the past few mornings my car has been a little bit hard to start. I'll have to crank it for maybe 10 seconds before it finally fires up. usually it just starts right up. Anyway, it's been getting down to like 10 - 15 degrees at night, So I'm not certain if its just cause it's cold, or if something is going bad. I'm kinda thinking it might be the battery so I'm going to put the multimeter on it. How many volts should it be at?

Oh yeah, If the starter is bad I can always push start it, but if the battery dies, can I still do that? I'm thinking no.

In case it matters, I don't have underdrive pullies.

 

This is normal in cold weather. All of your oil is sitting in the bottom of the oil pan and it doesn't want to move when it's that cold (hence the "W" rating in oil-lower winter viscosity). It's metal to metal until that oil comes up to pressure which causes a lot more friction. The battery is also going to be weaker due to the cold weather. At 0 degrees a fully charged battery can only put out about 70% of it's rated voltage/current. If your battery has ever been drained to the point where it was dead, the battery will never hold a full charge again causing an even weaker output to the starter. If your battery dies from cranking, don't let the battery completely die. Even if you jumpstart it, your fuel pump and ignition will still need some juice...


[Modified by Stew Pidasso, 9:24 AM 1/24/2003]

 

Noticed the same thing here, Gotta love these freezing cold temperatures. It actually motivated me to go and buy some wires and plugs with intentions of a tune up. I'm sure I'm overdue. It's currenlty 15 now at 9:30 in the morning.. going up to a balmy 31! OOOOhhh better get out the sunblock and the beach equipment.

 

lol it was 8 here in columbus. now for the question, yea my accord does that to. what i do is when i could hear it die out soon, so u just hold the gas peddle a little bit to about 1500rpm for about 5secs...depending on car. accords are known for having problems with the alternator i believe...whatever its called....its whenever the car startes and dies out, make sure to get that replace or eventually car wont start. i havent replace mine yet...too lazy hope this helps..its through what i heard and experience with my 4th gen accord. goodluck!


[Modified by hoysum_dimsum, 3:33 PM 1/24/2003]

 

Another Ohio person...Welcome

 

-12 here, car started within 5 seconds idles at about 2K until it warms up


gotta love it Minnesota oh so cold

 

i HATE winter. sucks that even as far south as OK (where i am at present) it's as cold as you guys up in MN, NJ, and OH. grrrrrrrr

 

god i feel sorry for all you guys it's about high 70 today and high 50 at night, and it's been like this since november with a few days of rain thats it. also moving to maui on march 1 st. hot weather here i come.

 

 

Well, I would rather have freezing temps than have to put up with cali's smog BS. just my .02

sohc

 

yeah CAI's suck during winter. and so does the coolant bypass mod. anyways, turn the key to on for a few seconds. then give it gas, the fuel may be a bit cold, and take longer to get to the motor. also, get some 5-30 if you dont have it already, its a bit thinner and easier to get into the motor and all the important parts you dont want destroyed.

 

I have been having a similar problem. My accord has been running fine until I just changed my oil and put 10w-30(should've used 5w-30 ). Then while I was driving my engine all of a sudden just dies. I was just sitting there in the middle of a busy street and just kept trying to start it. Then after about 3 minutes, it started right up and I made it home which was about 10 min. away. It is like 10 degrees out here and my accord have had problems starting since then. My check engine light comes on for about a second and then disappears. It takes me 2 or 3 tries to get it started. Then after about 10 minutes or so, the engine would just die again. Could this be my alternator? This just happened today and I wanted to know if anyone had this problem before. Any help would be appreciated.

 

try using 5-20 next time if your in really cold weather like that. 5 is the weight it is when its cold 20 is the weight it is when its hot. so if its *** cold out like you said, you want it to be thinner, and easier for the motor to get the oil.

 

dav3ddt :What year Accord do you have. That would probably not be your alternator.

 

I have a 95 Accord

 

Aite man.. its been record low temps up here in ND and my vehicle does the same thing.. when its that cold things just dont wanna work.. it happens everyday to my ***.. last week we had temps of 36 below... my accord didnt start that nice either... dont worry bout it..

 

Do you know how to pull the Check Engine Light codes?


[Modified by Stew Pidasso, 11:37 PM 1/24/2003]

 

already running 5w30

it's not bad, but I just don't remember it being like this last winter


Anybody know how may volts my battery should read on my multimeter when the engine isn't running?

 

ok today I pulled the codes for the cel. But the cel just stayed on and my srs light was throwin out a code. I got two codes: 11 and 92. Before my srs light was always on and never had checked on it. Where do I look to see what the srs code means? And could this be related to my problem? also there are two blue connectors: one with 2 pin and one wit 3 pin. I used the 2 pin, is this the right one?


[Modified by dav3ddt, 4:45 PM 1/25/2003]