2005 xc70 starting issue when cold

Fleck28 · Post by **Fleck28** » 01 Jun 2009, 07:35

For the past month the car will experience starting problems when we have heavy frost at night. The car started fine all winter, but since April we would try to start the car when near or below freezing and the car would start and immediately cut out...almost like something on the computer is shutting it down. On the second attempt the car will just have a strong turnover but not start. once the sun comes out and things warm up the car starts fine. this only happens when there is a heavy frost and there is moisture on the windshield/hood etc. they have been unable to diagnose the problem as its now well into spring and we cant seem to recreate the environment that this happens in. They did not get any codes when scanned. I left the car at the shop for over a week hoping it would happen while there...no such luck.

Please help with suggestions, at this point im willing to replace multiple items if i can narrow things down to a few possible issues.

Post by **vegasjetskier** » 01 Jun 2009, 10:19

Is there frost in the engine compartment when you are having the trouble? My thought is that if the frost is forming on engine parts it might be pushing a connector apart (ice expands when it freezes), then when things warm up the connector makes contact again and you're back in business.

Or maybe frost is forming on a sensor like the Barometric Pressure Sensor (if your car has one), sending an erroneous reading to the ECU.