Eco stop start

[Janny]

I have a DS3 1200 Automatic and the ECO stop start isn’t working. I have had the car from new this year in April and it was working then. We took it to the dealers and they said there was no fault and that it was because the battery wasn’t fully charged!!! When you brake the ECO light flashes on then off and then nothing! Can anyone help please?

[MikeRotherham]

According to the handbook the Eco light flashing is normal. Have you tried taking the car for a long run to make sure the battery is fully charged to eliminate that from the list of possible faults?
To be honest I always disable the eco function when I get in the car. The only time I engage it is if I'm stopped for a longish period say at a level crossing.

[BenS]

There's about 52 factors which determine whether stop start activates or not. The colder weather may also have something to do with it, but not necessarily. It's not really anything to worry about - in many cases it's more economical for the engine to idle rather than cutting out and restarting repeatedly.

[Funky]

Like Ben says above, there are a whole list of times the Eco doesn't activate and it will only do so, when the engine has warned up sufficiently, the battery has enough charge, the dpf regen cycle isn't running (if it was a diesel) and a few other scenarios too. If you are just doing lots of short journeys the Eco won't always activate as the system needs to ensure everything is working correctly to allow the stop/start to function without damage to the car.

[Kat]

As BenS and Funky have said, there are numerous factors involved in whether stop/start kicks in.

Page 174 onwards of the handbook (http://service.citroen.com/ddb/model...02_2011_GB.pdf) details some of the factors.

We alternate which car we take to work, so mine generally sits on the drive for a week at a time and stop/start doesn't usually kick in if I'm just doing the 12-15 mile commutes every day. It only started working again recently after a 90 mile round trip on dual carriageways.

[Janny]

Thank you all for your advice. I take my car on a run of at least 100 miles once a fortnight we have been to Cornwall and back in it and yet it still doesn’t work, and that was in the warm weather. I don’t see the point in having it if the battery has to be fully charged all the time for it to work. My husband has had numerous cars with the stop start facility and has never had this issue!

[Funky]

Hmmm I'm not sure when the Eco is supposed to kick in on an automatic, but on mine, it's only engaged, when I take the car out of gear and lift off the clutch (which obviously you can't do), the Eco light will flash on and off on the dash, if it's not gonna come on and the engine goes into normal idling. Is the Eco light flashing every time you stop and then not coming on at all? If it never engages at any time, even after long journey, I would get it looked at again.

[Janny]

The ECO light flashes on and off twice when I stop but it does not engage at all. It has been like this now for around 3-4 months, even on long journeys, but the Citroen dealer says that there is no fault! I beg to differ with them. I think that I may take it to a different dealer and see what they say. Thank you for your reply.

[lfcrule1972]

As said above, I had a manual DS3 and the stop/start engaged after the car was put into neutral, how does this work on an Automatic? Do you have to put it into Park or Neutral as well? I'm guessing it won't engage if the car is in Drive or numbered gears (sorry I haven't seen an automatic in a long time so not sure what gear stick positions they have these days)?

I agree if you've been on long journeys and it's still not working I would get the dealer, or another one, to take a look at it

[Janny]

When I first had the car from new in April the stop start worked once you applied the brake, you don’t have to put it into neutral or Park for it to work. I do think that it’s time to take it to a different dealer and see what they say. I wouldn’t care if I hadn’t done long runs with it but I have! The dealer where we bought it from doesn’t seem to care once they have made the sale, although on saying that the sales team are brilliant it’s just the service team that aren’t, which is a shame as it was my first car that we had bought from new and I was quite excited about it but it does put a downer on things when they react as they have!

[lfcrule1972]

Ok so I found these online, the instructions appear to indicate that the Eco Stop & Start should work if you meet the activation criteria (detailed in the manual) and if you do the following:

'with a 5 or 6-speed electronic gearbox, when stationary or at speeds below 5 mph (8 km/h) (depending on version), when you press the brake pedal or put the gear selector in position N.
- with an automatic gearbox, vehicle stationary, when you press the brake pedal or you place the gear selector in position N.'

When you're confident that the car has run for a bit and should meet the criteria could you try putting the gear selector into neutral and see if it works?

It would appear that unless you have the Eco fault display yours is working but not activating.

[Scoobyfizz]

ours works all the damn time it's a pain in the bottom as when you pull up to a junction it stops just as you want to pull away so you ahve to wait for it to start then engage the gear and then you can go...GRRRRRRRR ours only ever flashes up the ECO when it is actually stopping. the only time it ever does as the op posted and flashes up the eco is if you take your foot off the brake before you come to a halt then it momentartily will flash and not stop.

[BenS]

ours works all the damn time it's a pain in the bottom as when you pull up to a junction it stops just as you want to pull away so you ahve to wait for it to start then engage the gear and then you can go...GRRRRRRRR ours only ever flashes up the ECO when it is actually stopping. the only time it ever does as the op posted and flashes up the eco is if you take your foot off the brake before you come to a halt then it momentartily will flash and not stop.

Just turn it off then?

[StevenRB45]

Has scoobyfizz got an auto? I'll say the only thing that I didn't have an issue with on our DS3 was the stop start. It's extremely easy to not have it stop unexpectedly, press the clutch and leave it on the floor, engine will not stop. Lift it in neutral and it will, both the C3 and the DS3 worked the same except the DS3 allowed an "eco roll" the C3 will not.

[Funky]

It's extremely easy to not have it stop unexpectedly, press the clutch and leave it on the floor, engine will not stop. Lift it in neutral and it will.

^This!