Saturn :: 1996 SC2 Occasionally Won't Start If Weather Is Chilly
Jul 15, 2011
My car stopped starting reliably last winter. Since my driveway is on a hill and I have a clutch, I'd roll back and pop the clutch to start it (or just make the kids push - it builds character, right?). I finally broke down and put a new battery in it about a month ago. It still occasionally won't start. It seems worse if the weather is chilly. When it fails to start, the engine will turn over a few times, slower and slower each time, and then die. If I turn the key again right away, nothing - just the "click." If I wait about 2 minutes, it roars to life like nothing ever happened. Doesn't seem like an alternator problem. It's green.
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My 96 mercedes c280 will not start in the winter. I moved from florida to ohio and when it gets close to freezing or below my car will not start. The lights on rear view mirror (immobilizer lights) blink for 30 sec. I have to wait any where from 5-30 min. to start car depending on how cold it is, otherwise car runs great.
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When the temperatures drop to the single digits and below, my car won't start. It won't even turn over! I turn the key and there's nothing. So, I sit in the car and then turn the key again. I wait. Then turn the key again. Within about 5-10 minutes, the car starts and its good to go! I've had a new battery installed. And even with the new battery, it does the same thing. At the shop, they check the battery and say it's fine.
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My sis was driving her 96 saturn SL and she was at a red light, then the car just stopped on her and it wouldn't start back up. I had came to push the car to the side of the road to see what the problem was. When I tried to start it, I could hear 1 click. All the lights came on, on the dash but it wouldn't start. I tried to give it a jump but that didnt work. I checked the oil and the oil was really low. There was no oil showing up on the dipstick. So I put in about 4 quarts of oil.
The car still wouldn't start. So I had it towed. The mechanic said that my sis would need another engine for her car. Would really low oil cause someone to need another engine for a car. My sis had just got a oil change about 2 weeks before this happened. I use to drive her car about 5 years ago and it use to burn a quart between oil changes but what would cause the engine to loose so much oil in about 2 weeks. I don't know if there was a oil leak and the oil light did come on the night before her car broke down. I had a starter put in about 4 years ago.
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I have a 1996 Jeep Cherokee (sport, six cylinder, 4WD) that won't start occasionally. 98% of the time, it starts up without problem. When it doesn't work the scenario is: put the key in, dash lights up, begin to turn the ignition switch, and suddenly the whole system looses power - no lights on he dash and of course, no cranking of the engine. If I try again immediately, I either get nothing or maybe power until I start to turn the key. If I wait ~5 minutes and try again, it fires right up. This has happened in various weather conditions.
Another problem that might be related is that about 40% of the time, it cranks but won't start in PARK. If I switch to NEUTRAL and try again, it fires right up.
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I just bought a 2005 passat wagon 4motion 1.8t to haul the dogs and future kid around in. Car has extremely low miles (23k) and is pretty much in perfect condition. Love everything about it, except...
It seems to have a bit of trouble starting on chilly mornings (not cold yet, maybe 60f?). It will start, but it fires up and then seems to get choked up to the point of almost dying sometimes, runs a little rough for a minute or so with a throaty exhaust sound and then it perks up and runs fine. I've noticed it tends to be running at a slightly higher RPM when it's running poorly in those first few minutes, and then it drops to normal.
When we bought the car, I quickly realized the temp gauge wasn't working. It turned out to be the temp sensor (seems to be a common problem) and I hoped it would solve the rough start, but it did not.
What could be causing this? We're starting to approach fall/winter, and if it's doing this now I can only imagine what it's going to do in November. I'd like to get this sorted as soon as possible, even though it's not a show stopper right this minute.
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I have a 2010 which lately has been having difficulty starting on chilly days. That's saying something considering i live in Memphis, where the cold days are relatively mild. Sometimes it will hesitate on turning over, start and then my gauges flutter and the car shakes a little. Other times it makes a high pitched cranking noise. I haven't taken it anywhere yet because it seems to exclusively happen in the morning after the car has been sitting for 10 hours.
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I have a 2004 Saturn Ion 2 with manual transmission. Occasionally the car acts like the battery is dead. It turns over once then goes dead. The radio and electric windows and door locks work fine but the dash is dead and the car will not start. After it sits for about fifteen minutes it starts just fine. It happens sometimes when it's cold. It happens sometimes when it's warm. It happens sometimes when it's wet. It happens sometimes when it's dry. It happens sometimes if I start and stop frequently. My mechanic has checked the battery two or three times. It checks fine. There's no corossion on the battery posts or cables. My mechanic thought it might be the clutch but pumping the clutch two or three times makes no difference. My mechanic and I are totally stumped. What have you got.
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I have a 1997 Saturn SL1 with 100k. Every so often the RPMs will drop by 500-1000 or so for a second and then come back up to normal. This happens both when stopped at a light and while accelerating, and doesn't seem to happen predictably. I've already changed the filters and cleaned out the IAC, without any success. I've sprayed the obvious connection points in hopes of locating a potential vacuum leak, also without any luck. Other ways to locate a potential vacuum leak that wouldn't be overly time-intensive?
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I have a 2008 Saturn Aura. Last spring I had an incident where I was driving on a highway (60mph or >) and the car started to decelerate and the gas pedal didn't respond. I pulled off the road, and the car wouldn't start, but the radio worked. By the time AAA came, the car started and I didn't have another problem for 10 months. I did take it to the dealer after the first episode, and they couldn't find anything. Recently I had 2 similar episodes on the same day, one hour apart. I was again driving on a highway. After 5-10 mins, the car was able to be started again. I feel like it's a waste of money to take the car in to the dealer again, since they didn't find anything the first time. What might cause this to happen?
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How do you clear the engine codes on a 1996 Saturn SL-2? I thought disconnecting the battery for more than ten seconds did this or do I need a special tool inserted into the diagnostic port under the dash?
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I recently purchased a 1996 Ford Ranger with the 4 cyl. engine. The first 10 days I owned it it ran just fine. I then took a an hour drive to another city. After the first few stops there, as the temperature outside reached about 90, It started to sputter and idle very badly. After I got rolling it would would run fine. I decided to try to make it home. It ran fine at freeway speeds of about 70 mph. I had to stop once; it stalled out and would not start again. After waiting about ten minutes I tried again. It was still running rough, but I was able to get rolling and drove the rest of the way home without any problems until I was in town and had difficulty keeping it running at idle.
The next morning it ran fine again. A local mechanic changed the fuel filter, but the problem came back as soon as the temp neared 90 degrees. A mechanic friend who witnessed the problem said that it definitely sounded like a lack of fuel and not an electrical problem. Is there a way to troubleshoot without swapping parts? If the fuel pump is failing in warm weather, how is it possible that it runs fine at 70 mph, but not at idle? Engine temp gauge looks good. I did get one code after it died the first time (lean mixture, I think he said).
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My 1996 honda civic cannot handle the heat. Every time the weather gets warm it freaks out when stuck in traffic for any extended period of time. It generally will start to rev while stopped, sometimes will jerk forward, and once continued to rev in park with my foot completely off the gas, checking the gas and the break pedals numerous times to make sure not stuck, etc., for about 2 minutes. Another time it locked the steering wheel and would not release. This really only happens when it's warm outside. The car does not have air conditioning, if that makes any difference. We've brought it to two mechanics and they both said car looks great. What could be going on?
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We got the clutch replaced on our 1996 Saturn several weeks ago and ever since we get grinding when shifting from 2nd to 3rd. The mechanic said the synch ring was shot and it wasn't their fault...this problem did not exist before the replacement. Whether this sounds plausible and what we can do to rectify i
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When driving the radio will occasionally suddenly come on very low and then the volume will build. When the car stops and the ignition turned off the radio will not restart when-when the engine is restarted. There are times the radio will not come on for weeks.
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I have a 96 saturn sl2. It was running ok, but recently it started to idle rough and it revs up when i change gears and then when i release the clutch it drops down and remains about 1200 rpm. Pretty much while I press on the brakes to stop, and press the clutch to get on neutral,the rpm shoots up and slowly goes back down.
Also when I start the car it feels like its revving, but my foot is on the brake and the car is on neutral.Also no matter how much I've driven it, I can go into first and 2nd gear w/out having to press the accelerator and it will start to move. the rpm will remain @ about 1000 to 1200. The check engine light is not on and the car seems to be using up more gas.
I'm considering changing the plugs and wires, gas filter to see if it s. I noticed oil leaking a little around the valve cover, so I may change that too.
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I have a 1996 Saturn SW2. When I turn hard left at a bit of speed (like about 20 mph), the left read end of my car makes a BOING sound... what could be causing this??
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My daughter has a 1996 Saturn SL with something over 100K miles on it. It runs generally well, although using a quart of oil every thousand miles or so. It passes the smog check required for her registration. It's had new spark plugs within the recommended period.
Recently she went on a road trip, and hit stop-and-go traffic for a couple of hours in one large city; it being January in a warm climate, the weather that day was presumably neither very hot nor cold. The Check Engine light came on. Fortunately she had the time to take it to a mechanic recommended by a friend local to the area, who pronounced the engine OK. She proceeded without incident for the rest of her thousand mile trip.
Sounds to me like the emissions crossed some threshold beyond "marginal" during the lengthy idling and running at low speed. Question: if we wanted to avoid such a condition, what kind of repair would be recommended.
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My mechanic cannot figure out what's wrong with my car My car is a manual trans 1996 Toyota Corolla with almost 154K miles. I had the oil changed two weeks ago (about 1000 miles with my commute), and at that time, I let my mechanic know that it's been losing oil and so check it over. At that time, he changed the oil, cleaned the engine, and added a dye to the oil to show up any leaks.
I took it in this past Thursday for him to locate the leaking, and the mechanic let me know that 1) It came in mostly dry (no oil), 2) there was no visible leaking except for a seepage around the oil pan, which he says could not account for the loss of 4 quarts of oil in two weeks, and 3) it's not burning it out in the exhaust system.
A bit of the history of the car. I got it when it was at 59K, used, and there were a number of things wrong with it that I didn't discover until later, such as that no maintenance had been done to it at all in the 60K someone else had owned it. It came to me needing a timing belt, brakes, and an engine and radiator flush (the radiator fluid was brown instead of green).
At one point at around 70K, as a stupid teenager, I did let it run dry. The oil light came on, I panicked, shut it off, dumped in two quarts (which brought it to full on the dipstick, which I thought was weird), and took it straight for an oil change, where they told me it was dry, which was odd, because I'd just put 2 quarts in it.
After that, there were no issues until it hit about 120K. At that point, I started smelling burning oil and there was smoke coming from under my hood, so I towed it to my mechanic at the time. He replaced the valve cover gasket, the rear main seal, and the head gasket (with engine block machining and all). That more or less cleared the problem up, but then I took it across the country on a 3K road trip, and it ended up accidentally running dry again. Oil light came on, I shut it off, dumped in oil, took it for a lube job.
Since that time, it's been occasionally throwing me an oil light when I go downhill (I figure that this is because it's low but not out, and the change in pitch reduces the pressure?). Each time it does this, I've shut it off, coasted to a stop, dumped in 2 quarts (which brings it to full on the stick), and gone on, berating myself. These times have become more frequent, however, even though I now check the oil regularly.
So before I endure the deserved lectures about being dumb, yes, I blame myself, but regardless of my lazy maintenance, it's becoming ridiculous. My car is now finding a way to lose a gallon of oil over the course of 1000 miles, with no discernible leak or consumption.
Also, why my oil light comes on when it's only 2 quarts down on the stick sometimes, and then sometimes goes almost dry without throwing the oil light? I just got it back with the oil topped up, more dye in the engine, and instead of going for 2 weeks, I'm going for 1 week to see if maybe he can catch it in the act of learning this magic trick of vanishing oil.
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Basically it's a coolant leak problem for my 1996 Saturn SL1 Sedan. Here are the details of the problem....
About 6 months ago my Saturn started leaking coolant. It was very minor, I'd have to add a pint or so every 1 hour worth of driving or 40 miles (I experienced these early stages of a coolant leak before with a 1997 Buick Century). The problem very slowly increased 4 months ago and at about this time I noticed coolant residue on some of the engine parts. Using logic I determined the coolant must be leaking onto the belt which was spraying the fluid around, including the underside of the hood in a very fine line.
By 1 month ago I was adding about a quart of coolant every 15 miles. Still, very manageable with no other problems. Then 2 weeks ago it happened.... For the first time when I'd start my car it would issue that high-pitch squealing sound I'm sure we've all heard on older cars and thought, "man, that driver needs to get their car checked out." The noise would last for a few seconds, then stop. Rarely the sound would kick in also when coming out of a full stop.
Then 1 week ago, it all got worse. Now the car squeaks for around 2-5 seconds 50% of the time after a cold start. 80% of the time from a full or partial stop. About 90% of the time if my speed drops around 15mph. And now it even makes the noise for a few seconds (10% of the time) while driving +30mph. And the coolant leak is really bad. I have to fill the reservoir (add about 90%) anytime I drive more than a few blocks or +5 minutes. Also, for the first time, anytime I stop the car the coolant just drips onto the ground at a significant rate.
What sort of a problem I might be looking at based on my description?
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I have a 2008 Camry SE, when its chilly outside the Low tire pressure light comes on, when its warm it doesn't come on. I have checked all the tires for correct air pressure and this light drives my wife crazy.
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