I know this has been talked about before, but when exactly is auto stop supposed to work? It was my understanding that it was supposed to go turn on when you come to a complete stop and your foot is on the break. I just left the dealership where they took back the Accord they were letting me drive (another dealership had requested) and put me into an '04 HCH until my '06 HCH comes in. So I've drivin it 38 miles so far thru city trafic and have yet to see the auto stop light come on. And because its not really my car, there are no manuals with it. Any help?

 

For the HCH-I (pre-2006) you must be in neutral (for the MT) for auto-stop to
work.

For all HCH-I's (MT/CVT) you must have the econ button engaged,
and not have the defrost on.

And the engine must be warmed up before it will work.

There may be other CVT gotcha's I don't know about, someone with a CVT
can comment.

- Kurt

 

Sure!

Make sure Econ button is pressed.
The temp needs to be above 41 degrees or it won't activate.
There are a number of other special conditions relative to power and braking, but these don't come into play that often. Those two are the most common reasons.

Also check your climate controls. There are settings that will force Econ to go off. Use the two AUTO settings for the fan and vents, and just adjust the temp.

 

Slight modification to Tim's information: If it's cold outside (colder than 41 is ok, too), then you have to let your engine warm up for a while before you should expect it to AS. If there are only a couple of bars in the engine temperature gauge, it won't AS. You have to have the Econ button activated, no matter what temperature it is. Then if you brake steadily to a stop and don't creep forward after stopping, the engine will stay off. One more thing: I read that the AS will not engage within two minutes of starting the engine. I'm not sure that's always true, as just this morning my AS engaged particularly early, but generally it won't work right away.

 

Thanks guys, I got it working now. And yes, I had the auto stop working before 2 min today. I also live in FL though, so it doesn't take the car much to warm up (plus in this situation, the car had only been sitting for about 30 min and was already warmed up)...

 

This is not true. My 2004 HCH MT goes into autostop, under 20mph, with the clutch engaged, no matter where the transmission is.

Granted, I haven't tried reverse, but then, I don't think I'd be worrying about autostop then

 

For the AS to work:

1. The engine must be at least somewhat warm (not necessarily up to normal operating temperature, but not just 2-3 bars either).
2. The outside temperature must be >=30 F. (This is an estimate, based on a morning last month when it was in the upper 20s and AS wouldn't engage even when the engine was fully warm.)
3. The car must have been going >=10 mph before the stop.
4. The windshield defroster must be off.
5. The AT must be in Drive. Maybe Neutral, too (haven't tried it), but definitely not P, R, S or L.
6. The "ECON" function must be active. (NOTE: The green "ECON" light will go out if you turn the fan off, but AS will still work if all other criteria are met.)

 

FYI - Autostop works in Neutral on an 03.

 

Update: AS does not work in Neutral on either the '05 (AT) or '06. Tried 'em both yesterday.