Starting Problems

[adam_murphy]

Ever since i got a new motor put in my car the coolant temp sensor come up on the check engine light. The wires are hooked up right but it still will not start in cold weather (40 and lower). I also had to spray starting fluid on the air filter just to get it to fire up. Also, when it is warm, the car will start right up. Is there anything else i can check or fix to help this problem, or am i stuck waiting until summer to drive my car. Thanks
Adam

[LightningGSX]

Is the temp sensor good? If the sensor is giving wrong readings, your ECU won't give the proper cold start enrichment.

[Halon]

have u tried replacing it? that woulda been my 1st plan of attack.

[TheBlizzard]

Thats neat to hear, since Jets 1992 TSi AWD is doing the same thing. If the weather is decent it will start but not that great but if it gets cold it will not start. And just this morning it wouldn't start again. I mentioned the coolant temp sensor to him and he is going to pick one up tonight and we are going to replace it and see what happens. And yeah when the car is warm or even semi warm it starts right back up and runs like a top. I was thinking that the coolant probably takes a long time to cool off so even after a few hours it will still start right back up. Also it is getting a check engine light about thirty seconds after it starts and it stays on. And the funny thing is, is that it runs like shit and you have to pump the gas until the check enging light comes on and then it smooths right out and idles fine.

I tell you what. If you change yours before we change that one let me know or I will let you know what happens when we change it. Cause it sounds like we are having the same sort of issue.

[CVD]

A disconnected ground on my coolant temp sensor caused exactly the same symptoms with my car.

[TheBlizzard]

CVD, where is the ground for that? I reseated the connectors down by the lower cooland line and right up by the intake where it splices into and still the same problem? No wires were broken and every connection seemed tight but I didn't see a ground wire.

[CVD]

My bad, it may not have even been the ground, I just assumed by the way it was acting that it was though. One of the two wires going into the plug on the thermostat housing is disconnected. This causes strange temp readings (sometimes accurate, sometimes way off) and has caused hard starts when cold.

I never did fix it, and it starts fine now. Never did figure out why my car does that, but some things i just dont fix, and the problems go away after a while, like the bad carrier bearings/rear end thump and the bad motor mount. After a few months of ignoring them, the symptoms went away. :woowoo:

[TheBlizzard]

Alright I didn't think that there was a ground from the the temp sensor. I am assuming the fucker is just bad. I did a lot of searching too and found that if the coolant temp sensor is bad it will cause the car to do all sorts of weird shit.

I will just have to wait until Jet gets home with a new one and throw it in and see what happens. I will post the results so that if anybody else experiences this they no where to look.

[Goat Blower]

Originally posted by CUSTOMDSM@Dec 12 2003, 09:16 AM
Thats neat to hear, since Jets 1992 TSi AWD is doing the same thing. If the weather is decent it will start but not that great but if it gets cold it will not start. And just this morning it wouldn't start again. I mentioned the coolant temp sensor to him and he is going to pick one up tonight and we are going to replace it and see what happens. And yeah when the car is warm or even semi warm it starts right back up and runs like a top. I was thinking that the coolant probably takes a long time to cool off so even after a few hours it will still start right back up. Also it is getting a check engine light about thirty seconds after it starts and it stays on. And the funny thing is, is that it runs like shit and you have to pump the gas until the check enging light comes on and then it smooths right out and idles fine.

I tell you what. If you change yours before we change that one let me know or I will let you know what happens when we change it. Cause it sounds like we are having the same sort of issue.
Are you guys married or something? I don't think I've seen a post yet where you didn't say "me and Jet" or "we". Just curious.

[MustGoFaster]

Josh had a simialr issue, shut car off when and worked his shift and no start. Called john, he brought a whole buch of junk and a pocket logger, came up with CTS code, pluged a spare one in and let it hang and it fired rigth up.