Excursion Idle Stop Failure

I'm having trouble with the idle stop on my 2004 Ford Excursion with a gasoline engine, now at 163018 km. It's stopped working, the error memory shows a fault, and the engine sometimes shuts off with the speedometer light on. I'm wondering if it's the car battery. Has anyone else had this?

4 comment(s)

I had something similar with my old BMW 5 series. The start-stop was acting up, and then it stalled at lights. The diagnostics gave vague codes. It turned out the battery seemed okay, but it wasn't holding charge well. The start-stop systems are really sensitive to voltage drops. Have you load-tested your battery lately?

Thanks, I haven't done a load test, but the voltage looks normal when it's running. Could the voltage seem okay but still not be enough for the idle stop?

Exactly! The voltage seemed fine when driving, but start-stop needs a lot more current to restart. A weak battery might show good voltage but not have the amps for a smooth restart, causing stalls and errors. Get a load test to check the battery and replace it. That fixed it for me when I went to the workshop. Good luck!

Thanks for the explanation. It sounds like the battery is the problem. I'll do a load test and replace it. The repair cost 290€. Thanks for the help!

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