Car not starting in freezing cold temperatures
12-16-2016, 09:20 PM
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Car not starting in freezing cold temperatures So my car is a 2001 trans am ls1 6spd. Here in the midwest we've been having pretty steady temperatures around 0-20 degrees farenheit lately. On a Wednesday, i had to move the trans am for just 2 minutes to get a car from the driveway onto the street. Started with no issues. It then sat there until the next day, Thursday morning(-10degrees) when i was trying to get to work and the starter would just crank the engine but engine would not start. Starter speed seems to be normal. Car has a little under half a tank of gas and when cranking the engine, i did notice it smelled like gas a little bit. Not sure what the problem is. Was thinking maybe frozen fuel but also seems like no spark. Maybe just way too cold? Im stumped.
12-17-2016, 07:40 PM
#3
Get a moderator to move this to the pcm diagnostics and tuning section. You should have much better luck getting a response. Even if the problem is hardware and not tuning, someone may have seen this issue before. I can't be of help, as I live in a climate that doesn't see that temperature.
12-18-2016, 07:43 PM
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Enough voltage/amps coming from your battery? Next time you go to start ensure your battery is fully charged to eliminate that as a source. At -10 degs F a 10w-30/40 grade could have a bit of difficulty starting. But any 0w/5w should have no problem. For the battery, 10-20 degF is a lot easier than -10 degF. That's a lot tougher.
12-23-2016, 10:19 AM
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Did the engine turn slower than usual? I agree with Firebrian, the battery is the first place I would look. Coming from the land of ice and snow, I can tell you a weak battery can cause all kinds of issues. If your battery is 5 years or older it might be time to replace it.
12-23-2016, 12:58 PM
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Get a moderator to move this to the pcm diagnostics and tuning section. You should have much better luck getting a response. Even if the problem is hardware and not tuning, someone may have seen this issue before. I can't be of help, as I live in a climate that doesn't see that temperature.
As to the issue at hand, it doesn't seem battery related to me since the OP mentioned that the starter was cranking at [seemingly] normal speed. I'd guess that something is preventing fuel or spark - perhaps a bad relay, or a bad pump, or a frozen bit of fuel line, etc. Do you hear the fuel pump priming? Is there pressure at the rail? Is there spark?
Maybe the warmer weather has made the problem disappear.