hard to start when very cold out

my 96 aurora is hard to start when it is very cold out, even when plugged in it takes 4 good 10 second cranks with a pause between them before anything encouraging happins, i use gas line antifreeze, and i plug it in for at least 2 hours when it is very cold...and so far it has allways started on the 4th attempt and usually idles smoothly at 900 rpm when it starts

Anyone living in a region where it gets below 20 degrees should garage any vehicle they really care about. Extreme cold causes too many problems.

I too have a "96" and live in NH and last week it got very cold here single digit days, and -0's at night. And go figure, the garage door opener broke lol. til I got it fixed I had to park in the driveway with -30 wind chills!!

Even at -5 my car did a slow 2 crank rrrrr rrrrrr and vrooomm ... started very nicely. I don't have the block heater, And the battery was in the car when I bought it.

Of course, My car runs very, very well. (Has new Delco plugs & wires ...Well worth the money!!) I run Premium feul only and gasline anti-freeze. I run the car everyday too (not good to sit too long)

Tonight its going down to -7 degree's before the wind chill -30!!! Thank god I have the garage door fixxed!!
Oh and my heated seats work the best!! MMM lol :grinno:

jjdewd, I feel for you guys back there under four feet of ice. It's another gorgeous day here in the High Desert, crystal clear and 66 degrees.

you know what this means......... PARTY AT INDY'S HOUSE :)

wind chill has no effect on a cars ability to start, only actual temp.

BTW it is -15F here right now.

you know it is possible it could be a bad battery. sometimes these engines need a full 12v or sometimes slightly more. If it is an old battery, it might be holding a charge, but not the full 12 volts. When you hook the charger up to it, the charger doesn't have enough power to start the car, it is just topping off the battery. Maybe a way to test my theory is to try jumping the car off another car and see when you do that if it starts up quick or if it takes just as long to start. Jumping a car gives it a lot more power a lot faster than using a charger. If it takes just as long when it is being jumped, then it isn't the battery. But if it starts up quick while someone is reving the other car, then I bet you just have a bad battery. I bet the battery in the car probably has never been replaced and it is probably time to do so. And it makes sense that usually really cold temperatures are terrible on batteries, especially if they are old.

It sounds like the fuel pressure is dropping off, it is either draining the fuel line back into the tank due to a defective fuel pump or into the engine through a defective fuel pressure regulator. Either one will cause extended crank time, a defective fuel pressure regulator may also cause extended crank when it is warm and a rough idle for the first few seconds the engine starts as it would have to burn the excess fuel that is not supposed to be there.

got same problem with my aurora95. Take to dealer they replace fuel pressure regulator

wind chill has no effect on a cars ability to start, only actual temp.

BTW it is -15F here right now.

Nice to see you found a need to correct me. But you are correct, wind chill does not affect inanimate objects. I just cools them to the actual temp. faster.

Funny how a new FPR seems to fix just about everything...

It fixed mine,
Ok, everyone pull over and change that FPR and this board will cease

I agree!

Can the FPR affect gas mileage? I'm getting lousey gas mileage. New plugs wires and filter ...runs good. Maybe I just have a heavy foot lol

27+ mpg on highway (65-70)
22 average in mixed driving

before I change my FPR it was 5 mpg less with only minimal starting problems

Anytime you're feeding 8 cylinders, no matter what the displacement is, it's not going to pass many gas stations. tjm's 22 avg is very optimistic. In actual city stop and go in summertime with A/C on, 16 is about it.

I bet you are right Indy. I live in a rural area so not much city driving - the 22 is 75% highway and 25% around town (not city) - I guess I am lucky...