The Top DSM Community on the Web

For 1990-1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse, Eagle Talon, Plymouth Laser, and Galant VR-4 Owners. Log in to remove most ads.

Please Support RTM Racing
Please Support ExtremePSI

2G No Start sub zero conditions

This site may earn a commission from merchant
affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MasterMatt209

Proven Member
473
30
Jan 17, 2015
Danville, Indiana
This may be a stupid question but I’m kinda curious. I’m running 10w30 in my Talon and were getting record setting temps here in Indiana and it will be down to -11 but with the windchill might hit -50. Do I need to take any precautions with starting the car? Maybe avoiding starting it, or am I overthinking?
 
You must be logged in to view this image or video.
The service manual shows that 10w-30 is to be used when operating temperatures are higher than -10F, and 5w-30 can be substituted when ambient temperatures are no higher than a little over 60F. What I can for sure tell you is that the windchill temperature is what the air feels like, not the actual ambient temperature. A thermometer wouldn't read -50F windchill, it would read the -11F ambient temperature. That would mean that your oil would be sitting at -11F as well. That said, if you don't want to risk damaging anything, you could do a mid winter oil swap to 5w-30, or not drive it. If you do drive it, just make sure you fully heat cycle it or you risk condensation buildup in the crankcase.
 
Windchill is a people thing. You only need to be observant of the actual temperature. I would change to 5W-30 viscosity or not drive my car until things warmed up some. You are right at the recommended minumum for 10W-30 at -11ºF & it will be really thick. Leave some out in a container & try to pour it to get an idea of how non-viscosous 10W is at -10ºF.
 
Get yourself a block heater, stick it to the oil pan, run it off a timer plug. Set the heater to come on 1.5-2 hours before you plan to start the car, it will significantly aid in speeding up start up, lowering crank time, and offering more protection during these harsher times of the year.

Oil will lubricate better when at temperature, as well as flow easier of it's not sitting at -11*. You can definitely use a lighter weight oil, for instance I use 20w50 vr1 in the summer and 5w40 rotella t6 in the winter with a block heater, car will start on the 2-3rd crank revolution and gets to operating temp (coolant) in about 7 min, vs w/o the block heater it would take 10-12min.
 
Back when I lived in South Dakota and Wyoming I ran 15w-40 rotella year round in -30F and lower ambient. Never had an issue, but I let the car warm up some before driving it. Oil pressure was always higher on cold starts. No signs of internal damage, as i've had the engines apart since then.
 
Thank you all for the info and suggestions, she won’t start so I left it alone. Discovered an exhaust manifold gasket leak so I’ll be replacing that. I mentioned the wind chill because I thought maybe that could affect objects and make them colder such as the car and components.
 
What's the voltage on the battery? Need at least 12.7x to start.

An exhaust leak that close to the o2 sensor COULD assist in a no start. Loss of oxygen, so throwing more fuel than needed.

So weird, I was looking up oil pan heaters the other day. Buddy of mine laughed at the idea. I daily my car. I figured it serves dual purpose. Can be used on the oil pan AND the trans fluid pan.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/kats-engine-heaters-magnetic-heater-300w?cm_vc=IOPDP1
 
The car is in open loop until nearly operating temp, so no an exhaust leak won't cause a no start. It ignores the oxygen sensor completely. Check the coolant temp sensor because they are known to fail and default to -71F which floods the engine out. If you're able to start with the basics, is the engine spinning fast enough to start, do you have spark, etc?
 
The car is in open loop until nearly operating temp, so no an exhaust leak won't cause a no start. It ignores the oxygen sensor completely. Check the coolant temp sensor because they are known to fail and default to -71F which floods the engine out. If you're able to start with the basics, is the engine spinning fast enough to start, do you have spark, etc?

Yeah it has new plugs and wires, brand new battery, and that’s about it. It almost starts but it doesn’t. Cranks strong
 
That thing is not going to start cranking that slow, it also sounds like the car is flooded, change the plugs and turn it over with no plugs in it on a warm fully charged battery to clean it out first.
 
That thing is not going to start cranking that slow, it also sounds like the car is flooded, change the plugs and turn it over with no plugs in it on a warm fully charged battery to clean it out first.

Yeah I’m gonna charge the battery up or jump it, you think I need to change the plugs or just take them out to clean it? What do I do after it’s cleaned out.
 
Replace them, a fouled plug is garbage no matter what anyone might tell you, I dont care if its 24 hours old, its junk if its fouled, I have seen them cleaned and they only end up misfiring later on and costing you power and starting problems down the road, once they fail they are failed, yes you might clean them and get it to run and drive, but they are never right again, spend the $8.00 on some NGK B8ES plugs. Then you check for spark of course on all four, if its good put them in and see if it will start, if it wont start within 5 seconds stop and pull the fuel pump fuse and crank it with the throttle to the floor to clean it out.
 
What's the voltage on the battery? Need at least 12.7x to start.

So weird, I was looking up oil pan heaters the other day. Buddy of mine laughed at the idea. I daily my car. I figured it serves dual purpose. Can be used on the oil pan AND the trans fluid pan.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/kats-engine-heaters-magnetic-heater-300w?cm_vc=IOPDP1

That's a pretty nice piece. I run just a simple one from oreillys and it works great. Previously it would start slow with longer cranking times, but still start. Now it cranks faster, starts quicker and warms up (oil temp) much faster.

I will agree that a battery @12.7v is ideal, I've started my car with the battery sitting as low as 11.7v, and it's rear-relocated. I definitely don't like to stress the other components like that often tho.

I might recommend double checking all main battery connections, especially the ground to the starter bolt and firewall. Do voltage drop tests if necessary.
 
Replace them, a fouled plug is garbage no matter what anyone might tell you, I dont care if its 24 hours old, its junk if its fouled, I have seen them cleaned and they only end up misfiring later on and costing you power and starting problems down the road, once they fail they are failed, yes you might clean them and get it to run and drive, but they are never right again, spend the $8.00 on some NGK B8ES plugs. Then you check for spark of course on all four, if its good put them in and see if it will start, if it wont start within 5 seconds stop and pull the fuel pump fuse and crank it with the throttle to the floor to clean it out.

So if I turn it over with no plugs in it do I put the wires back in the holes first or let them hang? Also how long should I turn over for?
 
That's a pretty nice piece. I run just a simple one from oreillys and it works great. Previously it would start slow with longer cranking times, but still start. Now it cranks faster, starts quicker and warms up (oil temp) much faster.

I will agree that a battery @12.7v is ideal, I've started my car with the battery sitting as low as 11.7v, and it's rear-relocated. I definitely don't like to stress the other components like that often tho.

I might recommend double checking all main battery connections, especially the ground to the starter bolt and firewall. Do voltage drop tests if necessary.

Brand new battery as of about 2 weeks ago, but I am charging it now since I have been cranking on it
 
So if I turn it over with no plugs in it do I put the wires back in the holes first or let them hang? Also how long should I turn over for?
For safety uplug the coil pack so that any fuel pushed from the cylinders wont ignite from the spark from the coils, then you can let them hang.
 
Support Vendors who Support the DSM Community
Boosted Fabrication ECM Tuning ExtremePSI Fuel Injector Clinic Innovation Products Jacks Transmissions JNZ Tuning Kiggly Racing Morrison Fabrications MyMitsubishiStore.com RixRacing RockAuto RTM Racing STM Tuned

Latest posts

Build Thread Updates

Vendor Updates

Latest Classifieds

Back
Top