[Pioneer4x4]

I noticed this a few times. It appears that if one puts the car into gear immediately after turning the knob to start the car, the car would start the motor while going through the check list on the dash...

Yep, and/or switching from R-N-D or D-N-R too quickly will cause the ICE to fire up for some reason.

 

[Pioneer4x4]

Immediately switching into gear sounds very plausible. I'll try to recreate that today and start letting it get through initialization first. Thanks for the responses.

Yeah, I suspect that is it, it is only a difference of only 1 Mississippi's needed

 

[Pioneer4x4]

Well that wasn't it. Had another engine start today while resting my foot on the brake waiting for the startup sequence to finish.

Question - when the engine starts for a "maintenance cycle", is there any indication of that being the reason?

Time to start recording every start on video I guess. I'm also going to sit in the car and cycle on/off repeatedly to see if it happens that way. I had four starts today (all 2-3 mile drives) and a full battery.

Yeah, that is different than anything I have seen. Always starts for me when I do something quickly, like D to R, or D to hitting the gas, something like that where the car might be intentionally programmed to anticipate request for more power. Then if it is the 1st start, it will run for about a minute then revert to normal on demand mode.