If your car won't start in cold, your problem is most likely related to the battery, the engine oil, the fuel lines, and the carburetor in certain vehicles.
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Imagine if you woke up in a cold morning getting ready to drop the kids off for their schools or an important appointment, and then suddenly your car won't start in cold!
It is not a rare situation, and many people suffered from dealing with cold-weather problems, especially those associated with starting issues.
In general, most starting issues in cold weather are usually associated with either the battery, the engine's oil, or the field lines. In some vehicles associated with the carburetor, they might also have starting issues.
This article provides you with all possible reasons for your car won't start issue. We will also highlight all possible solutions and workarounds that you can apply to prevent dealing with starting issues in cold weather.
At the end of this article, we will also answer some related questions, but we frequently received cold weather problems and starting issues.
How does your car start?
Before we dive into the details about the effect of cold weather on your vehicle's starting issue, it is very important to make sure that we're on the same page on how your vehicle starts. Once you have a good understanding of all potential components involved in the starting process, you can pinpoint a potential culprit behind your vehicle's starting issue.
The first thing you do is to either turn a key or push the start button to get the vehicle started, right? Once you do this action, your vehicle's starter motor gets activated to convert the small electrical current from the battery into a larger current to get your vehicle started.
After the engine receives the starting signal from the starter motor, it should crank and get the vehicle going. Of course, it needs a consistent and continuous supply of fuel and a spark to burn the air fuel mixture for the vehicle and the engine to get going.
As you realized, there are plenty of components involved in starting your vehicle. Some of these components are usually the first potential culprit for starting issues, while others are less frequently involved in starting problems.
How does cold weather contribute to your vehicle's starting process?
Cold weather first affects any liquid in your vehicle. Imagine how many types of liquids are involved in the starting process? There is the transmission fluid, oil, the anti-freeze, the fuel itself, etc.
If there is any crack or a possible way for moisture to seep inside the lines that carry any of the mentioned fluids, the cold weather can cause them to thicken and sometimes freeze. Any problem with the mentioned fluids can result in your vehicle won't start in the cold.
Furthermore, very cool temperatures also affected the electrical current flow. Did you know that your vehicle's battery loses about 35% of its strength at 32 Fahrenheit? Yes! Also, it loses about 60% of its power once your temperature reaches 0 Fahrenheit.
To add more pressure on your vehicle, your engine requires twice as much electrical current to start in cold weather as normal conditions.
So, if you put all of these potential effects together, imagine how much stress your vehicle experiences to get started in cold weather?
Car struggles to start when the engine is cold
What is your driving a Honda Tucson or a Ford Focus? You'll deal with some starting issues at some point, especially in cold weather conditions?
Luckily, automotive experts collected all these situations and possible reasons behind starting and cold weather conditions.
Let's take a closer look below at some of these possible reasons:
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Issues with the battery
Your battery works by internal chemical reactions. These reactions get slower when the temperature is cold, and therefore, your battery will face many challenges to producing the necessary electrical current to get the vehicle started.
If you have an old battery, things get more challenging, and starting problems might occur more frequently than when you have a brand-new battery.
Sometimes even brand-new batteries do not work with their full capacity immediately after you install them. Therefore, it might take you a couple of days before reaching the full battery capacity during cold weather conditions.
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Problems with the engine oil
As we already mentioned, your engine's oil must be distributed around the engine to make it work properly. Otherwise, you might deal with engine overheating and internal friction between the metal components of your engine.
When the engine does not receive the proper oil level, this adds more pressure on the battery that is already not working at its full capacity, and therefore, you might experience some issues with their car won't start in the cold.
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Issues with the fuel system
Frozen fuel lines are the rarest possible reason for your starting issue. Your vehicle's battery is the first and most primary reason that prevents your car from starting in cold weather.
However, if your fuel lines have some cracks in certain circumstances, moisture can make its way to the fuel and get it to freeze.
Frozen fuel lines prevent your engine from starting because it's not receiving any fuel, and therefore, it can't crank to produce any power. It acts like if you're driving without any fuel in your fuel tank.
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Faulty carburetor
The last potential reason for your car won't start in the cold is not related to modern vehicles. It is most likely associated with vehicles created before the last 20 years.
Those vehicles are equipped with carburetors that have very small tiny nozzles. At these nozzles, eyes can build up very easily and prevent them from working properly.
Therefore, drivers of older vehicles can experience more cold weather issues because carburetors are very susceptible to cold weather.
How do I start my car in extreme cold?
If you're dealing with consistent issues starting your car in cold weather conditions, it is very important to familiarize yourself with what to do when your car doesn't start in the cold.
There are plenty of possible rescue solutions to help you get the vehicle going unless you have faulty or damaged components.
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Turn off unnecessary components
If you know that your car is giving you a hard time starting, it is recommended that you turn off unnecessary components when you first start the engine.
For example, you don't need to start the radio; use the electrical window system immediately after you get you going, right?
Sometimes, if you can stand it without turning on the heating seats, this might help give your battery some relaxation and prevent any stress or strain existing on the battery.
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Use the clutch trick
Sometimes if you dip the clutch as you're trying to start the vehicle, you can reduce the battery's stress. Therefore, you might help it provide the necessary electrical current to get the vehicle started.
With this trick, the engine will be the only component fighting to receive the electrical current. Once the engine cranks and the vehicle get going, you can use any other components you are interested in using.
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Inspect the battery
Over time of use, your battery and battery terminals might get corroded, especially in cold weather conditions.
Corrosion can prevent any current from flowing freely, and therefore, your vehicle might not start.
Those, it doesn't hurt to look and inspect your vehicle's battery to see any signs of corrosion.
Before cleaning up the corrosion, you need to make sure that there are no cracks on the terminals; otherwise, the entire terminal or even the battery might need to be replaced.
If you've confirmed that there are no cracks, you can go ahead and remove the negative than the positive terminals to clean up your battery from any corrosion buildups.
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Check the engine oil level
Your engine requires a certain level of oil to keep it lubricated all the time and prevent any friction that could result in the engine overheating.
Sometimes in cold weather conditions, many people forget about checking their engine oil.
When your car doesn't start in many scenarios, the problem might be associated with low engine oil. Thus, it doesn't hurt to look at the oil level and top it up if it's missing the optimum level.
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Use Bradex
Cold weather affects the engine's ability to burn in the air-fuel mixture. Many automotive experts suggest using some liquids that help to make the air-fuel mixture more combustible.
If you're using a product like Bradex, you can spray it on the fuel-air mixture to make them more combustible so your engine can burn them quickly without needing too much power or energy.
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Try a jump start your car
If your car didn't start in the cold because of a battery problem, a quick workaround would be to use a jump start.
By jumpstarting your car, you're simply skipping the battery's task and providing the necessary initial electrical shock to get your vehicle going.
Although jumpstart is a great solution, it's never permanent, and you must get the real problem resolved immediately; otherwise, you'll be dealing with starting issues every day.
Performing a jump start can be an easy task during warm days; however, it gets super challenging if it's cold outside and drivers don't feel comfortable performing it.
My car won't start in a cold clicking noise
If your car won't start in the cold and you can hear some clicking noise, your problem is most likely related to a drained battery. The battery has some small charge to make the clicking noise, but immediately after the starter requests the huge electrical currents, the voltage in your battery depletes very quickly, and that's why the car won't start.
To confirm that the problem is coming from your vehicle’s battery, you can perform a quick jump start and detect whether the problem is illuminated. If you were able to get the vehicle going after the jump start, the problem is related to the battery.
If the problem was not resolved after the jumpstart, you might need to check the starter motor, the alternator, and any other potential faulty component.
Don't forget to check the fuel level because many drivers get overwhelmed with the starting problems and keep looking into multiple possible reasons and forget that they don't have any fuel in the fuel tank.
Bottom line
Cold weather account affects your vehicle in many ways. One of the very common effects of cold weather Is affecting your vehicle's ability to get started.
There are plenty of potential reasons why your car won't start in the cold. Some of these reasons include a faulty battery, issues with the engine oil, problems with the fuel lines, and in some scenarios, a faulty carburetor.
To prevent dealing with starting issues in the cold morning, you're advised to turn off any unnecessary electrical component, try the clutch dip trick, clean up your car's battery from any corrosion's, fill up your engine's oil, and finally, jump start your car as a temporary solution.
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