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Intermittent no start, 2005 Ford Taurus SE
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Ok, this one is a little weird, at least to me.

When I am leaving work, sometimes, my car will not start. I never have my meter with me, but CM voltage via OBDII shows low when this happens(9.9v today). Jump start and it's fine, stopping for gas after about 15 minutes I start up again fine. CM voltage with engine running is around 14.4 like it should be.

But it only happens at work. I get up, get in my car to head in after it sitting there for 15 hours and it starts fine. Drive 30 miles to work(plenty of time for the alternator to top off the battery). Then after 8 or 9 hours in actually warmer weather(though still winter, the warmest it's been where this happened was today at 31F) it will sometimes fail to start, with the low battery condition mentioned.

The only codes that ever show are a low battery(duh) and a key recognition failure(my guess is the low battery prevents that circuit from operating).

My guess is that the cold is somehow interfering with closing my door properly(or being detected as closed) when I get to work, and that leaves enough of the electrical system operating to drain the battery while I'm working. Warmer ambient temperatures when I get home make it easier to get the door closed in a way the car will recognize as closed.

Again, this only happens when I leave work.

Any tips on what to look for to fix this?

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2 years ago