Chevrolet Cruze Forums banner

TRIFECTA: Making Auto Stop more performance oriented. Meet Performance Auto Stop Mode

13K views 37 replies 21 participants last post by  Flickspeed 
#1 ·


TRIFECTA: Making Auto Stop more performance oriented. Meet Performance Auto Stop Mode.


In an effort to meet ever-more stringent various fuel economy and emissions targets, most automakers, including General Motors (GM), have turned to “auto-stop” (or sometimes called start-stop) technology. Basically, the engine shuts itself off when the vehicle comes to a complete stop (in traffic, or at red-lights, etc.), and then restarts itself automatically as soon as the driver takes his or her foot off the brake pedal.

The downside to auto-stop is that in some cases, the engine restart sequence introduces an unacceptable delay to take-off. After interviewing 2016 Chevrolet Cruze “gen-II” owners in our target segment, we found that while many people appreciate the fuel-saving technology, in some cases it interferes too much with sporty driving maneuvers. To that end, we put our best engineering minds on finding a way to allow the driver to recalibrate auto-stop into a sport mode, on an as-needed basis.

We are pleased to announce the availability of TRIFECTA Performance Auto Stop Mode on 2016 Chevrolet Cruze “gen-II” vehicles so equipped with AutoStop from the manufacturer as a standard-available feature for our upcoming 2016 Chevrolet Cruze “gen-II” calibration (tuning) product!

Auto-stop: Behind the technology

So, now we know how auto-stop works, what's happening behind the scenes? It turns out there's much more to it than just an engine control module (ECM) controlled starter motor. However, the starter motor is a great place to start in discussing the technology.

If you listen to a vehicle start up that has auto-stop technology, you'll note the starter sounds much different than a vehicle with a conventional starter. That's because an auto-stop equipped vehicle will see much higher start motor usage than a vehicle without auto-stop technology. As such, the starter motor has the following upgraded features:

High performance electrical windings and characteristics
Improved-strength starter pinion gear engagement system
Improved design to both reduce starter noise and decrease engine start times


In addition to improving the starter motor, battery monitoring technology must be improved as well, to more accurately measure the state of the battery charge. A modest count of auto-stop cycles can lead to a discharged battery relatively quickly since the starter motor requires so much current to operate. In order to more accurately measure the state of charge in the battery, there is an intelligent battery sensor connected to the battery which continuously monitors both the charge state and the overall health of the battery itself.

Another major component of the auto-stop system is an auxiliary fluid accumulator for the automatic transmission. This is an ECM-controlled unit which accumulates and captures transmission line pressure from the transmission, and then allows it to be supplied to the transmission to begin clutch engagement when the vehicle is transitioning from auto-stop to engine running mode.


Beyond these major components, many subsystems are monitored in order to determine either whether an auto-stop event can be allowed, or if a transition to engine-running should be performed.


Conditions to allow auto-stop to occur


General vehicle state:

Hood is closed
Driver's door is closed
Driver seatbelt is buckled


Vehicle operating conditions:

Vehicle is moving less than 3MPH
Initial drive cycle reaching 12MPH
Engine speed is below 1500 RPM
Engine is not in an overheated conditions
Transmission is in DRIVE (L or M range disables auto-stop)
Brake is depressed
No pending or set diagnostic trouble codes for auto-stop (and related) subsystems
Auto-stop active for less than 2 minutes


Environmental conditions:

Warmer than 40*F outside
Battery temperature warmer than 32*F and less than 131*F
High demands on HVAC system are not requested (inc. defrost)


All of the above conditions are continuously monitored, and if any of the criteria fail to be met, the engine will restart.

TRIFECTA Performance Auto Stop Mode

How it works is simple: When the cruise control subsystem is armed (via the steering wheel button), auto-stop works normally, just as it did from the factory. When the cruise control subsystem is disarmed, auto-stop events are re-calibrated with sport and performance strictly in mind.

Furthermore, the feature can be enabled and disabled at any time. For example:

If the vehicle is auto-stopped, switching the cruise control subsystem off causes the engine to restart immediately.

If the engine is running because no auto-stop event could occur due to the cruise control system being disabled, enabling it will cause the engine to stop immediately, provided all of the other auto-stop criteria above is met as well.

All of this, and there is no effect on the operation of the cruise control system.

Conclusion

We have always prided ourselves on providing value-added features to vehicle owners through our calibration products. TRIFECTA Performance Auto-Stop Mode is no exception, and we believe it will become very popular as more vehicles incorporate auto-stop technology!

- TRIFECTA Advanced Software Division
 
See less See more
1
#3 ·
It's in development still and not available for retail just yet. We are sharing features and information as we go :)
 
#6 ·
Well, basically, if you want this feature, when in Sport mode (tuned/performance mode) the Auto Stop function will be disabled. When in Stock profile, the vehicle will function just as it does now with Auto Stop working like it does from the factory.

The cruise control is really the activator for the power profiles: CC On = Stock and CC Off = Sport mode. What we did is simply tie the new feature of being able to disable the Auto Stop function, to our Sport mode, CC = Off. The Auto Stop function, on it's own, is not specifically tied to the cruise control, the power profiles are :)
 
#9 ·
Auto-stop has been in use for several years and hasn't been a major reliability issue. Also, short periods where the engine is off at stop lights can really save on fuel consumption and reduce air pollution in our cities. 80-90% of all driving occurs in cities so this can really help air quality and fuel consumption.
 
#8 ·
Chevrolet recientemente me dio un Cruze LTZ 2016 Gen2 1.4T MT. Para mi sorpresa este deshabilita o no tener el sistema de arranque / parada. El motor no se detiene por cualquier razón, empecé a leer el manual del propietario y el fusible 32 es el único que se refiere al sistema de arranque / parada no está presente o contactos son los mismos.






 
#10 ·
WOT-Tuning,

Thank you for posting the analysis of the conditions required for auto-stop to operate.
 
#12 ·
Great idea, thanks for looking into this. The main reason I don't plan to upgrade my Cruze anytime soon is because of the new start-stop technology. My coworker has a Mercedes with start-stop, and it can be very annoying at times. In my opinion, any car with Start-Stop should have the ability to disable the system. My car also has daytime running lights, and they probably improve safety, but I can turn them off if I want. It annoys me that GM is wont allow me to choose whether I want to use the start-stop system, like we are too stupid to make our own decisions.
 
#13 ·
I have a 2016 Premier and it does not seem to care about most of the conditions you list above for the engine to stop. A/C maxed out in yellow, no
seatbelts, still cuts off. Take the shifter out of drive or unhook the hood latch sensor seem to be the only things that defeat it.
If you really have a cure for this you should sell it before someone else does...
 
#33 · (Edited)
No DO NOT remove F32 that is completely wrong information. F32 messes with transmission and not the auto stop feature of the transmission. Don't even try it. I tried it, and when changing from P to D thought I ruined the transmission for good. Good thing I did it while stationary.

3rd best solution: Disconnect the hood sensor works like a charm but will trigger the check engine light and maybe remind you that the car needs service every time you start it, so every month or so you wanna reconnect the sensor to make sure you don't actually have an actual fault or use some OBDII scanner to make sure car is OK. Also remote Start feature from smartphone will not function. Not sure about key fob remote start yet, will update.

2nd best solution is probably the module which tricks the car battery voltage sensor. It wont trip any sensors and does the job, not sure what it does to the battery charging function though. Gen1 method was placed on the hood latch which also resulted in inability to use remote start.

1st best solution, get a software package from trifecta or similar either the normal start stop disable or with an engine tune.
 
#18 ·
Some seem to jerk a little bit when hot. I believe there was a defective right tie rod on 2016 models that Chevy has an updated part number for.

The rest of the time, it is an extremely smooth system and it really isn't bothersome unless it's shutting off in stop-and-go traffic (it seems to shut off again if you get up to 3rd gear and then stop again).

Not running the engine at stoplights makes absolute sense to me, and the stop-start system doesn't bother me at all about 95% of the time.
 
#19 ·
Well, there seems to be a feeling here that everyone lives in a congested urban environment. For those of us that don't, it makes no sense for the car to cut off every time you are at a stop sign or pull over to check your mailbox. The real benefit for those in congested
urban areas would be to use public transportation. Start/Stop only leads to the same amount of cars on the road, running or not...
Unhook the hood latch wire, ignore the little yellow light, and drive on.
 
#20 ·
If you don't like stop/start then just put the car in "L" instead of "D" and hit the plus button giving the car access to all 6 gears. BOOM - start/stop is defeated. I do that whenever the start/stop annoys me and it works flawlessly
 
#21 ·
I do the exact same thing as bigredgto to bypass Auto Stop and it works perfectly. I drive it that way full time because if I allow the Auto stop feature then I have chronic issues with the car stalling at take off from a stop. I have taken it to the dealer and they found no error codes and could not reproduce the issue. Of coarse they only drove it 7 miles.
 
#35 ·
The module does absolutely nothing with the charging system.

It only tricks the hood sensor.
In the tutorial they show the sensor mounting on the battery in the trunk.
So I don't see how that affects the hood.
Then they write:

11. Installation is complete! Auto-stop will now be disabled after the vehicle is locked and not driven one time for at least 8 consecutive hours (typically overnight).

8 hours for what? Hood does this instantly, as for the voltage reading to come down you may need 8 hours that is why I am thinking this new method is via the battery voltage.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top