Winter causes startup issues

[david-b]

Hey;
Every winter I've have a weird problem with the car. When it gets cold, and I'm starting the car for the first time that day, I will turn the key, the dash lights turn on like normal, it waits 3 seconds, and then cranks and turns on. The colder it is, or the longer the car sits, the longer it takes. Last night I went to drive the car for the first time since Wednesday and all the lights when on, then a good 8 seconds later it tried cranking, then the battery died.

The battery is brand new. Starter is brand new. When warm or just ran, car starts with no hesitation. Turns right on each time.

The only way I get around this each winter is to start the car and run it everyday for a little bit.

Any ideas on what the problem could be? Been trying to figure this out for 3 years now

 

[EagleTalonTim]

I have had this exact same problem before which turned out to be the coolant temperature sensor for the ECU. It is the one with 2 leads perpendicular to each other. For me, it was not the sensor, the wires going to the connector for the sensor were broken and barely hanging on. After I fixed that, the car would crank up and idle in any temp no matter how long it sat

 

[Daaan]

I have had this exact same problem before which turned out to be the coolant temperature sensor for the ECU. It is the one with 2 leads perpendicular to each other. For me, it was not the sensor, the wires going to the connector for the sensor were broken and barely hanging on. After I fixed that, the car would crank up and idle in any temp no matter how long it sat

+1 ecu's temp sensor.

 

[rstare]

Team 2GNT Forum - Viewing topic #91888 - Rough Cold-Start Idle
+1 for CLT