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Potential Issue with Auto On/Off Feature?

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20K views 49 replies 23 participants last post by  cjuni  
#1 · (Edited)
I've had the following happen twice in the last two days after updating firmware to the latest version and with the Auto On/Off feature enabled. I made a post about this in the recent firmware release thread but decided to create my own thread for this issue.

This issue happens after a couple of ignition cycles.

Details: AP3 with latest firmware with Mountune Stage 1 93 octane "Gamma" tune by Randy

Symptoms:

1. Start Car and begin to drive
2. Receive "Hill Assist Unavailable" warning on dash screen.
3. All lights on Dash Light up, gauges are unresponsive, Dash Screen appears to try to reboot itself multiple times
4. Lose Steering Assist
5. Car will not shut off via the Start/Stop Button
6. AP3 Screen stuck in "Gear" mode searching for vehicle.

Resolution:

1. Shutoff AP3 manually via button and unplug OBD cable
2. Wait 2-3 minutes for the Start/Stop button to once again respond
3. Turn car off then turn it back on.

From this point on everything functions normally until a few more ignition cycles. Nothing warns me that its going to happen.

I'm not sure how to resolve this so in the meantime i've disabled the Auto On/Off feature in the hopes that it was causing the issue. Keep in mind this all happens while the car is RUNNING. I've been lucky enough that I've been in parking lots when this occurs so I'm at low speeds and can find a safe place to stop. This issue never happened prior to the firmware update and enabling Auto On/Off.

Any ideas?

Updates:
06/17/2015 - My AP3 and cable were shipped to Cobb and sent back to me after a "Hardware Fix". I've been testing the fix for the specific issue noted above for over a month and the problem has not happened again. I still have the issue of the AP3 shutting off randomly during a drive but nothing like the issue I described above has happened.

8/29/2015 - I've updated to the newest firmware and still have not had the issues described above. I've considered the issue fixed.
 
#2 ·
I have had issues with it also with my St1. Sometimes it does not power on when you turn on the car and drive, and sometimes it gives the message detecting car is off and powers off by itself while you are driving. I have turned off the Auto On/Off feature for now and just power it up and off manually until they get it sorted out.
 
#3 ·
Hey everyone! I'm sorry to hear that the beta Auto On/Off feature isn't quite working as desired. @Freebird23103 and others, please make sure to enable the logging option in the Setup menu where you turned on the feature, and send us those logs (you can copy them over in APManager straight to an email, send to: support@cobbtuning.com). It will help us refine the feature and make it behave better.

SteelGatorB8, I'm wondering if we possibly have a bad OBD cable that could be causing problems -- would you mind giving our CSR team a call and let them know what is going on (tell them Alex Fox sent you)? We can bring that cable in and test it here and replace it if it is the problem. Ideally, I'd like to have you send your AP and cable to us. We haven't heard of an issue like the one you're describing, nor have we seen it on any of our Ford shop vehicles that we have, so hopefully we can get it fixed quickly for you.

Alex@COBB
 
#6 ·
SteelGatorB8, I'm wondering if we possibly have a bad OBD cable that could be causing problems -- would you mind giving our CSR team a call and let them know what is going on (tell them Alex Fox sent you)? We can bring that cable in and test it here and replace it if it is the problem. Ideally, I'd like to have you send your AP and cable to us. We haven't heard of an issue like the one you're describing, nor have we seen it on any of our Ford shop vehicles that we have, so hopefully we can get it fixed quickly for you.

Alex@COBB
Alex,

Thanks for the response. I'm out of town the next few days but I will try to call the CSR team on Friday. I haven't had any issues since I disabled the Auto On/Off feature and I've driven to and from work with some extra stops in between.
 
#5 ·
I have not experienced the scary scenario in the opening post but I have had the AP tell me, several times, the car is off and power-down while driving, including while logging. I've disabled that feature but will turn it back on and enable diagnostic logging.
 
#8 ·
Wife had my car yesterday -- turned on Diagnostic Logging for the Auto-On/Off feature this AM and then data-logged my drive to work. Looking at AccessManager now, though, I don't see anything which looks like a diagnostic log (even when the filter is set for "All files"). I was data-logging at the time and I did not encounter the spurious power-off problem this particular drive so I don't know whether either of these two factors come into play -- or maybe I just don't know what I'm looking for?

I plan to do some more driving around at lunchtime to see if I can "catch it" but want to make sure I am actually going to have a diagnostic log file to submit it the problem occurs...

Thoughts?
 
#9 ·
The log files are called eodlogN.txt (eod = engine off detection, where N is a number) ... the AP logs when it thinks the engine has been turned off, so if that didn't happen on your way in, that's why you aren't seeing any files yet. Just try to let it do its thing and when you have log files show up, send them our way :) The Fords are a little tricky with auto on/off and we are still working on it.

Thanks!
Alex@COBB
 
#10 ·
Thanks for the quick response! This is good to hear (means nothing is wrong AND I'm not screwing something up) -- wanted to make sure I was configured properly so I could help catch this little bugger. It is only a minor annoyance (worst case for me so far is just a lost data-log or two) but I think you guys do awesome work and I want to help if I can!

Thanks again!
Brian (in NC...)
 
#11 · (Edited)
Same **** happened to me today. On my way home from work the ap said it didn't detect the car was on. Then, while picking up my gf from work I turned the car off and sat in it until she got there. She said "oh you have your expensive thing plugged into the car, what's it do again?"

I turned on the car and it gave me the hill start assist not working message, the tachometer dropped to 0 (even though the engine was idling perfectly fine), and some random lights popped up. Then the screen in the gauge cluster just turned off. I was like holy **** what the hell.

Turned it off and back on again, the hill assist message came back up again but nothing else weird happened. I drove away fine.

Edit: I was so excited to find a relevant post through the search function that I didn't really read op's whole intro. Oops. Tl;dr I had all the same stuff happen as op.

Question: if I turn off the auto start stop function, will this issue just not happen again? I guess it just scared the hell outta me. And I'm hoping it isn't gonna screw anything up permanently, causing a dealer visit!
 
#13 ·
I had issues today too. First, when I turned the feature on, it prevented me from listening to the radio station I had playing when I turned it on. I could listen to any other radio station except for that one. Next issue is it started turning itself off while I was driving the car. I turned the auto on/off feature off and it stopped turning itself off while the car was moving.
 
#14 ·
Just an update. I was pretty busy at work today and didn't get chance to call Cobb but since I have disabled the Auto On/Off feature I have had zero issues which leads me to believe that it was the reason for the problem.


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#15 ·
Are the eodlogX.log files I have been sending to the COBB Support mailbox of any value? The posts from COBB staff since this beta feature was released have specified .TXT files rather than .LOG files but I have only recorded one .TXT file and have had the AP spuriously shutdown dozens of times -- all I get (with one exception) are .LOG files.

Went driving (and data-logging) at lunchtime today and had it power-off about half a dozen times, corrupting three datalogs (their size is listed as "N/A" and the AP errors-out when I try to save them to my computer). One of those was a WOT pull from 2k to redline (in a gear which shall not be named...) :( I've got plenty of .LOG files but no .TXT files today.

I want to help pinpoint the conditions which trigger this error but I also want to play with tuning and losing datalogs is frustrating so I'm gonna turn off Auto-On/Off until I get some feedback from COBB.
 
#17 ·
Thanks to everyone for posting the issues you're seeing. We're still working through this feature and I've contacted SteelGatorB8 directly to do some further testing. We will get this nailed!
To those that are wondering how to get the EOD logs to show up, make sure you are NOT pressing the cancel button when the "engine off detected" screen pops up -- the logs that we need only get written out when the AP tries to power down on its own, and only if you allow it to do so. So please, let it power down and power back up, then send us those logs to support@cobbtuning.com.

Thanks again!
Alex@COBB
 
#18 ·
FWIW, Alex, I have been letting it power down when it wants to (although I've disabled the feature for now) -- never tried to stop it from powering down (was always driving and didn't have time to read the fine print...) -- and was usually letting it power back on if it was going to although I have sometimes waited more than five minutes without it powering back on. In all that time, I have only recorded a single .TXT file. Lots of .LOG files but only one .TXT file.
 
#19 ·
Just wanted to pop in here and say that @COBB has been more than willing to help me out but its just been bad timing on my part. I was traveling on business last week and now I'm headed out on a road trip and wanted the AP3 available should I need to switch maps depending on fuel availability.

I plan to contact them as soon as I return so that I can send them my AP3 and OBD cable to try to research and hopefully resolve this issue.
 
#20 ·
i had a 5 hour drive yesterday and was monitoring six guages. the acessport turned off and then back on after 5 or ten minutes three times.
 
#21 ·
Just started experiencing this myself this week. It was fine for quite awhile, as a matter of fact since day 1 it was released. Only difference lately is I've been doing a ton of data logging, but not sure how that's related. I've since turned the feature off for now. Not too concerned about it, complete confidence Cobb will sort it out. :)
 
#22 ·
Just another quick update. I just shipped my AP3 and OBD cable to Cobb. Alex will be attempting to correct the issue and will ship it back to me. Once I get it back I will be testing the feature to make sure the issue is fixed. Great customer service as expected.
 
#24 ·
So recently (last 2 weeks) the on/off feature has been turning my AP on/off my entire commute. Every couple mins it will shut off and restart a minute or 2 later.
Is this going to be resolved soon??

I don't understand how this would be hard to program, just read one of the dozen parameters that only read when the car is running.
Granted I don't do programming of any kind so I'm probably clueless..

Edit: I guess as stated above...I can just turn the feature off for now.
 
#26 ·
Or you can help them with letting it keep happening, and sending the logs that are created when it goes off and on so that they can fix it faster. :D
 
#25 ·
Another update. Cobb shipped my ap back to me and I've been testing the fix for my specific issue all day. So far so good! Will continue testing to be sure that the issue in the first post doesn't happen again.


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