cold starts :(

this is the first winter Lucille will be left outside overnight. now it gets mighty cold here in boulder overnight, mind you. today (at around 5pm) when i tried to start my car it seemed to take forever to start. it had to have been AT LEAST 10 seconds, and that is giving it the benefit of the doubt... possibly up to 15 seconds.

a little after 6-8 seconds i stopped turning the key, waited 3 seconds and tried again. finally it started. everything seems ok.

ive noticed the car taking longer and longer to start as the winter has progressed.. but never over ~7 seconds before. anything i should be worried about?

Just make sure you have a good battery, antifreeze, and the right weight of oil.

Ever thought of one of those pre-heat systems? ... How far is your car from a power outlet?

How cold does it get? Like this?

i have to park on the street. a heater is not an option :(

I should think my antifreeze and oil is correct. It always was serviced by Infiniti. I can check the level of antifreeze, but I dont even have access to a garage, so I don't know what I could do about the oil. As for the battery, 1 year ago my mom was driving my car for like 3 days b/c hers was in the shop, and low and behold, she managed to leave the headlights on overnight, draining the battery (...women). I believe that's the only mishap its had. any thoughts?

and as for cranking it... is it bad to continuously crank it? should i never do it for more than a few seconds at a time? or does it not matter?


here is the 5 day forcast for boulder:

Today
High: 45
Low: 21

Tomorrow
High: 30
Low: 16

Thu
High: 43
Low: 12

Fri
High: 46
Low: 19

Sat
High: 39
Low: 18

I don't live where it gets that cold so I don't really have experience with this. Maybe you could have a chat with Infiniti to find out whether this is to be expected or if it indicates something else.

Personally, I don't crank an engine for more than about 5 seconds at a time. No real reason except that the starter motor draws a high current which may cause heat build-up in the electrics. This can create it's own problems. It's interesting to notice that if you crank for awhile, the cranking begins to slow down, but if you stop for 10 seconds or so then try again, the cranking speed returns to normal. I suspect this allows the heat built up in the cranking circuit to decay and lower the resistance of the circuit to normal.

I'm sure there are others on this forum who can help with this. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

I would find a crazy ass extension chord and use a heater....

Possible difficult/impossible start gremlin:
(it has biten me on a B13-SR20DE and few
others so it may be relevant)

On a Classic SER when you first turn the ignition to ON you can hear the gas-tank pump priming for 3-5 seconds (low buzzing sound behind the back seat). Sometimes it does not prime gas andd there is no sound. In those cases the starter turns the engine but there is absolutely no way the engine will start.

Turning the ignition key OFF-ON until the pump is heard priming leads in an instant engine-on.

Chris

Originally posted by Brian P
i have to park on the street. a heater is not an option :(

I should think my antifreeze and oil is correct. It always was serviced by Infiniti.
here is the 5 day forcast for boulder:

Today
High: 45
Low: 21

Tomorrow
High: 30
Low: 16

Thu
High: 43
Low: 12

Fri
High: 46
Low: 19

Sat
High: 39
Low: 18



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Wednesday, December 12, 2001 High 82°F Low 71°F Local Forecast & More Weather

WOW glad I am in Miami now and not Philly now !!!

i had the g on a flatbed 2 weeks ago for the trip up to NJ and when i garaged it when i got there it would start fine the next day but when i left it outside it definently wouldnt start and i had to get a jump at least 4 times even in florida when its left outside and its a chili night it takes about 30 seconds sometimes to start
i'm just going to pick up a yellow top battery this weekend and call it a day if it persists then i dont know
casual
i'm at 60k miles now and i think it might be the spark plug time my maintenance is in january

brian,
don't you love the cold :finger: i park my g outside also. i have never had a problem w/ it starting. i'm getting a remote car starter for christmas (if santa is good to me) so i have solved that problem. you can pick one up for around 150+, but they have to put an extra part in to bypass the factory alarm and i think that runs around 50-80.

cristo,
malaka! it's nice to see some greeks in here. where are you from (us, greece). i'm in denver, lamia (dad),crete(mom)-xania. as long as my dad doesn't here me say it, eime kritikos.

yasou,
deno

dammit dammit dammit i say. one would not expect this from a 3 year, 3 day =) old car. it turns over find... it just keeps going and going and going. about 30 seconds into i noticed the battery light on (or is it always on when you are starting the car). i think i mentioned this before - that 1 year ago it was drained completely from leaving the lights on overnight. i wonder if that didnt screw up the battery somewhat. i know lead-acid batteries are not supposed to be completely discharged under 20%.

so i called Infiniti and i'm waiting for the towtruck. they are going to jumpstart it so i can move it (they are sweeping the street its parked on tomorrow and if i dont move it, it gets towed). greekman why are you not cursed as well!!

i suspect that jump starting it tonight will only be a temporary solution. should i buy a new battery?

I think your battery is fine (30 seconds cranking is good enough). That only leaves 2 things - spark and fuel.

Tried the fuel pump thing suggested by hp123?

Otherwise, when is the next service due?

tow truck guy came. took him about 6 seconds to get it going. he cranked it for 2 seconds. stopped. floored the accerator, cranked it, it sputtered, engine started. he said it might have been flooded. my tank was only 1/8 full. i wonder if that had anything to do with it. from now on i will try to keep it above 1/4 full all the time.

oh, and its 200 miles overdue for service.

if you crank the car too much, you could draw too much power from the battery, you could even fry the wires, well i think thats if you crank it for like 30 secs, but its still bad for the wires and the battery.

Originally posted by Brian P
tow truck guy came. took him about 6 seconds to get it going. he cranked it for 2 seconds. stopped. floored the accerator, cranked it, it sputtered, engine started. he said it might have been flooded. my tank was only 1/8 full. i wonder if that had anything to do with it. from now on i will try to keep it above 1/4 full all the time. Nope, fuel tank has nothing to do with it. Flooded means the engine has had so much fuel in it that it is beyond the range in which ignition of the fuel/air mixture occurs easily. Usually happens on carburetted cars when the person starting the car continually pumps the accelerator pedal - not sure with injected engines. Your car should be able to fire without any gas pedal input from you.

Just a thought, are you filling up at the same place all the time? I recall reading somewhere that, in some places, the fuel sold in winter is changed somewhat from summer fuel. Maybe try getting fuel from another place?

Otherwise, remember what the towie did, so you can try it if it happens again.

yea they change some stuff from winter to summer. i'm not sure exactly what. i had thought it had to do with detonation, but i mean the grades of fuel stays the same... 85.

i actually did try pumping the pedal *while* i was cranking it, but didnt help. as for getting gas in the same place, well... i usually get it from the conocos... not necessarily the same gas station.

what sucked is that a cop saw me having trouble with the car, came over, called in my plates, and asked to see my registration and ID :| that was no fun.

I have to agree with T4 Primera.... It has to be your fuel or ignition system! :(

It should NOT be necessary to touch the gas pedal when you start the car because there is a sensor that gives your engine the extra gas it needs to start. So if it doesn’t start, then you might have a defect sensor, a bad ignition (plugs) or problems with the fuel system.

i would agree... except it was odd that it got it to work the first try he did that. maybe he just got lucky? before my car was pointed nose up on a steep hill when i couldnt get it to start. when he came i had it pointed nose down on that same hill. i had about 1/8 fuel left. could that have had something to do with it?

Hey Brian

Hmmmmmmm on the European P11 the fuel loader is pretty much in the middle, so it should not have anything to say, but you could have been unlucky.

If he just went from no ignition to ignition, and it then started right away it could not be that, because then it had to suck the fuel up first, but if he let it stay with ignition (no starter) on for 10 sec before he turned the ignition all the way, then it can still be because lack of fuel. The fuel pump already starts to run when you turn the key to ignition (not start) so it could have obtained the needed fuel pressure if it stood with ignition! :)

But just make it a rule never to touch the gas when you start the car..... Rather let it stand still with ignition for 10-15 sec before you try to start it! :)