Cold Starting and Oil Viscosity Question

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imola.zhp

Member
Car somewhat didn't want to start this morning, I had some issues with this last year too, when the temperature dipped into the 40's, the car wouldn't start...

Question: Could viscosity of motor oil be the issue here? If I would crank and crank on the car eventually the battery would die or she would start, sometimes backfiring and ruining the MAF. The car rolled 226,000 this week and when I put thin oil in it, she burns through it extra quick, I usually use 10w30, but in doing some reading online they suggest 5w30 for areas that get below 45 degree's...

Thoughts?
 
imola.zhp said:
Car somewhat didn't want to start this morning, I had some issues with this last year too, when the temperature dipped into the 40's, the car wouldn't start...

Question: Could viscosity of motor oil be the issue here? If I would crank and crank on the car eventually the battery would die or she would start, sometimes backfiring and ruining the MAF. The car rolled 226,000 this week and when I put thin oil in it, she burns through it extra quick, I usually use 10w30, but in doing some reading online they suggest 5w30 for areas that get below 45 degree's...

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

No - you'd have to be down near zero degrees for this to even begin to have an effect.
 
I either read that website wrong or that website was wrong, can't seem to find it again, but have looked at others. I thought it said 10w was only good to 40 degrees and you should switch to 5w for lower temps...

I'm about due for an oil change, I might do 5w anyway to see if it starts any easier and hopefully it wont burn off quicker.

But yes, there is still a problem. When I had the issue last year for the first time, I replaced the plugs, checked the fuel pump and put in new coil packs. Nothing fixed the problem. What did fix the problem was rolling it into the heated shop at work, letting the car warm up for a few days as well as re-charge the battery. Then I probably cranked the car for 10 minutes with the gas pedal to the floor and it finally fired up. When the temperature would be low and the car acted like it didn't want to start, doing the same thing would eventually get her started if the battery didn't die first. If the battery did die, I would hook her up to my BMW and eventually get her started...

Thoughts?

I had thought I purchased some bad fuel, but after putting products in the tank to boost octane and get rid of any water, the car still did the same thing. In the job I hold, we deal with a storage tank which a local fuel maker keeps butane in the summer to mix with fuel in the winter. Prehaps the fuel I purchased did not have enough butane to start at colder temps?

I appreciate the responses and help thusfar...
 
Last edited:
imola.zhp said:
I either read that website wrong or that website was wrong, can't seem to find it again, but have looked at others. I thought it said 10w was only good to 40 degrees and you should switch to 5w for lower temps...

I'm about due for an oil change, I might do 5w anyway to see if it starts any easier and hopefully it wont burn off quicker.

But yes, there is still a problem. When I had the issue last year for the first time, I replaced the plugs, checked the fuel pump and put in new coil packs. Nothing fixed the problem. What did fix the problem was rolling it into the heated shop at work, letting the car warm up for a few days as well as re-charge the battery. Then I probably cranked the car for 10 minutes with the gas pedal to the floor and it finally fired up. When the temperature would be low and the car acted like it didn't want to start, doing the same thing would eventually get her started if the battery didn't die first. If the battery did die, I would hook her up to my BMW and eventually get her started...

Thoughts?

I had thought I purchased some bad fuel, but after putting products in the tank to boost octane and get rid of any water, the car still did the same thing. In the job I hold, we deal with a storage tank which a local fuel maker keeps butane in the summer to mix with fuel in the winter. Prehaps the fuel I purchased did not have enough butane to start at colder temps?

I appreciate the responses and help thusfar...
Click to expand...

Your correct 5w is better below 50F, You try the fuel pressure regulator? If this is bad, sometimes it helps to turn the key in the on position and waiting a couple moments for the fuel pressure to build up before you actually turn it over.
 
^ I'll give that a shot, I'm near Memphis, TN, we had a few cold days, but its been warm now, no issues. Would a bad fuel pressure regulator only give trouble in colder weather?

Thanks for the help!
 
^ I'll give that a shot, I'm near Memphis, TN, we had a few cold days, but its been warm now, no issues. Would a bad fuel pressure regulator only give trouble in colder weather?

Thanks for the help!
 
Does the fuel rail hold fuel pressure or leak down after shutting off the engine?

Holding the pedal to the floor while cranking tells the ECU 'i am flooded' and may actually introduce another problem...
 
I'm interested to know if the Protege 5 starts well in cold weather, I am not talking about Memphis cold but Manitoba cold. Last year we had a stretch of 4 weeks of 40 bellow weather ( -40 is the same in C or F ), my Honda would start no matter how cold but I am interested to know if I can expect the same from my P5?
 
tuck4 said:
I'm interested to know if the Protege 5 starts well in cold weather, I am not talking about Memphis cold but Manitoba cold. Last year we had a stretch of 4 weeks of 40 bellow weather ( -40 is the same in C or F ), my Honda would start no matter how cold but I am interested to know if I can expect the same from my P5?
Click to expand...

While I don't have a p5, I do have a 99 Protege with a 1.8L engine, close enough to the 2.0 in the p5. I can tell you that I live in Montreal, and we get those brutal cold days and as long as you do a proper tune up, it should be fine. My Protege didn't fail to start 1 day last winter, and i'm talking -30, -40C some days. Synthetic oil also works better than conventional, I felt a difference right away on those really cold days. :)
 
P-Funk! said:
Does the fuel rail hold fuel pressure or leak down after shutting off the engine?

Holding the pedal to the floor while cranking tells the ECU 'i am flooded' and may actually introduce another problem
Click to expand...

I don't think so - it's not like we have carburetors. Just pushing on the gas pedal isn't gonna flood your engine (or make the ECU think it's flooded).
 
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