[Dr.GJD]

The car had been working flawlessly since the last 510 software upgrade. However, over the past few days I had noticed the ICE was cycling more often on a daily bases. Today on may way to the office I stopped at light. The ICE turned on then off within 3-6 secs. But then it did it again..and again....it continued to turn on/off every few sec's for as long as I was stopped. Once underway, it stayed on till I stopped at office and turned car off.
Does anyone have any ideas? Has this happened to anyone?

 

[marswill]

Could you be experiencing the effects of a loose gas cap?

 

[Fabulist]

The car had been working flawlessly since the last 510 software upgrade. However, over the past few days I had noticed the ICE was cycling more often on a daily bases. Today on may way to the office I stopped at light. The ICE turned on then off within 3-6 secs. But then it did it again..and again....it continued to turn on/off every few sec's for as long as I was stopped. Once underway, it stayed on till I stopped at office and turned car off.
Does anyone have any ideas? Has this happened to anyone?

Were you running on the battery or the ICE?

In battery mode, the ICE does fire up occasionally to keep the gas tank pressurized and to do emissions checks. In this mode, the engine runs for a couple of minutes at very low RPM and then goes out again by itself and typically has little or no impact on the overal MPG.

If you are running on ICE, it conserves fuel by turning off when you are stopped (e.g., at a Red light) and when you are moving very slowly (e.g., looking for a spot in a parking lot). Since the battery keeps a 15% reserve it can get the car rolling from a full stop and sustain the car's slow forward motion long enough for the ICE to start up and start making electricity to pay back the electricity burrowed from the battery reserve.

Both behaviors are normal and expected, but if they are happening too often, you should have the dealer check to make sure they are happening when they are supposed to and there is no problem (e.g., lack of pressure integrity in the gas tank) that is causing the ICE to start up too frequently.

 

[8AVGMPG]

how much gas did you have?

 

[ejo3rd]

Same thing happened to me once. I tightened the gas cap and it has not happened again.

 

[Dr.GJD]

Thanks guys for the replies. Here are some answers...the gas tank was full and had not been opened in over 7-8 weeks!!...the battery capacity was 47 miles....I am familiar with the on/off diagnostic-emissions ICE functions, this was totally different. It must have cycled on/off at least 12-15 times while just waiting at a red light. Stopped, not even moving. Switching to Sports mode had no effect. Short of turning the car off there was nothing I could do to stop it.....I did have the issue with the gas door switch in Dec. and it was addressed by the dealer.

Update....with due credit to Fisker Miami, the car was picked up with in a few hours of my inquiry with them. FANTASTIC customer service. FINDINGS: apparently Fisker is aware of the issue an are working on a software fix, but I do not have the details of what exactly is causing it. Short of a soft re-boot not much you can do. However, having a working knowledge of how starter motors work and battery consumption I can tell you cycling an ICE on/off at the rate it was going for even a short period can create a significant problem(s).

 

[marswill]

I've heard that the ICE doesn't have a conventional starter but uses the attached generator instead. This should be much better than a separate starter as used by a conventional ICE. Someone can correct me if I'm mistaken.

 

[Lormax]

You're right Marswill, there is no conventional starter. The generator serves as the starter.

 

[Stefan]

... Sounds smart to me. Every motor is a generator!


Stefan
German Karma Forum
www.karma-forum.de

 

[Fabulist]

Thanks guys for the replies. Here are some answers...the gas tank was full and had not been opened in over 7-8 weeks!!...the battery capacity was 47 miles....I am familiar with the on/off diagnostic-emissions ICE functions, this was totally different. It must have cycled on/off at least 12-15 times while just waiting at a red light. Stopped, not even moving. Switching to Sports mode had no effect. Short of turning the car off there was nothing I could do to stop it.....I did have the issue with the gas door switch in Dec. and it was addressed by the dealer.

Update....with due credit to Fisker Miami, the car was picked up with in a few hours of my inquiry with them. FANTASTIC customer service. FINDINGS: apparently Fisker is aware of the issue an are working on a software fix, but I do not have the details of what exactly is causing it. Short of a soft re-boot not much you can do. However, having a working knowledge of how starter motors work and battery consumption I can tell you cycling an ICE on/off at the rate it was going for even a short period can create a significant problem(s).

Sounds like a conflict between the engine cycle/diagnostic system trying to run the motor and the start/stop software trying to shut it down because the car was stopped. The software fix would be pretty straightforward: disable start/stop when the car is running the ICE during the diagnostic cycle.

 

[ct-fiskerbuzz]

Mine did this just today on the way to the gym.

Speculation: something called for "ICE on", but I was in Stealth and the battery was near full charge (reading 49 miles), so the charge control system called for "ICE off".

Whatever was calling for "ICE on" said: hey, turn that back on!, so it turns on. Charge system then said: hey, turn that off, we're full here!, so it turns off. It's like two kids arguing over whether the window should be open or closed (or two adults with one thermostat ).

Driving a little more causes the battery level to drop just enough to get the charge control system to stop saying "off", after which all is fine.

 

[Weird Fishes]

Thanks guys for the replies. Here are some answers...the gas tank was full and had not been opened in over 7-8 weeks!!...the battery capacity was 47 miles....I am familiar with the on/off diagnostic-emissions ICE functions, this was totally different. It must have cycled on/off at least 12-15 times while just waiting at a red light. Stopped, not even moving. Switching to Sports mode had no effect. Short of turning the car off there was nothing I could do to stop it.....I did have the issue with the gas door switch in Dec. and it was addressed by the dealer.

Update....with due credit to Fisker Miami, the car was picked up with in a few hours of my inquiry with them. FANTASTIC customer service. FINDINGS: apparently Fisker is aware of the issue an are working on a software fix, but I do not have the details of what exactly is causing it. Short of a soft re-boot not much you can do. However, having a working knowledge of how starter motors work and battery consumption I can tell you cycling an ICE on/off at the rate it was going for even a short period can create a significant problem(s).

The same thing happened to me this morning, under similar circumstances. I have been out of town, so the car had not been driven for one week. I left the house with a full charge and roughly half a tank of gas. Within a mile of my house, I stopped at a traffic light. Traffic was heavy, so it took 3 cycles of the traffic signal before I cleared the intersection, meanwhile, all seemed fine with the Karma. At the next traffic signal, I came to a stop and the ICE immediately came on...and went off within 2-3 seconds...and on again for 2-3 seconds...and off again for 2-3 seconds, etc... This went on for the duration that I was stopped at the light. I parked soon thereafter and, as a precaution, opened the gas cap fully and then closed it again tightly. When I got back into my Karma, everything seemed fine. The ICE ran for an amount of time appropriate for diagnostics post-opening of the gas cap and then turned off and stayed off. Let's hope that fixed it!! I will report back if not.

 

[michaelCA]

I had the same issue last week. Waiting at the red light and the ICE went on/off for few seconds. Fortunately I was few yeards from my destination. After I finished my lunch and get back into my Karma, iproblem was gone. It never happend since then.