Trouble starting in cold weather.

[ChldsPlay]

I've noticed that in the mornings when it is cold the Mustang has a hard time starting up. It will shudder a bit and either warm itself up and run ok, or it will shut down and I'll have to start it up again. Then today, we had a nice frost, and it took several times to get it started, and it was vibrating and shaking quite heavily before it finally settled down.

I've never had this problem in other cars. Sure once in awhile it'll have trouble, but that's usually later in the car's life, and not every time it's cold. Is this a common thing with the Mustang? Would the octane of the gasoline make a difference? I just put 91 in this past week for the first time, and this morning was the first time it was really cold since then.

Any thoughts?

 

[crewwolfy]

takes a few more cranks to start it up on a cold day, but I haven't experienced anything like that. Manual or auto?

 

[bigcat]

ive had no problems starting at all...hot or cold!!!

 

[ChldsPlay]

it's an auto, and by cold, I mean like below 20 degrees.

 

[tjredgt2000]

I would take into the dealer for service. It shouldnt' do what you are describing.

 

[REDFIRE 05 GT]

Mine seams like it will miss a couple of times and then idle smooth. The parking brake sticking is a big issue though.

 

[WallDiver77]

Same here too

I've got the same cold wx start-up problem. I suspected that it was the SCT Xcal tune that I did. I have experimented with this a bit and reflashed it back to the factory program..... and it did improve the situation. It started best in cold wx before I reflashed it AND before I removed the HC trap.

If it is a tuning problem...... I'm wondering if my SCT dealer can send me a flash that will take care of this.

 

[ChldsPlay]

Well, I had the slight problem before I got a tune. It was just the last major one that I've had since the tune. But I think it was also the colder that morning than in the past. Also, I had pretty crappy fuel as well. Never gonna use QuikTrip again.

 

[GOLDENPONY]

Cold Starting

No problems here

 

[TW/92LSC/SE]

I'm driving in -23C/-4F and have had no start/drivability problems. There is definately a raspier exhaust note and I do take it easy on the throttle till it's near operating temp though.

 

[slp352]

Well I started mine just fine today, but when I was backing out of my space in the snow, I was trying not to spend the tires to much and I killed it (its a 5-speed). Now the problem was on the re-start, it took three tries and on the third try it had to crank it almost 45 seconds to start, which is much longer then usually. I had this problem when it was warm outside when I first got the car, but it seems to either go away or I must have gotten used to the clutch pedal finally. I do have to admit I have never killed a car more with a 5-speed then I have with this one.

 

[melinalee00]

Funkiness on cold days too!

Mine had problems getting going on cold mornings twice now. It will start just fine, but when I hit the gas it is unresponsive. I have to mash the gas to the floor to get it to go like 15mph. Then, when I'm shifting, the car slows down (like it's pulling against something) when i shift, even though I am giving it gas. Once it has warmed up it is fine though. It is a manual trans. with a SCT Xcal tuner, so maybe that has something to do with it. I don't know enough about cars to diagnose it, and I didn't think the dealer would help me since I changed the tuning. So now I'm just hoping nothing seriously bad happens. Any thoughts....?

 

[tjredgt2000]

slp352 - you probably flooded the engine when it died and that is why it was hard to start. Fuel injected engines can be hard to start when flooded. If it happens again, hold the accelerator pedal to the floor as you crank the motor. It should fire up in a couple of seconds.

 

[slp352]

I will give that one a shot next time, thanks for the info

 

[NVERL8]

Mine had problems getting going on cold mornings twice now. It will start just fine, but when I hit the gas it is unresponsive. I have to mash the gas to the floor to get it to go like 15mph. Then, when I'm shifting, the car slows down (like it's pulling against something) when i shift, even though I am giving it gas. Once it has warmed up it is fine though. It is a manual trans. with a SCT Xcal tuner, so maybe that has something to do with it. I don't know enough about cars to diagnose it, and I didn't think the dealer would help me since I changed the tuning. So now I'm just hoping nothing seriously bad happens. Any thoughts....?

This might be the electronic throttle, deisel trucks do this until they come up to operating temperature so that we dont do any damage to the engine internals by putting the hammer down before she is ready. As for the other guys cars just dying, they need to go to the dealer because it should not do that.

 

[melinalee00]

thanks for the info

Thanks. I didn't know that. So do all cars do that if they're not warmed up? At least I dont have a serious problem on my hands, which I'm glad to hear. Thanks!