Cold Starts
Cold Starts With the weather getting colder here in northeast Ohio I've noticed a few changes in my car's behavior. First off it takes almost five minutes for the idle to go back down to normal when I start the car up after its been sitting for 6 hours or more. Idle hangs up there around 1300rpms. Also I'm noticing a loud buzzing noise coming from the engine during the cold starts. Sounds like the "dentist drill" AIR system...but louder. Lasts for a minute or two. I'm gonna try cleaning out my throttle body today to see if that helps....also check out the IAS sensor. Could it be a bad cold start solenoid?? I guess a better way to solve this problem would just be to move to San Diego 
TECH Veteran
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 4,012
Likes: 1
From: Beaumont, TX
Does the car start successfully and then just idles high for a few minutes, or do you also have difficulty getting it to start at all?
Could be wrong, but IIRC I think it's normal for the idle to be kinda high at first while things get warmed up -- has it not been this high in similar conditions in the past?
Seems like if it's an IAC/TB problem, it'd happen on every start instead of just cold ones...?
Don't know about the buzzing noise...
Could be wrong, but IIRC I think it's normal for the idle to be kinda high at first while things get warmed up -- has it not been this high in similar conditions in the past?
Seems like if it's an IAC/TB problem, it'd happen on every start instead of just cold ones...?
Don't know about the buzzing noise...
It starts right up on the first crank. Just seems to hold the high idle longer than it used to. I took the IAC out and it was black. So I cleaned it off with some TB plate cleaner.....cleaned out the housing too. Seems to be better now. I don't know what the buzzing is.....maybe something to do with the AIR. I know that besides the buzzing I'm also getting an intermittent whistling noise......sounds almost like a supercharger. I did a search on the site and saw that it can be caused by bad belt tensioners. The bottom one is new. The top one is not...but it doesn't seem to be frozen. Power steering fluid is fine so I don't think its the pump. Hmmmmmmm.....any ideas?
Mine does that too, but maybe for a minute. It hasnt really gotten cold here yet, maybe mid 50's, but I dont have the dentist drill sound. Do you have the TB bypass mod? I'm sure that affects the cold starts, especially in the northern states where it is much colder then down here.
