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Can't start up car in cold weather.
Satsumomo
Rated PG!Registered User regular
Rated PG!Registered User regular
Hey guys! It's that time of year again, where my car refuses to start up in cold weather (Something around 5ºC-8ºC, which is like 40ºF I think?)
Main symptom is that when I turn the key, either nothing happens (Just a click) or the engine tries to turn but very very slowly. So I'm thinking this is more electrical? Or is some component refusing to move while so cold?
It's not the battery, since it's fairly new (Around 1 year old, and this happened last year too) and as soon it's warmer out, car starts up as if nothing happened. What can I do? I leave for work at 5am, there's no public transport at that time yet, so I was an hour late to work today
Halp.
B12 Sentra, E16 1.6L carburated engine.
Main symptom is that when I turn the key, either nothing happens (Just a click) or the engine tries to turn but very very slowly. So I'm thinking this is more electrical? Or is some component refusing to move while so cold?
It's not the battery, since it's fairly new (Around 1 year old, and this happened last year too) and as soon it's warmer out, car starts up as if nothing happened. What can I do? I leave for work at 5am, there's no public transport at that time yet, so I was an hour late to work today
Halp.B12 Sentra, E16 1.6L carburated engine.
Satsumomo on
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Another option that worked for me during my freeze-out periods was investing in a car starter/charger. Even though the battery was new, it would get too cold and lose its charge. Each morning I'd pop the trunk, give it some juice and it would kick over.
Neither solution is really all that great, but it beats having to deal with a dead car every morning until spring.
That sounds exactly like a battery problem. Even with a carburetor, the engine should at least turn over when it is cold out, unless you are talking extreme cold (like -40 C below). Do you have (or can you at least borrow) one of those portable jumper battery packs?
If it's the battery, should I ask for a warranty replacement? I think it has a 3 year warranty. Car is having a lot electrical issues, I've been saving for a new car so I really don't want to spend much on keeping this old boy running
Add insult to injury, while I was trying to start up my car, 2 cars exactly like mine passed right by me. At 5 am. No other cars pass, except those two. Mocking me.
I used to drive a 1992 Nissan Sentra, during college, in the Fall/Winter/Spring of 2002-2003, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (for those of you unfamiliar with our climate, -30 overnight temps are not at all abnormal).
I parked on the street every night and almost never plugged in the block heater, and it started every day.
It's possible the battery isn't being charged fully by your alternator or there is a something draining your battery overnight enough so that the cold is affecting it (glove box light shorted out, etc), but the battery would be the most likely culprit.
picking up something like: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumacher-XP400-Jump-Starter/15140202 wouldn't be the worst thing ever.
-30? That's temperate here in Winnipeg... mind you, I don't imagine Wind Chill really bothers a car, does it?
Including the windchill, some of those nights would feel as cold as -50, but no, that really doesn't affect a car's ability to start. Windchill only really increases the rate at which thermal energy is removed from an object or organism, until it bottoms out at the actual ambient temperature. It will cool down a vehicle faster after it's been running, and while it's running. I used to drive home to my parent's place on the weekends, my clutch and transmission would get noticeably more stiff after half an hour on the highway.
It does sound like your battery is not giving enough juice for a charge, but if the battery is new, it's possible that your car isn't charging the battery as it should while the car is running. Any decent shop will be able to test your battery. You need to know how much charge it has when you bring it in, as well as if it will receive and hold a charge.
If it has low charge when you bring it in, but receives and holds a charge well, you're looking at alternator issues (most likely). When's the last time you had a tune-up?
Not all batteries are created equal.