no start in the cold?

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[SofaKingWeToddDid]

what sorts of shit will cause a car not to start when its cold out? could this be a coolant issue? when i was stuck a while back i remember smelling coolant so i popped the hood and saw the rad cap had let some out, probably because it was REALLY hot trying to get it unstuck with lots of mashin it. (lets not talk about that though) ONCE in the summer the Low Coolant light came on, so when i got home and the car was cooled down i checked and it was topped up in both the rad and the reservoir. leading me to believe its a bad sensor. that light came on 2 days ago too, but hasnt come on since. ive had to drive a few places and even had my car driving in the city for almost 2 hours and never saw it.

could my coolant just be bad?

o yea i have the block heater plugged in too! and its only -23C at the moment. we did get about 4" of snow last night though

[Chris]

LOL @ your car not starting in the cold (sorry [not really]).

How cold was it that your car wouldn't start. What are the symptoms? Is it trying to start? Backfiring? Sputtering? Cranking?

[94 olds vert]

That's -10F. I would understand it if my dohc didn't want to start when its that cold out either.

[Chris]

It was -10F here today and my Lumina fired right up. It use to REFUSE to start when it got below 30F (Seriously, 29F and it was done).

Was it -23C when you went to start it or was it colder or warmer? At -23C it's "too cold to snow".

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

-23 was the warmer point, the night is usually cooler. it starts, just only if i just tap the gas while the remote start is trying to turn it over, and its turning strong too. the low coolant light came on again, suggesting i should probably check that... that shouldnt cause it not to start though, should it?

[94 olds vert]

A low coolant light should not affect how it starts.

A couple of days ago the low coolant came on it the cutlass for only a minute or less, And I have a new radiator and sensor. It was a little low though not much. I filled it up and its been fine since.

[Chris]

What about starting it without the remote start? What does it do then?

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

same shit, till u actually tap the gas (sometimes just hold it down maybe 10% for 2 seconds) then it starts, once its running it seems ok, it has a slight misfire, but i think it needs new plugs n wires. (ive never done the wires since i got the car.)

[Chris]

Sounds like the same problem my car had... Then one day it started having that problem while I was driving... Then the ICM completely went. I replaced the ICM & coilpacks as one whole unit, and this is the first winter my car starts in the cold. -10*F out two days ago and she fired right up. Last winter it wouldn't start at all and I was driving the Euro. The winter before that, it wouldn't start when it was below 30*F and I had to drive the S10 (which in a roundabout way is why it ended up needing a new engine).

[SofaKingWeToddDid]

fudge i did an ICM from the JY last year some time... or the year before... i remember my mechanic telling me the car didnt even have one! fuckin tard.

you could be right, cuz when the engine warms up it starts just fine, and with the location of the coils on the LQ1 the ICM should warm up pretty quick

[Chris]

That's what mine did. A simple test is to warm it up with a hairdryer or space heater and see if the car starts better. The ICM/coil pack I put in my car was a j/y pull and not that great. The car starts fine in the cold, but it has a misfire at idle and tries to stall at high RPM. For now it'll do until it dies.