Passat (B5) :: 2004 - Delayed Starting In Cold Weather
Oct 12, 2009
2004 Passat 1.8t that is intermittently not starting. The problem only happens when the car is cold. When I turn the key, the car cranks just fine but will not start. All of the dash lights light up and I had the battery tested and it is fine. Tonight it took about 5 minutes of repeated cranking and waiting before the car started.
After a 15-minute trip home and it had a chance to warm up, the car starts just fine. I've taken it to my mechanic but they haven't been able to replicate the problem. I'm thinking about leaving it overnight just so they'll be able to replicate it.
Not sure if it could be related, but I just had a coil replaced a few weeks ago (the coil was <1 year old). The plugs are only 3 months old.
View 1 Replies
Advertisement
How to diagnose what I think is a failing alternator?
Here are the symptoms:
- Hard starting in cold weather
- Battery not at full voltage when truck is parked (usually around 11.5-12 volts. I have been putting a charger on it some nights)
- Lights seem to dim when I've got accessories running, like heater fan, heated seats etc. Lights get brighter with engine RPM, like when pulling away from an intersection.
What's my next step to diagnose this? I did a search, and didn't see anything. My battery is probably still under warranty, so if that's the issue, it should be a free fix. How hard is it to install an alternator in a 2005 with 5.4L engine?
View 3 Replies
2001 Intrigue 3.3 L v6
Due to the cold weather, seems the battery could not start the car. I removed the battery to trickle charge it overnight in the house, and hooked it back up in the morning. It seemed to have sufficient charge to power the starter motor, but the engine would not turn over. I could hear a whirring sound whenever the key was turned, and the sound stopped whenever the key was turned off.
I am suspecting that the starter motor somehow is not engaging with the engine flywheel?
View 4 Replies
My Chevy Cobalt will not start in cold weather. I don't think bad battery is the case here because it's started in warmer temperatures. What could be wrong??
View 6 Replies
So I have a weird situation. My Sonata GS with the 2.4 engine has trouble starting ONLY during cold weather (-2 or colder) if it's been sitting for a few hours. If the weather is warm, then it starts fine most of the time. The car tries to 'fire' for about 45 seconds before it does; and 'fires' with no hesitation at that point. The car runs fine, no hesitation or rough idle. I've cleaned the intake system to make sure it's not clogged or dirty, replaced the air filter, cleaned the MAP and throttle body. My battery died a few weeks ago, so I've even replaced that. What this could be? Everything I've researched or looked into would throw a code, or have symptoms while driving...yet it runs fine once it's started, and no codes/lights are showing. Don't want to just start swapping parts hoping to find the problem...
View 14 Replies
My 2006 Ford Fusion SE V6 has trouble starting in cold weather. Once it starts, it's fine throughout the day, but once it sits a long time, like overnight, it has trouble starting in the morning. If it had a carburetor, I'd say the choke wasn't working. The dealership couldn't figure it out a few years back. I even tried a new battery and that didn't work. Is there a sensor that detects cold weather and increases fuel flow or chokes off air flow for richer starting mixture that could be failing?
View 12 Replies
Lately, I've noticed that my car starts fine in cold weather. But, once I put the car into drive or reverse, it stalls. Also, once I start the car let my foot on gas for few min, and then put into drive or reverse, it drives fine.
View 4 Replies
Vehicle: 1995 960 wagon
Background: Exhibits intermittent no-start behavior in both warm and cold weather, wet and dry weather, having sat overnight, or only sitting a few minutes. Turns over fine, but won't start. Sunday, it started fine several times, went to Home Depot, wouldn't start. Called a friend to pick me up. When he was almost there, I tried it again and it started back fine. Been in shop a few times, they played around with a few electrical connections, battery cables and grounds to injectors. Also replaced fuel pump. I have not verified if it is a fuel or spark problem, I just bought a FI fuel pressure gauge last night.
Once started, it does fine. It never stalls or cuts out. That is why I am leaning toward a CPS (that's what jeep people call it.) Sometimes, under the slow cranking speed (relative to idle) the signal is too weak to be useful. However, during idle and normal operation, the flywheel is moving fast enough that the signal is much stronger (being a magnetic pickup). Thus, the reason it only happens during starting, not during running.
Here's my current working theory: Bad crank position sensor (is that Volvo people call it?)
This is the only part I can think of that would cause this. A fuel pump problem would probably show up during running. I think the pump also receives a signal from the cam sensor, so if that sensor were the problem, it would happen during running too, not just starting. It the cam sensor an optical sensor? Shouldn't cause it to not start, although it might cause a difficult start.
View 19 Replies
Passat 3.6 ... The 4Mo has been out in AZ for about 8 months now. After leaving it in a garage for two months when i flew back home, i came back to find the battery completely dead. It was periodically started but one day my cousin told me it didn't even unlock anymore.
Battery died and was replaced with a "hot weather" one. AAA guy laughed when he saw my plates and checked the battery to find it was a "cold weather" one that wouldn't stand a chance stagnant in the heat.
Coming out of class yesterday where it was HOT and sunny all day, my car didn't start. After giving it another try and some gas, it finally turned over and started. This happened before on my old battery once too, very rare, but it sketches me out that it happens at all.
Could this be a problem with the starter or just hot weather? I don't remember this happening in NJ, but an upcoming road trip makes me wanna know what I am working with.
View 3 Replies
So this is weird. When it is cold outside it takes a few minutes before my stereo will work. It powers on and you get a quick blip of audio but then it takes a few minutes before it will work again. What is causing this issue?
View 3 Replies
I have a 2002 VW Passat wagon. We have had an extremely cold winter here in New England (coldest January since 1898!). Anytime the temperature goes under 10 degrees overnight, my brakes do not work in the morning. When I put my foot on the brake pedal, it does not move and the car will not stop. It takes quite a while before I have full breaking capacity restored. Eventually, it gets back to normal (sometimes takes 45 minutes of driving). In addition, the last time this happened, before I got full braking back, my front brakes locked up and smoked like crazy. When I put my foot on the gas, they disengaged. I've taken the car in for service, left it with the dealer the night before so that it would be there, cold, in the morning, but the problem didn't occur because the temp didn't get cold enough. They couldn't find anything wrong. That's because the brakes work fine when the temp is above 10 degrees. Also, under the same temperature conditions, my automatic transmission will not shift beyond 2nd gear until the car is warmed up.
View 18 Replies
Cold start issues that my 2006 2.0T Passat is having. A few weeks ago, during a stretch of cold weather (10-20F), my Passat would sputter when I tried starting it up. It would either start and immediately shut off, would attempt to turn over, and generally on the 3rd attempt would turn over and run fine. I was only having this issue in the morning, and it would start fine when I would leave work (9 hour shifts).
I got my battery tested, and it proved to be failing. Replaced it. A few days later cylinder 4 started to misfire. I replaced all spark plugs and coil packs (85k on the car). During this service discovered that my oil had gotten some moisture in it and have off-white residue, flushed oil, replaced with new filter. A few days go by and I get code P2181 (cooling system performance). I cleared this out earlier today and it hasn't come back (50 miles later).
Are things just starting to go at the same time, or might there be another underlying issue? I have plans to flush the tranny and do the timing belt/coolant/water pump in the next month.
View 5 Replies
My 2006 passat trunk is not closing in cold weather. Even if it stays the alarm beep will not come on indicating it is not closed. If I let it sit under the sun (or warm garage), it will lock.
View 4 Replies
its kinda like its freezing up; the pin wont go down sometimes and I have to cycle it multiple times b4 it will descend.
View 1 Replies
the car 07 passat wagon fsi auto value edition.. This is my first winter in Maine and I've noticed by 35 degrees F and colder when vehicle is at operating temp and then I use the cabin blower say 72 degrees or hotter on fan speed 2; causes engine temp to drop maybe 10-15 degrees. Car reaches operating temp quickly! And coolant concentration seems right!
View 2 Replies
"Vehicle with smart key system: The indicator light flashes after the "POWER" switch has been turned OFF to indicate that the system is operating." I have noticed that my immobilizer light will not blink when it has the no start issue. usually when the key is out the light blinks but when it won't blink.... it won't start.
View 19 Replies
'98 Subaru Legacy L, Automatic Tran., 2.2 L, ~140,000 mi. (a youngster)
My issue is with intermittent/delayed starting. What happens is that when I turn the key, the starter solenoid will click once. Eventually after several tries of turning the switch, it starts, usually with some hesitance. When I try to start, I don't hear anything laboring like the starter Bendix grinding against the flywheel, just click and nothing. I did have the CEL come on once for like 40 minutes and then go out. Once started, however, the car tends to run well and once warm starting is still hesitant, but is quicker. Did conk out on me once at an intersection, was able to restart. Luckily I can walk to school, so I have been keeping it off the road.
As far as troubleshooting goes, the car has the same difficulty starting in neutral as well as park. Within the past year I have replaced the alternator (died), timing belt (routine maint.) as well as the battery (bad). I have also reseated all the ground wires and coated them with dielectric grease. A few months ago, I took the starter out and had it bench tested as good at a "popular auto parts store" in my region - it tested good (starter readily turned over and the Bendix deployed and retracted). Funny thing, when I pulled the starter and replaced it after being checked, the car started flawlessly for a month or so, so I chocked it up to a bad connection. Guess not.
View 6 Replies
It has been cold recently (out of the past week, highs in 20's or lower). This hasn't been as much of an issue before, but in the past week I have had the red triangle of death, brake warning light, check engine light, and VSC light all come on at the same time, three separate times. Also, the display screen shows a red outline of a car with "!" through it. Each time this has happened, the lights didn't come on as soon as the car was "Ready" but only after the gas engine was running for a minute or two.
The first time the lights came on, I was driving back from class, but after I got back to my house I did some internet research and saw it may be a low oil indicator. Checked the oil, it was almost at the bottom mark on the dipstick, and it had been over 10,000 miles since the last one (oops! we don't normally do that). After reading some stories online, I took it in to get an oil change, and the lights went off for a couple days. Second time the lights came on, I checked the oil level, it was definitely over-filled, so I took it back to Walmart and had them redo the oil so that it was at the right level. I checked the oil level before leaving the parking lot that time and it was at the top mark on the dipstick. Again, all the lights were off for a couple days.
Today, I drove my car for about an hour in the morning (temperature was around upper teens, wind chill below 10) and had no problems. Then, this evening I turn the car on and start driving out of the parking lot when the car beeps at me and flashes all of the warning lights again. I drove back to my house and it is now sitting in the driveway. I am not planning on driving it until I can have a car mechanic friend take a look at it on Tuesday, but he doesn't know anything about the hybrid system/battery.
My wife and I have also noticed that since the weather has been colder, the hybrid battery (shown on the "Energy" screen when driving) seems to be charging and discharging much faster than normal. I haven't seen it at only 1 bar or full of green bars more than a couple times in the 2.5ish years we have owned the car, but in the past two weeks it has happened 5-10 times (estimated). I am not sure if this is due to the weather, or if it could indicate a problem with the (hybrid?) battery. For obvious reasons, this makes us nervous :/
As a side note, I changed the transmission fluid sometime in December, so I was wondering if possibly I didn't put enough fluid back in. I have checked the diagnostic screen and found some codes, but most of them seem to relate to the audio, which doesn't concern me as much as the code that seems to indicate the transmission, which is why I mention the change I did a while back. I just don't know why it wouldn't have shown up until now. I'll attach some pictures I took tonight of the codes and lights.
Also, the battery is a couple years old, but after sitting for a couple hours the battery was reading 12.1 V according to the diagnostic screen, so I don't think that is the issue. We haven't had any trouble getting the car to start, and once it is running it still seems to drive normally with the warning lights on. What these codes mean, and a possible cause for the warning lights?
View 16 Replies
I think this happened last year. Whenever it happened, I know it's happened before. It only happens when it's cold outside. Yesterday, it was 18ºF which, Priapus was happy to show me, equates to -6ºC.
View 14 Replies
I have an 05 Prius with 108k miles I bought about 2 months ago. My commute to work each morning is 1.5 miles with speeds of 25mph or less.
Usually the car has acted the same way each day. The ice spins consistently as I creep along to work. But last night the temps dropped to -10f and this morning when I left for work it was about 3 above. I turned on the car and instead of the few seconds after ready it takes for the ice to turn on it turned on right away today. I let it warm for about 3 minutes then set off. Right away I noticed the ice start to Rev up.
And as I slowly approached 25 MPH it was revving abnormally high. It was showing energy from the ice to the wheels and to the mg and charging the battery which was at the normal state of charge. All blue, right before green. When I stopped at a light about 1 mile in the ice turned off as normal, and started right away as normal. But it seemed the ice was still revving as if it was working very hard to pick up a slow increase in speed.
I pulled into my parking spot, battery showing green state of charge now, and the motor stopped as usual. I do not run the heat on this trip and it takes usually 5 minutes, so I just tough it out.
View 4 Replies
Our Honda Odyssey will have an occasional delayed start where you turn the key but no sound occurs. All the lights come on like normal and the automatic doors can all close and open without any issues. Originally we didn't know that we could eventually get the car to start by turning and holding the key in the start position. It happens every couple days to couple weeks and without holding the key in the on position it will be anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 days before the car will start normally again. We've spent about $1,000 at the Honda dealer to have the battery, battery cables, starter, and starter relay replaced but we're still having the problem.
View 2 Replies
