The caradvice article is full of contradictions and some ignorance. More on that later.
I am surprised it took until post #66 for someone to reference a Ford news release about the technology. Here is a very important part from that release...
Ford's global Auto Start-Stop technology is smooth, quiet and seamless, and it requires no changes to the driver's behavior. In city driving when the vehicle is stopped, the engine restarts the instant the driver's foot leaves the brake pedal. When the engine is off, all of the vehicle's accessories function normally.
"For the driver, Ford Auto Start-Stop provides extra fuel efficiency without inconvenience, as it works completely automatically," said Barb Samardzich, Ford vice president of Powertrain engineering. "And, just like in our hybrid vehicles, the heater, and air conditioner work as normal so drivers will not sacrifice comfort."
Do you think Ford will sell you a vehicle where the AC will cut out on you in stopped traffic on a sweltering day? Lose heat in the winter?
I have been following this at Ford as my knee-jerk reaction is to reject it. As I read more into it (Ford internal publications) I have warmed up to it. It's nothing like you would expect.
The reason you need a direct injected engine for this is because of the technique for restarting the engine. First let me make clear, the engine starts when you release the brake, not when you step on the accelerator.
When the engine comes to a stop in this mode it stops with a cylinder on the compression stroke near TDC. When you release the brake the injector shoots fuel into that cylinder so that when the spark plug is fired the engine starts immediately. Your starter will not be cranking like you are used to.
Have you seen the top of an EcoBoost engine piston? It has a pocket in it with a channel going to the side of the piston. This channel is for the fuel injector to shoot fuel into at specific times. When the engine is cold the injector only shoots in 1/2 of the amount of fuel needed to run the engine on the intake stroke. This fuel is spread through out the cylinder. On the compression stroke the rest of the fuel charge is shot into the cylinder when the piston nears TDC, but through that channel in the piston to the pocket in the center. That pocket is centered with the sparkplug and now has a "rich" fuel mixture around the tip of the sparkplug for "cold starting." THAT is how high tech this engine is. This way no "additional fuel" is required for cold operation.
With Start-Stop the piston is near TDC and fuel is shot into that channel to the pocket in the center for a near-instantaneous starting of the engine.
Ford has been praised by many automotive magazines for their hybrid's ability to kick in the engine almost imperceptively with this technology. It has been stated many times that Ford does this better than anyone else.
I don't know if the electric pump to circulate coolant while stopped only runs while the engine is off. I would expect so to ensure longevity of the motor for the pump but I have not read anything about that either way.
Back to the caradvice article:
I don't know if Ford officially has plans for this in the Falcon but I cannot see why not. The EcoBoost I-4 will have it and the Falcon will get this engine, so why not?
The article states the engine is restarted when the driver re-engages the accelerator. That is incorrect. Ford states in their press releases (if a journalist reads them) that the engine is restarted when the brake pedal is released.
"Another reason why Ford cannot add Auto Start-Stop to its local line-up is that, in order to achieve acceptably fast re-starts in traffic, the system requires direct-injection engines – which are currently few and far between in Australia."
Funny, he was talking about the EcoBoost version of the Falcon only, which is a direct injected engine that is coming to the Falcon. Now he's complaining that there aren't too many direct injected engines. Ok, well, wait until they are supposed to be there! Ford said "It's coming!" He makes it sound like there will be no direct injected engines in Australia. He might as well say "I don't think they are going to build a 5.0L Falcon because there aren't many 5.0L engines in Austraila."
The reporter also states that the stop-start technology "... will be added to the Fusion Hybrid, Escape Hybrid and Lincoln MKZ Hybrid in North America this year." Then in the next sentence states "More than 170,000 Ford hybrid vehicles have already been fitted with a similar system in North America since 2004." Well, he obviously does not know, and did not look into, the fact that the very cars he mentioned ARE the cars that already have that technology.
This guy has his head up his ***.
Steve
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