00' Civic DX - Car won't start during the cold frosty mornings.
 

Hey guys, first post here. Starting two years ago, one very cold morning my old reliable Civic would not start. I can hear it cranking but the engine won't start, and it eventually gets flooded if I keep trying. There was about a 1/4 tank of gas at the time. I had it towed to a shop, and because they couldn't recreate the cold conditions, it started every time and no diagnosis was made.

I replaced the battery, and it still would have issues starting. Took to another shop, it of course started and nobody could figure it out. I heard that keeping more than 1/4 tank of gas helps, and all last year it started fine in the cold mornings as long as I had a good amount of gas in it.
Fast forward to this morning, the first frost of the year here in Philly....have nearly a full tank of gas, and it won't crank over.

Anything else I should try? I really need to fix this issue. I live in a valley and a lot of moisture builds up on the vehicle over night. There was a ton of frost on it this morning. The car starts up instantly(warm weather) with ample gas in the tank, but hesitates if there's a low amount of fuel. Could it be the fuel pump? Plugs, cap, ect was replaced less than a year ago.

Re: 00' Civic DX - Car won't start during the cold frosty mornings.
 

Also the plugs that are in now, are OEM plugs.

Re: 00' Civic DX - Car won't start during the cold frosty mornings.
 

Also I was thinking - my hood is dented from a fender bender, and does not fully shut. It's propped open a few cm. Can the frost get between the terminal connections of my battery? What can I do to prevent this?

Re: 00' Civic DX - Car won't start during the cold frosty mornings.
 

I assume you mean the starter will crank but the engine will not run.

Did it also have issues when it's humid or rainy?
Make it run, then use a spray bottle of water and mist the dist cap and plug wires, then snap the throttle open a couple times and see if it revs up cleanly or if it sputters and misses. If misting water onto the ignition components makes it miss or run bad, replace them.


Short brief runs without getting the engine up to operating temperature leads to plugs fouling and flooding. Happens often to people that like to move the car 20 feet in the driveway and shut it off. Next time they try to start it it floods.
(We deal with this all year long at car lots, even brand new cars will flood when people do this)

Scanner check, got codes?
Scanner check, accuracy of the ECT, IAT, TPS, MAP, when it's cold before you try to run it.

Re: 00' Civic DX - Car won't start during the cold frosty mornings.
 

No issues with moisture in the past. A lot of the ignition parts are pretty new. I'm going to clean the battery terminals and look into higher quality plugs tomorrow. OEM plugs are in now.

Re: 00' Civic DX - Car won't start during the cold frosty mornings.
 

Also my car doesn't get used like how you described. I have put a ton of highway miles on it recently. The battery terminals were snugly fastened with no corrosion so I didn't bother cleaning them.

Re: 00' Civic DX - Car won't start during the cold frosty mornings.
 

Clean all your chassis ground connections as well as your battery terminals.
Take it to autozone and have the battery checked..read this: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q...n+cold+weather