[vebmetal]

For the past few days, the automatic idling stop in my XL6 has not been working (where it turns of the engine on the car stopping, and turns it back on when you press the clutch or otherwise engage the car). I get the error "Idling Stop Unavailable." I noticed that this is happening since the car started giving me the message "Key FOB Battery Low."

I assumed that they disable idling stop in such a situation so that you are not stuck if the key battery completely gives out mid journey (though that does not technically happen as even with a dead battery you can just place it near the start/stop button and that works).

Problem is I replaced my Key FOB Battery with a nice Duracell one (CR2032), but the message ("Key FOB Low Battery") is just not going away.

How do I get rid of this message? And could my idling stop problem have some other reason?

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by vebmetal

automatic idling stop in my XL6 has not been working

Idling start/stop and Cruise stop working only if you have a Check Engine Light. But that's too obvious a sign to overlook.

How old is your car?
Have you checked the main and SHVS batteries? Especially if your car is on the 3rd year of ownership.
If batteries are good, then its likely a sensor has conked off. This might show up only if you do a diagnostic scan at the workshop.

[vebmetal]

Thanks for the quick response!

The car is just over 2.5 years old. There's no check engine light, which as you stated would be an obvious sign.

The main car battery gave us some trouble a few weeks ago, and the maruti technician jump started it and said it's on it's way out, and we should use it till it lasts, but anyone's guess whether it lasts a few months or a year or so.

Are there any other obvious troubleshooting steps I could do at my end? Else, seems I need to send it to the Maruti service station (which is what they have recommended as well).

If the SHVS battery has an issue, is that usually covered under (extended) warranty?

[Leoshashi]

Since you had issues with main battery, and the technician diagnosed it to be weak, I recommend getting it charged professionally and then see if the issue gets resolved.

Make sure the electrolyte level is fine, and let it charge for a good 24 hours on trickle mode. If the main battery is weak, SHVS won't work as intended.

Battery warranty is for 1 year IIRC.

[lxskllr]

The CR2032 batteries likely come with bitter coating on them so kids and pets do not swallow them. Use a sand paper on a new CR battery and do 7-10 passes on both sides of the battery and try. Hope this helps. My 2 cents!

[vebmetal]

I got the 'battery low' notifications to go. I changed batteries in both FOBs, and then drove around a bit. Operated the car with each key, and also swiped each key on the start/stop button. Something in all that did the trick.

However, the idle stop still did not work.

I randomly came across a video on YouTube by a Honda technician who advised driving around with your lights on (as apparently that's when the battery really charges ). Anyway, that did the trick after the while, and now the car is doing idle stop.

At this point then my best guess is that this does have something to do with the main or SHVS battery, so will take it to the service station soon.