As stated in the title my car has a hard time starting in semi-cold weather (40-50 degrees). When I try and start it up you can heard it trying to turn over but it never does. The only time it will turn over is when you turn the key to start it and hold it there so the car can "warm up" i guess you can say. And even that process takes a while and i'm sure it isn't good for my engine. Does anyone have any suggestions on what it could be?

 

won't start or won't crank ? Are the battery terminals clean and tight?

 

Let me explain:

When I turn the ignition all the way it sounds like it is about to start but doesn't. So in order to start my car I would have to turn the ignition all the way and hold it there for a while. And by a while i mean 10 - 15 seconds then taking a break and do it again. After a while it will start but at first will run like its about to die again (without me holding the ignition down) and about 10 - 15 seconds after that it will smooth out. Its almost like I have to warm my engine up manually before it can do it by itself.

My battery is re located to the trunk and yes the terminals are clean. Any other suggestions? Thanks for the help


Modified by mixmastacg123 at 11:04 PM 10/9/2006

 

Help please!

 

check the battery again, check to see if the CCA is the same or higher than OEM rating.

if you live in colder area, make sure you get a higher rated CCA battery.

also, putting the gas pedal down will aid start up's in high mountain/cold weather.

the other area you want to check is the sparkplug, old worn out or out of spec gap on spark plug and excessive carbon build up in the distributor can cause that also.

 

what grade oil are you running?
you may need a thinner viscosity oil for colder starts like a
10W-30 or even 5W-30...

 

Ok I will check the battery but i'm pretty sure that isn't the problem. I've tried pushing the gas pedal down when I start it but that doesn't help either.

As for the oil, i used mobil 7000 5W-30, I guess i could go to 10W-30 for the winter and see if that helps my car start up.

Thanks for the suggestions guys and keep them coming I need to fix this problem!

 

if your using 5 dont go to 10, that'll make it harder to start up, stick with the 5W-30

 

ok so oil isn't the problem,
Any other suggestions?

 

anyone?

 

help bump!

 

Did you put an inline fuse with the battery, check the tutorial on AD, I think that may be your problem.

But lol , how much 40-50 degree weather does florida get?

 

whats AD?

And its does get pretty cold in FL believe it or not, i'm in Tallahassee

Thanks