Start/Stop stalling / fails to start

[sam...wise]

Hello all,

I have a situation where the start/stop function on my Yaris seems to intermittently stall when active. Stop at traffic lights, engine switches off and when I press the clutch down, the engine fails to start again (tries to start but stalls). I am able to start the car again if I switch off the engine via the key, wait for a few seconds and start ignition again. This of course makes me think of starter, but I have not had any problems with starting the car via the key. Maybe something between the start/stop and starter?

Currently I am driving the car without problems having switched off start/stop function. But if possible, I would like to fix for piece of mind. 

Also, when this fault occurs, a service light does appear on the dash.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[FROSTYBALLS]

What light appears on the dash and has the car shown any fault codes?

[Mooly]

The 1.33L should start instantly. My first thought would be whether the car has been officially (or at least correctly) serviced and such things as plugs and air filter are in good shape. 

[YarisHybrid2016]

Does this start/stop system use an ancillary Battery for the start/stop function? If so, does the engine sound to turn over normally when the start/stop system attempts to start the car?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Uses a single uprated Battery.

[Madasafish]

On 9/17/2017 at 8:03 AM, sam...wise said:

Hello all,

I have a situation where the start/stop function on my Yaris seems to intermittently stall when active. Stop at traffic lights, engine switches off and when I press the clutch down, the engine fails to start again (tries to start but stalls). I am able to start the car again if I switch off the engine via the key, wait for a few seconds and start ignition again. This of course makes me think of starter, but I have not had any problems with starting the car via the key. Maybe something between the start/stop and starter?

Currently I am driving the car without problems having switched off start/stop function. But if possible, I would like to fix for piece of mind. 

Also, when this fault occurs, a service light does appear on the dash.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Sounds to me it needs a full service. Plugs/air filter would be my first port of call...

[Berisford]

Looks to me like 'Sam' has forgot that he/she has posted a question.........

[sam...wise]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for replying. Indeed I forgot about the question.

Car has been serviced properly recently (before this fault). I have changed air filters, not checked plugs yet. Would either of these affect start/stop?

Only warning light that did light up is the  standard orange service light. 

As a bit of an update, I have been avoiding the use of start/stop. The car always seems to start first time no problem. But a week ago it struggled to start (just turned over) after a stall that occured only a few minutes after the initial start. Waited a 30 sec or so and then it started again cleanly.

[Mooly]

You should certainly check the plugs, not just that they look OK but that they are the correct specified type for that engine.

[YarisHybrid2016]

When you say it "struggled to start", and "just turned over", did the starter sound strong? Curious that just waiting a moment helped. I'm wondering if the fuel/air mixture is correct.

[sam...wise]

9 hours ago, YarisHybrid2016 said:

When you say it "struggled to start", and "just turned over", did the starter sound strong? Curious that just waiting a moment helped. I'm wondering if the fuel/air mixture is correct.

Hi,

I think it sounded strong although I am no mechanic. 

I think I'll check the plugs. Should all be correct type, as I bought the car from a Toyota Dealership, secondhand only 1 yr ago.

[Watis]

I have had the same problem on my 2009 Yaris with the 1.33 petrol engine so decided to add to this thread rather than start a new one.

 

The first time the start/stop function failed to work was about eighteen months ago. The car had just been serviced (as always) by the Toyota dealer I bought it from new. But there was flooding that day after days of heavy rain and I wondered if that was somehow responsible. 

 

Until this morning, when it happened again - and on a warm, dry day. The one thing that was common to the previous event was the unusually long time before I needed to restart the engine to move off - about two minutes. And again, the orange engine warning light came on. Last time, the light went off after a day or two so I assume it will this time.

 

I can confirm that the ignition needs to be switched off briefly before the engine can be started.

 

Since the first occasion I have since been in the habit of switching off the stop/start functionality in case it happened again. On the occasions I forgot, it started again as it always did so I had come to think that it really was a one-off event.

 

But I would like to know whether there is a problem looming that can be identified and fixed before I have a proper breakdown.

 

I'll mention the following in case it is connected somehow: this car has never liked being started from cold then switched off after a few seconds - enough time to get the car out of the garage, say. When going to start it later, it takes several seconds of the starter motor operating before it reluctantly fires up, which seems like an age when you're used to the engine starting immediately. My guess is that the lambda sensors are trying to protect the catalytic converter from damage. If I'm right, is it these sensors that are responsible for the failure to restart when the stop/start functionality is operating?

 

Watis

 

[bathtub tom]

1 hour ago, Watis said:

I'll mention the following in case it is connected somehow: this car has never liked being started from cold then switched off after a few seconds - enough time to get the car out of the garage, say. When going to start it later, it takes several seconds of the starter motor operating before it reluctantly fires up

That's a common problem with petrol engines, due to enrichment of mixture. It effectively floods the engine with too much petrol (K11 Micras were notorious for it).

The thing to do is operate the starter with the throttle to the floor. That tells the ecu to disable the ignition so the engine won't start and the excess petrol will be blown out - it least it does on other cars I've had.

[Devon Aygo]

3 hours ago, Watis said:

And again, the orange engine warning light came on. Last time, the light went off after a day or two so I assume it will this time.

The fact the orange engine light remains on is the car reporting a fault, the light will go away if the fault doesn't repeat after after a set amount of engine starts but you should have the car plugged in to see what fault code set the light on

[rufnek2kx]

Could it be a Battery issue? When the car is starting for the first time, all the electronics are off so effectively all Battery power is directed to the start up. When on start/stop, the electronics  in the car are on continuously so less power to the start up? I was having similar issues on mine a few weeks ago (but mine was also playing up on cold starts) and identified the Battery to be the cause.