Hello, It was 15 degrees this morning and my 93 Accord would not start.
Car has about 150K miles, good hot battery. This car always starts immediately and has not had any previous problems. I drive this car every day. This morning, the engine will turn over fast and immediately catch like it is going to run, but instead goes dead. I tried moving the gas pedal (I thought maybe throttle position sensor) and same thing. When I turn the key on, I hear the fuel pump start, then cut off as usual. I tried turning the key on and off several times thinking maybe it needed to build fuel pressure longer.
Any ideas?
Thanks for any help

 

getting any clicks from the starter? car starting up then dying immediately?

 

Yes, the starter turns over like it should and disengages and it sounds like it is
going to start, but it just goes dead immediately. I guess you could say it does start, because the starter disengages....but it immediately dies.
I came home this afternoon and the temperature was around 35 degrees and it started fine. Tonight will be in the teens again. We will see what it does in the morning.

 

It is 14 degrees this morning and it would not start again. Same symptoms as
before.

 

Check your battery rating at 0 degrees. More CCA's may fix the issue.

 

Thanks for the reply. The battery is less than a year old and is way over rated for the application. The starter is turning the engine over very fast considering it is so cold. I will have the cca checked with a load tester though.

 

Ok, I had the battery tested and they said it tested great and should start fine. The last two days were in the mid 20's and it started fine. It seems it has to drop into the teens to not start.

 

If the engine shuts down immediately as soon as you let go of the key, the problem may be a bad ignition switch contact assembly. While the car is running, can you cause the engine to cut out easily by jiggling the key in the ignition switch?

You may also have a problem fuel line freeze-up or condensation/ice under the distributor cap.

 

I have a similar siuation with 91 accord. This one has 220K miles. One thing i noticed helped is to park it out of the wind behind the other car. I have even put a drop light under the hood at night just to insure it starts below 10 degrees.

 

Try this on the next bitter cold night. After driving the car and while engine is still somewhat warm, wrap a dark colored towel or small blanket around the distributor and cap. Not just the plastic cap part but the actual distributor that mounts to crankshaft. the idea is to keep that most bitter cold air off of that distributor. Wrap it up as best you can and close the hood. Next morning, take off the cloth and try starting. If car starts right up replace the distributor. Your ignitor inside the distributor is failing and cannot do it's job anymore in the bitter temps. For two Winters, I chased a similar problem in my 93 for MONTHS and finally went old school to track the problem down. Sure enough on the nights I covered that distributor, it started right up the next morn. On the nights it was uncovered, problem starting the next morn. Had to crank repeatedly to get it started. As you are trying to start it, the ignitor warms some and eventually ignites combustion, but who wants to go through that every day.

If what I suggest works, replace your distributor. I got one off ebay very cheap and it has worked great for a while now. Been starting her up this week and last in temps averaging 13º in morning and she turns over a couple of times and starts right up. Please don't turn your car over to a mechanic and let them start throwing new parts at it. Zero in on the problem yourself if you are comfortable at all doing a little snooping and experimenting.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Jiggling the key did not do anything. It has not been in the teens again and it has been starting fine. If it drops into the teens again, I will try wrapping the distributor.