Trouble Starting

[ethomas]

trouble starting 89 civic. it began with cold weather. turn key nothing no turn over,. jump from my toy truck bingo starts immediately. runs fine. next cold morning ... nada nothing, jump starts bingo.

I notice that the check engine (yellow) light sometimes does not come on, but turning the key lights up everything else ... sometimes holding the key will start after 10 sec. Installed new battery ... this does seem to help, but on really cold mornings or having sat in the cold it won't turn over, jumping it may take a few minutes.
i have checked battery voltage on the old and the new batteries .. no problem.
I just went out (late afternoon) and it started fine. any ideas???

[Tony]

Started you a new thread for this. Don't really have any suggestions at the moment for you though.

[ethomas]

Tony, thanks for the reply .... went through the whole procedure again today cold morning no start, jumped to start it. Warm afternoon started on the first try. In both cases I hear the fuel pump start up and hear a click in the dash so I think the key switch is good.

[Tony]

Doesn't make since to me. Have you taken the battery to the parts store and had them put a load on it and check it? A battery may show 12+Vs and still be a bad battery because the cranking amps are too low, which I you can't test with just a voltmeter.

If it starts fine with a set of jumper cables on it, its points to the battery since that is what your bypassing/replacing.

[ethomas]

Tony, I thought exactly your line , bought a new battery installed it after cleaning terminals etc. turned the key nothing happened (oh i do hear the relay and the fuel pump ). jumped it and bingo started ??

[Tony]

Still doesn't sound like your getting a good connection or something. I know if I disconnect the cables on mine I fight with it for awhile to get a good connection back on it, usually have to scrap and clean the crap out of it.

Really with you being able to put another battery on it(jumper cables) and it work, it points to the battery. Where exactly is a different question, but its something to do with it.

[amy@af]

its your IAT looks like a turkey probe. if you got the car started, forced it to warm up, shut it down, pulll the hazzard fuse for 10 secs to clear the ecu code, and it'll start right up. its not starting because its cold. if the car thinks its warmed up it will start no probem....if that all makes sense?!?

you said the check engine light came on? perfect! pull the carpet down on the pass side floorboard under the glove box. turn your key to to on & count the number of flashes. wait for a long pause & count again. you might have a couple of codes. tell us how many flashes & we can confirm whats wrong with your car :-)

[Tony]

Thats a thought, but hell mine has the code for IAT on cold mornings but starts fine. IAT input changes the air/fuel curves but should never keep it from starting all together. Especially if a jumper battery will start it cold.

Problems starting hot could be several things. Hard to say what it is just from stating it has issues when its hot out.

[VTISC007]

My CRX had a slew of problems relating to it's starting problem.

Just FYI,,,,,,,don't rule out the ignition switch.

My car had a number of mystery problems relating to it starting, things that didn't make a whole lot of sense.

After I changed the ignition switch with another brand new OEM switch, the car has worked fine ever since.

Rain or shine, hot or cold, the car has been starting up fine...........