my car idles rough when first started in the cold...usually when under 40 degrees.the dealer cant find the problem.has anyone else had this problem

Now that winter has hit I do not notice the idle so much as very jerky shifting and almost hesitation when starting out. Anyone else?

Mine idles pretty rough at -25 F to about 25 F. Brutal!

Pete.

This is really odd. My wife and I just got back from northern WI and the car spent the nights outside (no space in her parents' garages). Christmas morning it was a record low for the day of -26F and the car had no problems with the temp. There were a few nights I worried about the anti-freeze freezing up since in the manual it lists it as good to -31F. This was the car's first brutal winter (it now has almost 12000mi). The only problem we had was the windshield washer fluid kept freezing, until I finally flushed it and put -30F purple stuff with a Prestone booster to -50F.

Before we left NC I had recently changed the oil... I've been using Valvoline SynPower 5w-30. I plan on using 5w-30 in the winter and 10w-30 in the summer.

The car started up smoothly all the time up there. The only thing I did notice is that it took a split second longer to start (probably due to the battery being so cold). And on the nights where it was below -15 the doors wouldn't open all the way... the grease in them turned to glue and wouldn't let the guides all the way out.

-A

My 2000 S40, 9500 miles, idles a little rough when cold too. As soon as the engine warms up it smoothes out.

Ive never really looked into what causes it. I'd be interested if anyone has any details about this.

Edvig

Hey Ryan,

the lowest the temp. has gotten here is about 30F and I havent had any trouble with the idling of my car. One thing I did notice however is a couple of times when I have gone to start the car it took a while for the engine to actually start after turning the key. this happened a few days after I purchased the car then several weeks later. But since then I haven't had any trouble.

Carlos

mine doesn't have any problem at 10 below.

I'm experiencing the same problem with my '01 V70 T5 at temps ranging from 18 -30 degrees. I'm curious as to any possible cause...injector issues, fuel pump problems in the cold? Any thoughts out there?

There is actually a "cold start and idle" software upgrade for the 2001 T5 engine. It was uploaded to my car recently for the same problem, and didn't help me a bit, but you may have better luck with it. All dealers SHOULD be aware of the update, and it is VIN specific, so it may not even apply to your car...but it's worth a shot.

- Darell