850 turbo wagon 1994 (maybe 1995?)
110K miles

This is a california weather wagon, with winter package.
The car is now in Ottawa, Canada, first time in -15 degrees celcius.

Though it has been doing well all winter, it had difficulty starting yesterday after work (-10 degrees celcius). It cranked fine, but would not startup. Once it started (with difficulty), it would idle ok but would not rev past 2000 rpm or so, hence not really drivable. The car was very low on gas (10%). No history of any such problems.

I am comfortable with problems as such that hit older RWD volvos (240,740,940 with B230F), where issues like this could be related to the in-tank pre-pump, fuel pump relay, high current injection fuse and such... not sure about the 850s with their FWD 5-cyl.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Greg

greg.
Get that tank filled up and add some gas line antifreeze while your at...don't let the tank go below half in this weather in the future. Sounds like you probably have a fule delivery problem which can also be caused by ice buildup the gas filter do to neglect of changing (they are designed to trap water. Regardless, start with my first suggestion and take it from there...BTW, I'm just down the road in Toronto...same weather.

Had a similar issue yesterday in Chicago when it was zero out. Only had 10% gas in the car. Started fine ( no craking issues like you describe) but then was very sluggish and did not go past 20mph. Once the car warmed up after 1 mile it got up to 30mph, a minute later everything was fine. I read a post where there could have been a freezing condition in the intercooler and once the car warmed up it should go away. I'm attributing this to be the problem. For good measure, I filled up the tank and added some fuel conditioner, thinking I might have had so water in the tank and it may have affected the injectors. good luck

Yes I,ve been writing to this forum over the past couple of years and even reciently about this problem of the intercooler freezing up and blocking the intake airflow. At first no one had heard of the problem, but lately there has been some chatter on this brickboard about symptoms that relate to this problem.This could be due to the latest cold spell this winter and the fact that this cold weather is reaching far down into the states.

I think this intercooler is a bad design , and in cold conditions the moisture that is trapped inside freezes. This can be noticed when trying to rev the engine and the top intercooler hose colapsing. Sometimes the blockage gets so bad the car won't start and the only way to clear it is to blow hot air from a hair dryer thru the top hose into the intercooler.

I have lived with this problem for three winters now. On a cold morning my wife never nows if the car will start and if it does if it will drive slow until the engine compartment warms up. It makes me wonder how many cold weather hard starting problems have been misdiagnosed and are actually related to this intercooler problem.

Thanks Chuck