Thread: Real cold start up = NO GO!!

There was another trick someone suggested on here once if it is concerns of the cold crank power of the battery...If I remember correct it was to flick on your headlights for some think like 30sec before trying to crank the engine.

By turning on the headlights it warms up the battery a little first....I think that was it. hopefully the person that suggested this may chime in and correct me if I'm wrong

Originally Posted by 953

If the cranking is slow & its an emergency, u could try pouring boiling water over the battery. It worked 4 me once when I was on my pat camping in the bush, could,nt have been happier.

Also if the fuel is gelling, u can pour it over the pump & fuel lines.

Cheers Dean.

we had to do this to our fuel filters in the the alps although we found wrapping those chemical hand warmers round them after setting them off also helped a treat..

Originally Posted by dullbird

There was another trick someone suggested on here once if it is concerns of the cold crank power of the battery...If I remember correct it was to flick on your headlights for some think like 30sec before trying to crank the engine.

By turning on the headlights it warms up the battery a little first....I think that was it. hopefully the person that suggested this may chime in and correct me if I'm wrong

Correct(ish)

providing its just that the battery is cold and not flat putting a load on the battery forces the chemical reaction to cause localised heat in the battery. This can be enough to get enough amps flowing to get a semi decent start.

IF trying the headlight thing gives you a little more life then be greedy and give it a double glow, wait a few seconds glow it again and then try to start it.

This is not a good thing to do to your battery on a regular basis but can get you out of trouble.

The hot water thing works but not very well, If you're on your pat malone get inventive with ways of warming the engine bay, Ive used the wifes hairdrier, a portable gas stove and even a couple of shovelfulls of hot coals under the engine bay on a steel plate to get enough warmth for a start But I have NEVER had to do it for a life and death situation.

What I would be doing is fitting up one of the 12v battery blankets that do the same basic thing as turning on the headlights but they also use the energy generated to heat up the battery. They can also run off of a 12v plug pack to keep the battery temp up for first thing in the morning.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

Correct(ish)

providing its just that the battery is cold and not flat putting a load on the battery forces the chemical reaction to cause localised heat in the battery. This can be enough to get enough amps flowing to get a semi decent start.

IF trying the headlight thing gives you a little more life then be greedy and give it a double glow, wait a few seconds glow it again and then try to start it.

This is not a good thing to do to your battery on a regular basis but can get you out of trouble.

The hot water thing works but not very well, If you're on your pat malone get inventive with ways of warming the engine bay, Ive used the wifes hairdrier, a portable gas stove and even a couple of shovelfulls of hot coals under the engine bay on a steel plate to get enough warmth for a start But I have NEVER had to do it for a life and death situation.

What I would be doing is fitting up one of the 12v battery blankets that do the same basic thing as turning on the headlights but they also use the energy generated to heat up the battery. They can also run off of a 12v plug pack to keep the battery temp up for first thing in the morning.

Bugger that! Im buying a Mazda 3!

Anyone want to buy...?

Originally Posted by dullbird

I would be looking at the starter as well.

I had very slow starting in the cold mornings of winter before I started getting starting problems when the car was hot in summer..changed my starter I have never had trouble starting the car since.....and it gets quite cold at my place too regularly around 4 degrees..

and just so you know not one of my mates had trouble starting there tdi's in -17 when we were in the high alps, and not one of them had there glow plugs even wired up let alone waiting for the light to go out

^^^^^^^ My money is on the starter motor ^^^^^^^
Could be full of crap from your mud whomping past

i'm not going to speculate on the exact cause of the problem, however regarding a new battery, i recently (6 months ago) bought a new one for my disco, a fullriver AGM 825CCA (@0deg F) and 1000CA (@32deg F), honestly it has improved my starting a heap, in that it can sustain more than a few tries to get it started, from your recent posts it seems that your battery is going flat pretty quickly trying to do the same

mine wasn't cheap (approx $340) and i probably took a bath on the price, but maybe do some shopping around on something rated a fair way above the bare minimum required, i'm glad i did

Originally Posted by jazzaD1

i'm not going to speculate on the exact cause of the problem, however regarding a new battery, i recently (6 months ago) bought a new one for my disco, a fullriver AGM 825CCA (@0deg F) and 1000CA (@32deg F), honestly it has improved my starting a heap,

in that it can sustain more than a few tries to get it started,

from your recent posts it seems that your battery is going flat pretty quickly trying to do the same

mine wasn't cheap (approx $340) and i probably took a bath on the price, but maybe do some shopping around on something rated a fair way above the bare minimum required, i'm glad i did

see I read this and think your new battery is hiding something, your car shouldn't need a few trys to get it started it should fire first go IMHO

Originally Posted by dullbird

see I read this and think your new battery is hiding something, your car shouldn't need a few trys to get it started it should fire first go IMHO

i have in the past few months replaced the engine, and also changed the configuration of my engine management, also things like priming the oil pump, compression tests etc, and when im playing off road, and its running on lpg, after a stall it takes a few more seconds than normal to fire due to an already rich condition

so there has been a fair bit of tinkering with settings etc, which require frequent starts, i guess that is what i meant when i said "can sustain a few tries"

sorry for the confusion, but i still think having more CCA's than the minimum required is a good thing

the previous owner had installed a 550CCA battery, and that has since gone into my sisters lancer