Cold morning starts.. clunk?

[SportinWood]

It's like 6 degrees out and my car has a hard time starting.... it turns, then kicks over, then dies. When its real cold it does it about 3 times and then theres a loud clunk, then coughs for a little bit, and then is fine.... In the warmer days it doesnt have that problem. I have new plug wires and new plugs. It only does this in the morning. I can work for 10 hours and go back to it and the problem isnt there.

Anyone?
Thanks!

 

[4geze63]

dirty injectors possibly, I recently got mine cleaned aswell as my whole fuel system and the car idle,starts and preforms noticably better.

 

[mitsutuner]

Ditto on the injection, a can in injector cleaner added to your gas might de the trick.
It sounds like you ultimately get it started & make it to work, can you give any more clues? only guess on the clunk is started solenoid disengaging.
Here's a trick that might get you by in a pinch, learned it from a co-worker when I lived in Iowa, -27 degrees.
Spin out as many spark plugs as you can easily get at, (I had v8 at the time, in your 4 banger--take all 4 out). You can take them out the night before if you already know hell is going to freeze over.
Heat the spark plugs in the oven, quickly reinstall & start the car.
You might laugh, but it works, even on my v8 when only 3 plugs were quick & easy to get at.

 

[SportinWood]

My first thought on the "clunk" was that there might be a little too much water in my anti freeze... but I dunno. It could very well be the fuel system. The car has a ton of miles and I have never treated it. Any suggestions as to how? Should I pull the injectors and have them treated or should I invest in some gas treatment? If so on the treatment, what kind seems to work best?

Thanks guys! This will make my mornings a little more enjoyable

And the sparkplug thing.. I think I'll try that too

 

[mitsutuner]

I would try a can of injecter cleaner in a full tank of gas first, they all about the same--you'll have to burn most of the tank of gas before & if you can tell it makes a difference.
You can ceheck your antifreeze easy with a antifreeze checker--$.99 at wal-mart,every auto store has them.
In simple terms, you need 2 things for the motor to run--spark & fuel--
can you smell gas when it doesn't start?

 

[SportinWood]

I dont smell any gas... but I will buy some injector cleaner tomorrow. It will be a while till I can run a full tank through(it snowed 4 inches and is gonna snow another 5 up here).
Thanks for the input!

 

[mitsutuner]

No gas smell-
Could be a fuel pump on it's way to complete failure, if it's like 1st gen, it's mounted in the fuel tank along with it's sediment screen filter & from there the gas goes thru another filter mounted on the firewall.
Voltage for the fuel pump comes from the FP relay, which on 1st gen cars is mounted inside a small shiny box along with the ecu relay & the box lives right next to the ecu inside the front of the center console..
I understand it's hard to diagnose outside in the freakin cold snow, So I would use the "easter egg hunt" method & start with the easiest remove & replace--first would be the fuel filter on the firewall,(accumulated sludge will harden if cold enough, turning to rock & blocking gas flow). If that doesn't help, R&R the fuel pump & strainer filter,(simple electric motors--lube in the motor bearings get sludgy w/cold & old. & then block motor rotation-)

 

[Robby Camero]

Could also be faulty coolant temp sensor. This causes the fuel trims to max out rendering your car to have problems starting in cold conditions.

 

[SportinWood]

It could be the coolent sensor....? When I bought the car it had rust and I mean a LOT of rust in the coolent, I replaced the water pump, thermo, and cap so that could be something I missed?
I'm going to tryin the morning to see if there's any gas smell, its so freakin cold out here, I also dont have the hood popped or anything when I start it in the morning. Should I smell it in the inside of my car??
I have the holy Eclipse bible if I have to tear out the pump... ect.