96 Civic - Cold Weather

Hey there,

Here in the Pacific Northwest we had some recent abnormally cold weather. It got into the teens. I know for some of you that is nothing. Anyway I tried to start my car in the cold weather yesterday and it would not start and today it will not start even though it is back in the 40's.

The starter turns but the engine does not seem to fire at all.

Can anyone suggest some things that I should check before I take it to a mechanic.

I have since pushed the car into the Garage. Hopefully that will warm the car up. I am thinking something may be frozen still somewhere in the engine.

Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer.

Take a plug wire loose at the cap (just a little)and see if you're getting
spark when someone try's to start it.
If you are then loosen the fuel filter and see if you're getting pressure
when starting.
These aren't foolproof ways but if you're not getting any spark you
know you got an ignition problem.
And if you're not getting any fuel, well you need to look at that side.
If both seem fine then you may need a fuel pressure test or
diagnostics on the ignition system, but that's a good place to start.
You could even have some water in the fuel that froze up. :smokin:

Hey thanks Jim for the reply.

So basically I rolled the car in the garage out of the cold. Hoping that if anything was frozen it would thaw. I spent about a half hour tring to get it to start. After about 20 minutes I could hear it beginning to fire and trying to start.

I left it some more came back and tried again. Everytime I came back it sounded if it was firing just that little bit more.

Anyway I was probably not doing the starter any good but it was almost running but as soon I let the key go it would stall.

With some more perseverance and a dying battery and pumping the accelerator it nervously spluttered into life. Once started I wasn't letting that baby die. I drove a good 10 miles to get the engine thoroughly warmed up.

The moral of the story is I have no idea what caused it.

My guess it was water in the fuel. Is there any kind of fuel treatment I can use. Like antifreeze for fuel.

Again thanks for your help Jim.

I don't know what they do around where you live, but here in the midwest the gas stations already add antifreeze to the fuel to prevent freeze-ups like that. You might just need to fill up with some fresh gasoline if thats the case. If not, a bottle of ISO HEET (it comes in a yellow bottle) should work - add it every time you fill up.