Q: Poor starting when cold

asked by on October 12, 2016

Engine poor starting when cold,struggles to pick up and sounds like it's chugging,but when warm starts ok. Have put on new leads and plugs but all is the same

My car has 88000 miles.
My car has a manual transmission.

Coolant Temperature Switch (Sensor) Replacement $103.56 - $422.45 Get a Quote

When the car is cold, it relies heavily on the engine coolant temperature sensor. If the coolant level is low, the coolant temperature sensor can send false information to the computer, causing a hard start or cold start poor running condition. If you have access to a scanner, you may try hooking this up to watch the coolant temperature. For example if the coolant temperature is 30 degrees, but the coolant temperature sensor reads that it is 100 degrees, this will cause the computer to not activate the proper enrichment to the engine at the right time upon start up. This is a common issue when it comes to vehicles starting in colder temperatures. For more information, I have linked an article which discuses starting a car in cold weather.

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