Berlingo Flair XL Issues 69 plate

[Shez55]

Hi there,
I am having issues with my Berlingo Flair XL and I was wondering if anyone can help or they have been through the same issues.

1.My stop start system seems to not work properly even when a new battery was put on and drove 80 miles at 70mph after having a new battery fitted yet the stop start still did not work, it will sometimes work but most times it does not. I had it booked into the garage and they told me that they had to charge the battery over night so they could run the test and it came back with no problems and the battery was 76%, how is this possible after having the new battery fitted 3 weeks prior? is this a battery problem or is this a stop start problem? as something is clearly draining the battery and at this rate I will be having to purchase a new battery before the year is done. 

2. How many miles per day, week or year are Berlingo's supposed to be driven in order to keep it running without issues? 

3. If there is a problem with the stop start system would this cause the battery to drain?

[Shez55]

also how quickly should a battery lose its charge?  when 

1. stop start is working? or not working?
2. when driving the car everyday?
3. when not driving the car?

as I have been told that because my car only drove 650 miles within 3.5 weeks with only 4 short journeys this is the reason why the battery level dropped to 76%

[notsofast]

The stop-start- function ceases to operate once the battery charge goes below a certain level, and I'd say that it's more likely that a low battery level is causing a stop-start issue, rather than the other way round.

650 miles over 4 journeys averages at 162.5 miles per journey, and I wouldn't class those as 'short'. Unless you did all 4 journeys within the first half week and then nothing for 3 weeks, I'd be surprised after those mileages if a new battery was 75%, although these modern vehicles do have quite large 'passive' drains on their batteries.  Have you tested the battery when the engine is running, to check the alternator is charging the battery properly?

It's also possible your 'new' battery wasn't as fresh as it should be - can you be certain it hadn't been hanging around for many months before you bought it?

Then of course it's possible something else is taking too much charge from the battery when the vehicle is switched off.

The rate at which a battery loses charge will depend on its age, the temperature, and how much charge it is having to supply to 'passive' devices such as clocks, alarms, computers, central locking etc.  I have a 6-year old battery lying idle in my garage, which between 21st April and 22nd June this year went from a reading of 12.5v (about 90% charge) to 12.39v (about 80% charge), with no charging up inbetween. An identical battery in my 2001 Berlingo - which is a fairly basic vehicle by modern standards - will lose a similar amount of charge within a week, if the vehicle isn't driven. Modern vehicles have a bigger passive drain, but they also tend to have more robust batteries.

[ComboLifer]

Something is draining your battery and as a consequence the stop start isn’t functioning because the battery is too low.

Take it to another garage for a second opinion.

[Desdinova]

We had a thread about this a while ago - SOL posted this link 

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/778841...ml?page=47

This says inter alia - that Stop Start does not work, if,

The driver's door is open
The driver's seat belt is not fastened
The vehicle has not exceeded 6 mph(10 km/h) since the last engine start
The parking brake is applied or being applied
The engine is needed to maintain a comfortable temperature in the passenger compartment
Demisting is active
Some special conditions (battery charge, engine temperature, braking assistance, ambient temperature...) where the engine is needed to assure control of a system

Option 5 is the most likely, ie using air con