it unless just siting in a long trafic jam.
It is suposed to get 5% more mpg in the old euro test but whether it does in the new one I don't know.
We now have a hybrid with , by defintion , stop start . It is way better as you always have the electric motor to move even if the engine is shut down.
It must be said that stop/start without a hybriid motor causes a very a large cost increase . The starter has to survive 300K starts vs a 50K target for a conventional motor. The battery has to have sensing technology to prevent the S/S shutting down the engine with not enough power ro restart it. That adds to battery cost and the batery ahs to be registeredd to the car using diagnostics so home battery changes are out.
If it is a starter/ alternator restart system it needsa complex two way belt drive.
SOme companies ( Mazda ) don't use the stater to restartt the engine , they sense which piston is near TDC and inject fuel and fires a spark at that cylinder to re start , which is quicker and smoother - but not fool proof hence a warning light on dash.
Of course any people who grew up in the age of maunal advance might know that juggling the A/R lever could restart an engine without climbing out to hand crank - like this
Particularly amusing is the ability to start the Silver Ghost from hot by what appears to be ESP. All that is required is to crack the hand throttle, set back the ignition timing , switch on, and then, when your audience least expects it, flick the advance lever to full advance and instantly back to the normal operating advance. With any luck, advancing the ignition caused one cylinder at top dead center to fire its residual gas vapors, and instantly the engine is running: no cranking, no electric starter grinding away, just instant purring life. The uninitiated are totally bedazzled.
Edited by mariner, 18 March 2025 - 10:07.