All you motor experts, I could use some help. My wife's car did not want to start this morning. Here's what happened.
The car is a 2001 Acura 3.2TL, only 17,000 miles. It was quite cold this morning, mid-20's, but has been this weather for a few weeks now. My wife called me this morning on my way to work to say the car wouldn't start. Go running home and give her my company car. Sure enough, the Acura won't start. It is turning over quickly, and after about 15 seconds of cranking, sounds like it is just about to start. Sputter, cough, hiccup...nothing. Do this several times, same thing each time. Nearly starts, but no dice. Oh, f*%k it, let's just call Acura. Takes tow truck almost 2 hours to show. Once it does, sure enough, the car sputters, coughs, then starts up. After 10 seconds, it runs just fine. It ran fine all day and seems OK now. No check engine light, nothing.
The first Acura dealer I called said that this is normal. He said the car has an adaptive computer, which "learns". He said that the car had to re-program itself to run properly in cold weather (change fuel/air mixture, valve timing, etc...), and learn how to do it properly. He said he's had about 10 calls for the same thing recently. What??
We had the car last winter, nothing like this happened. Nothing the past 10 freezing mornings. And why would the computer not know how to run in cold weather. I thought he was nuts and called another dealer.
The second dealer asked when I had last driven car. I said 3 days prior, when I started it up, backed it up about 2 feet in my driveway to make more room for Thanksgiving guests, then shut it off. He said the engine flooded itself out. He said when I started it 3 days ago, the injectors gave the engine tons of fuel because it was cold, and I didn't allow it to burn itself out. So the spark plugs were soaked and the car didn't want to start. This seems odd to me too. A very high tech motor like the VTEC dumps too much fuel and floods the motor out because I shut it off too quickly? Huh??
Now admittedly, I'm not a mechanic, but I'm not stupid. I understand engines for the most part and how they work. The car had to learn?? I think the dealers just don't want to deal with the car. But the problem is the check engine light didn't come on, so the OBDII probably will not tell us anything. Any ideas why the car didn't want to start? Ignition? Thanks for your help.
Steve
[ December 02, 2002, 09:00 PM: Message edited by: Klayfish ]
The car is a 2001 Acura 3.2TL, only 17,000 miles. It was quite cold this morning, mid-20's, but has been this weather for a few weeks now. My wife called me this morning on my way to work to say the car wouldn't start. Go running home and give her my company car. Sure enough, the Acura won't start. It is turning over quickly, and after about 15 seconds of cranking, sounds like it is just about to start. Sputter, cough, hiccup...nothing. Do this several times, same thing each time. Nearly starts, but no dice. Oh, f*%k it, let's just call Acura. Takes tow truck almost 2 hours to show. Once it does, sure enough, the car sputters, coughs, then starts up. After 10 seconds, it runs just fine. It ran fine all day and seems OK now. No check engine light, nothing.
The first Acura dealer I called said that this is normal. He said the car has an adaptive computer, which "learns". He said that the car had to re-program itself to run properly in cold weather (change fuel/air mixture, valve timing, etc...), and learn how to do it properly. He said he's had about 10 calls for the same thing recently. What??
We had the car last winter, nothing like this happened. Nothing the past 10 freezing mornings. And why would the computer not know how to run in cold weather. I thought he was nuts and called another dealer. The second dealer asked when I had last driven car. I said 3 days prior, when I started it up, backed it up about 2 feet in my driveway to make more room for Thanksgiving guests, then shut it off. He said the engine flooded itself out. He said when I started it 3 days ago, the injectors gave the engine tons of fuel because it was cold, and I didn't allow it to burn itself out. So the spark plugs were soaked and the car didn't want to start. This seems odd to me too. A very high tech motor like the VTEC dumps too much fuel and floods the motor out because I shut it off too quickly? Huh??
Now admittedly, I'm not a mechanic, but I'm not stupid. I understand engines for the most part and how they work. The car had to learn?? I think the dealers just don't want to deal with the car. But the problem is the check engine light didn't come on, so the OBDII probably will not tell us anything. Any ideas why the car didn't want to start? Ignition? Thanks for your help.
Steve
[ December 02, 2002, 09:00 PM: Message edited by: Klayfish ]
