Winter

Winter: 3 pieces on carscan.app — what it means, what to look at in the live data and where to start. Open and free, no app needed.

Winter does not break a car in some special way — it simply stops forgiving what got away with it in summer. A weak battery turns the starter in July and refuses in January; an air leak goes unnoticed when warm and gives wandering idle and long cranking when cold. Winter faults are almost always old ones that have surfaced. Here we collect what the readings show before the car actually stops: cranking voltage, warm-up time, how the fuel trims behave from cold.

A fault that only appears in frost or in rain

A fault that comes with the weather is not a mystery but a hint. It names the place to look.

5 September 20264 min

A diesel in winter: glow plugs, the DPF and the fuel

A diesel has its own winter rules. Here is what is normal and what should not be put off.

5 September 20262 min

In winter a car behaves differently: what is normal

High revs on start-up, white vapour, higher consumption — all normal. Here is what is not.

5 September 20263 min