Cold Weather Electrical Problems

[Dave Cupra R]

Hi folks, first time i've posted on the site and sadly its to ask for help for my broken LCR. Its a 52 plate, black, and great in everything except cold weather, when half the electrics dont work Bit of a problem when u stay in NE Scotland...lol.

Basically problem is that if the temperature is anywhere near freezing then the front and rear wipers, the indicators, the air con, and the rear heater, and main beam headlights dont work at all, but every other system in the car will work just fine. Never had any problems with car failing to start, and have found that if the car is left till later in the day when its warmer outside then the fault will clear itself and everything works fine.

Cars so far been back to dealer 3 times and everytime they cant find anything wrong...apparently no faults showing and nothing in the memory. Can anyone help?

Cheers

Dave

 

[Fl@pper]

aircon will disconnect at lower than 5 degrees anyway so one off the list

sounds like a possible wiring mix up to that temperature facility

ie - instead of deactivating the aircon compressor it is actually disconnecting a few other bits as well - poss ECU/FUSEBOX ?? long shot but be a good place to start considering the systems affected are all ignition fed

plugging it in and fault reading off a magic box IS NOT the answer (unbelieveable) the trolley dolly's at tesco's could do that if required - it's easier than using the tills

learning to test/evaluate and logical useage of a multimeter is what you need - PROPER diagnosis - have they had the car in overnight or at the same fault scenario ? (ie COLD) i would start by tracing the wiring diagrams back to any possible mutual connection or shared power/earth line and test back and forth from there

if it starts at one place it will end in another and be verifiable all the way along



*edit* has it got cruise control by some chance ? just a thought in my head niggling me with most of the stalks being out of action??

 

[Fl@pper]

PS - hello by the way

 

[Dave Cupra R]

Hi, yeah garage have had it in during cold weather when it should have been misbehaving, but get the impression they just plug it into the machine and that if it doesnt say theres a problem then there isnt one...but maybe thats my lack of car know-how showing up.

Both the AA and a local recovery firm have had a look at it when the problems being showing, neither could find anything wrong with the fuses, and in fact the problem cleared itself while the AA guy was looking at it...very frustrating.

As far as cruise control...i aint got a clue...if it has then nobody told me..lol

What do u reckons the best approach when taking it back to the dealer (again)? and what should i tell them to look for?

Any help much appreciated.

Dave

 

[Dave Cupra R]

hi folks, just thought i'd update on the garage's lack of progress in dealing with my car. it was in on thursday and friday last week, and even though it was playing up with them they still couldnt find the fault. Back in again today and still no progress so they're finally going to contact Seat Technical tomorrow...anyone tell me why they had to wait till the car had been in five times before they decided to do this??

anyone else had a complete lack of customer service from town & county seat in aberdeen?

 

[Darren D]

I know this thread started and ended a while ago - but I am having the same problems with my TDI 110 and it's baffling everyone, I wondered if a reason has been discovered for this perculiar fault?

Cheers all

 

[Vicky M]

i had similar problem with a Fiat years ago. It all started when i put a huge install in the boot

After all sorts of tests and 3 garages looking at it, nobody could come up with a reason behind my intermittent fault.
Car started fine, every time, but all other electrics would fail, wipers/fan/lights/fuel gauge/stereo etc.etc

I fitted a new earth strap from the battery to the body, and hey presto, all worked fine from then on.

Might be worth a try?

 

[Darren D]

Cheers Vicky - I'll give it a go and let you know

 

[Darren D]

Update:

After some playing around and experimenting - I have found that if I slightly adjust the position of my key in the ignition barrell (slight turn back towards me) the engine will start no problem and my ignition dependent electrics work fine. Therefore I suspect the problem lies in something simple like the igniition switch or barrell, somehow made worse by freezing/very cold temps.

Does anyone know if anything like this is covered by SEAT by any chance?

It's in the garage on Monday - I'll let anyone who's interested know the outcome.