Methods and systems are provided for diagnostics of an exhaust tuning valve during vehicle-off conditions. In one example, the engine may be reverse rotated, unfueled while the position of the exhaust is varied and an intake air flow is estimated at each position of the exhaust tuning valve. The exhaust tuning valve may be diagnosed based on a change in air flow with the variation in the position of the exhaust tuning valve.

Methods and systems are provided for controlling spark plug fouling in newly manufactured vehicles. In one example, an engine is operated with a first, more aggressive spark discharge schedule when in a pre-delivery state and transitioned to a second, less aggressive spark discharge schedule when in a post-delivery state. In each spark discharge schedule, a spark plug ignition coil is repeatedly discharged when the engine is off, such as when the engine is spinning down to rest on a shutdown event or before the engine is fueled on an engine restart event.

A surgical stapler including an anvil, a staple cartridge, and a buttress material removably retained to the anvil and/or staple cartridge. In various embodiments, the staple cartridge can include at least one staple removably stored therein which can, when deployed, or fired, therefrom, contact the buttress material and remove the buttress material from the anvil and/or staple cartridge. In at least one embodiment, the anvil can include at least one lip and/or groove configured to removably retain the buttress material to the anvil until deformable members extending from the surgical staple are bent by the anvil and are directed toward and contact the buttress material.

Provided is a control device of a hybrid vehicle powered by an internal-combustion engine and a motor, wherein a catalyst that purifies exhaust gas is located in an exhaust passage of the internal-combustion engine, and the control device comprises: a learning unit configured to, during operation of the internal-combustion engine, learn a parameter for controlling a rotation speed of the internal-combustion engine so that a rotation speed of the internal-combustion engine during idling operation is equal to a target rotation speed; and a controller configured to stop the internal-combustion engine when a state where a correction amount of the parameter to cause the rotation speed during idling operation to be equal to the target rotation speed is equal to or greater than a predetermined value continues for equal to or greater than a predetermined time period, the correction amount being obtained by learning by the learning unit.

A drive control section automatically stops an engine by stopping fuel injection and by closing a throttle valve that adjusts the amount of intake air when a predetermined specified condition is satisfied. A stopping-angle detection section detects a crank angle when the engine is automatically stopped as a stopping angle. The drive control section cranks the engine before an in-cylinder negative pressure period, in which pressure in a cylinder of the engine is negative pressure, elapses after starting to automatically stop the engine if the stopping angle is outside an allowable crank-angle range in which it is possible to restart the engine by cranking the engine by the motor generator.

A stop/start vehicle includes at least one controller that, in response to predicting a vehicle stop, initiates an engine pre-shutdown protocol such that vehicle subsystems begin to prepare for engine shutdown prior to a speed of the vehicle reaching approximately zero to reduce time between the speed of the vehicle reaching approximately zero and engine shutdown.

A method of diagnosing a fault of a timer for monitoring an engine off time is capable of accurately determining whether a timer that monitors an engine off time between a previous start off time and a next start on time of an engine has an error by using an engine coolant temperature, an engine oil temperature, a fuel tank pressure, a fuel tank temperature, and an outside air temperature.

Methods and systems are provided for diagnosing temperature sensors of a vehicle. In one example, a method may include, at a duration after an engine-off event, determining that an intake air temperature measured by an intake air temperature sensor of the vehicle is less than an ambient air temperature measured by an ambient air temperature sensor of the vehicle. In response to the determining, the method may include flowing air from a catalyst across the intake air temperature sensor; and indicating the intake air temperature sensor is functional responsive to the intake air temperature converging to the ambient air temperature during the flowing.

A driver alert arrangement for a motor vehicle includes a sensor detecting a level of carbon monoxide associated with the motor vehicle and transmitting a signal indicative of the detected level of carbon monoxide. An engine ignition has an ON state in which the engine ignition enables operation of an engine of the motor vehicle, and an OFF state in which the engine ignition disables operation of the engine of the motor vehicle. An electronic processor is communicatively coupled to the sensor and to the engine ignition. The electronic processor receives the signal from the sensor and controls whether the engine ignition is in the ON state or the OFF state dependent upon the signal.

An engine control device includes an electronic control unit. The electronic control unit is configured to perform a spark discharge with an ignition plug for each cylinder by cutting off energization after elapse of a predetermined period from start of energization to an ignition coil for each cylinder of the engine, to stop the spark discharge caused by the ignition plug for each cylinder after supply of fuel to the engine is stopped when operation of the engine is stopped, and to control an ignition plug so as to stop the spark discharge caused by the ignition plug from a cylinder after a rotation speed of a crankshaft decreases gradually and the rotation speed of the crankshaft reaches a preset threshold value or less, after the stop of the supply of fuel to the engine.