Car only has intermittent starting problems only during winter. The repair shop is trying to tell me the need to pull the tranny (automatic) and buff off any corrosion on the matting faces. They say its a grounding problem. Has anyone else heard of this?

 

I got a similar diagnosis for a problem my '12 VW CC where its battery light would come on about 5 minutes after start up - turn the car off, restart and all goes back to normal. Only happens when the temp is below 10F. The dealer recommended replacing the transmission ground cable for my car after they saw some corrosion.

Who did the testing - a dealer or an independent shop? Dealers have the advantage of Volvo factory support for any odd issues and the VIDA DICE tool can read and interpret all the proprietary codes and recommend diagnostic checks.

 

Independent shop, but all they work on is Volvo's. They have cleaned off both grounds for the transmission and engine, but they say they need to ground to each other. I just have never heard of this before, just don't want to get taken for a ride, the quote is $1900 CAD.

 

If they are worried about a transmission to engine ground issue, which they should not be if the trans to body and engine to body grounds are good then they could run a ground wire from the engine to the transmission.