Steve Hoard Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 My 92 Legacy is having periodic cold start problems. Issues started last winter and continue through to today. Engine cranks at normal RPMs, instrument panel lights show red during this process as normal, and after several attempts at starting I can smell gas fumes but car does not fire. Problem occurs only after the car has set overnight and there has been a significant temperature drop. Each occurrence has involved night time lows of 15-20 degrees F. Today was a typical scenario. My wife drove car yesterday to grocery store returning home and parking in our driveway. This morning, she attempted to start the car and it wouldn't start. Temperatures this morning were 15 degrees. Since the first January, we've had three episodes of no starting. I've replaced coil, spark plugs, spark plug wires, ignition sensor, cam shaft sensor plus added 1/2 gallon of alcohol and a can of fuel injector cleaner. My hunch is that once it warms up this week to upper 40 or low 50, the car will start. Once it starts, it runs fine. Is this an unusual problem? Any ideas on a solution? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunered Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 mine did this today for the first time. it was 2 below this mourning,it stumbled on first attempt then wouldnt fire or acted that way, said hell with that and came back inside. waited about 10 min and tried again,held gas pedal to the floor and i could hear it trying to go, so i just stayed on the starter untill it picked up rpms and cleared out. dont really know why but you might try that procedure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dxrflyboy Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 mine did this today for the first time. it was 2 below this mourning,it stumbled on first attempt then wouldnt fire or acted that way, said hell with that and came back inside. waited about 10 min and tried again,held gas pedal to the floor and i could hear it trying to go, so i just stayed on the starter untill it picked up rpms and cleared out. dont really know why but you might try that procedure. This sounds like flooding. Flooring the gas while cranking puts the system in "clear flood" mode and shuts off the fuel. This could be a combination of things, including a weak battery, dirty injectors (not atomizing the gas properly), clogged gas filter causing low fuel pressure, and of course, cold temperatures causing the gas to deatomize and puddle in the intake. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Hoard Posted February 20, 2006 Author Share Posted February 20, 2006 This sounds like flooding. Flooring the gas while cranking puts the system in "clear flood" mode and shuts off the fuel. This could be a combination of things, including a weak battery, dirty injectors (not atomizing the gas properly), clogged gas filter causing low fuel pressure, and of course, cold temperatures causing the gas to deatomize and puddle in the intake. The "clear flood" mode may be part of my solution. Didn't realize that was the way the starting/fuel system worked. Normally, I don't depress the gas pedal to start but a couple of the cold start problems this winter have been resolved with a squirt of starting fluid AND holding the gas pedal down. Your point about cold temperatures makes sense too. All of my cold starts have been after an overnight in the driveway. Have to think about this a bit more, but thanks for the idea. Finally, I normally change fuel filters every 30-40,000 miles but I'm surprised to see the current Subaru filter is pushing 55,000. Going to put a new one in tonight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DerFahrer Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 Try not to touch the gas pedal when starting. The ECU doesn't like it. Sounds like a coolant temperature sensor to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tcspeer Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 I also was thinking maybe the coolant temp. sensor. Try not to touch the gas pedal when starting. The ECU doesn't like it. Sounds like a coolant temperature sensor to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy777 Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 Coolant temp sensor....replace it. Should fix things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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