We've finally gotten snow here. well, at least snow that sticks. we have about 5" on the ground. its a lot colder than usual too. and it sucks cuz my car doesn't like cold weather. (i do have it inside, in a garage too BTW) but, i get it started and it starts rough. not too rough but i figured it was fine cuz of the cold. i started to go back in reverse and its not moving too smooth...choke out. its running real real rough and i am having to hammer the gas to get it moving. i go 3 blocks and can't get it to go much faster than 10 mph. i am slipping in turns and when i hit the clutch and let off the gas, the car died. so i just slipped a u-turn and came back home. i don't know what it is. i had an acellerator pump leak and i got that replaced and replaced the fuel filter.

I don't know whats going on. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

Are you letting your car warm up properly? It should take a little under 5 mins for the choke to pull itself back in, then you're set.

Up here we've had a few days of -40 degrees Celsius (which amazingly is the only point on which Celsius and Faranheit meet.. so -40 degrees F). We tend to put Rx7s away for the winter but the guys who run them take a few things into mind: Get a tune up just as the temps go down. Since cars don't work as well in the cold you want all your ignition stuff to be fresh, and your fuel filter to be unclogged. Do an oil change with 5w30, it's thinner so it'll be less like mollassas when you first start the car. Let your car warm up properly, ALWAYS. Get a block heater if your temps go low for long periods overnight. Make sure your battery is a damn good one.

If you're still having the problem with the lighter oil, the tune up and letting your car warm up, then it's probably something carb related.

Jon

 

OH! i forgot...the cd player went off halfway down the block... dunno what that means...i'm thinking battery probs. could it be anything in the exhaust? cuz it souds like crap.

thanks for the input vipernicus...i put some more gas in it to see if that was it and i tried starting it and nothing happened. i'll try again shortly to make sure. anything i can check for like right now?

and, also, i got a tune-up with my accelerator pump.

 

my car still isn't starting up now... i need some ideas of things to check. thanks.

 

sounds like batter problem ... if thats fine though i would check alternator after

 

yeah that battery location is imo not it's best location anyway. If you kept it garaged, best thing to do IS warm it up. Treat it like the flooding problem that these cars have. Let it idle til the temperature is at normal (the needle in the middle on it's gauge). Check your AC for heat. If your face is burning because the heat is on full blast, then your car should own the icey road.

You may need to just spark up that battery though. Try that, and next time if it's cold outside, let it warm up for at least 15 minutes.

 

i was kinda thinking battery also....it shows only 10 volts while i'm trying to start the car.(it meaning the voltometer? thing in the middle of the guages)

 

see, right now i can't get it started even with jumper cables. my cousin told me to try isopropyl alcohol to see if it would dry up the water in the gas lines that could be frozen. might try that if i have to.

 

I was meaning the temperature gauge on your gauge cluster. If you got another car, use some jumper cables and and get those two bad boys together. Sparking a battery can add much life to car if the battery got worn down.

 

If your battery won't start with jumper cables, try giving it some gas, some gas in the other car at a pretty good rpm rate (probably 3000, 3500). you can get that bad boy started. But if that's the case, you may need to replace the battery. If your doing this in the cold, I'm pretty sure it will be a lot harder.

 

its been 20 degrees and its 6 right now. we're(my dad, my cousins, and me) gonna do some major checking tomorrow afternoon. i think it is slightly flooded so the plugs are fouled and the battery is not real juicy. thanks for the help though. any other ideas on what to do possibly?

 

oh...how could i temporarily disengage the fan? it starts going real hard as soon as i start it. even when its 10 degrees outside. could that help put more volts into the starting?

 

yeah, I think disconnecting( ... what.???) the fan would be alright for start testing. Some people here use switches to turn on the fan after the motor warms up for cases like you have because of cold weather. So you could do some testing, just don't over heat the thing

EDITED: Oh .. if you look at the Rat's Nest Removal page (there's a link on the F.A.Q), it tells you (with some pictures) how to remove it. It's in an Adobe Acrobat Reader format.

 

WOO! got it running...it was just a little flooded from when i didn't let it warm up the other night and the constant pounding on the pedal trying to get it to start over the past two days. i pulled the plugs and cleaned off the plugs cuz they were covered in gas and also dried out the spark holes in the block. "plugged" 'em back in and took a rough couple runs to start it but it got up and stayed up. and i let it warm up then i drove around for awhile and its all good. thanks guys....and btw i am getting the oil changed and a new battery.

 

Awh alright then, that's cool. I know your car couldn't have completely died down

Sweet deal man, happy drivin.