Does the stop-start system damage your engine and battery?

2021-09-17 00:00:00

For a car equipped with a start-stop system, the trip computer will automatically stop/start the engine by judging the driving state of the car, thereby reducing unnecessary fuel consumption when the engine is idling. At the same time, it will not affect the normal use of electronic equipment. However, some car owners worry that the start-stop system will harm the engine or shorten the life of the car's battery. Let's talk about this topic below.

In fact, the frequent start and stop of the engine will cause very little damage to the engine itself. For any design or configuration, the life of the engine is the top priority. The design engineers of the manufacturer will not sacrifice the life of the engine in order to save fuel. More than 50% of engine wear is due to a cold start, but the automatic start-stop system is a hot start. Moreover, the interval between starting and closing is very short, and most of the oil is still in the oil passage. At this moment, the wear on the engine is very small, and the most critical factor of the engine becomes the lubricating performance of the oil. As long as we maintain the engine regularly and use high-quality oil, the wear of the start-stop system on the engine itself is minimal.

If the car with a start-stop function uses our ordinary lead acid car battery, it will indeed affect the battery life. However, cars with start-stop functions use special car batteries, such as AGM battery or EFB battery. The service life of this special car battery is at least three times longer than that of an ordinary battery, and it is more reliable to start at low temperatures than ordinary batteries. Besides, some cars with start-stop technology use the engine's direct injection system to start the engine. Therefore, we don't have to worry too much about the battery life.