For the past 2 weeks it has been in the -30 degrees C zone where I live. Any ways when I go to my first start of the day, when it the temp is at its coldest (-45 some with wind chill) it cranks for a long time and it fizzles out. The engine seems to crank normally, its not slow like if you didn't plug it in. The only way I got my car to start today was to press on the gas pedal a bit, and even then it sputtered to a start. The car has 12000 miles on it, with synthetic oil, plugged in all the time. Also where I live the gas station has ethanol blended gasoline on regular and midgrade gas, so I put in premium, cause I've heard some people have drivability issues with ethanol blended gas. Because of Christmas coming up the nearest dealer to me can't look at it for a week. Also a couple of times I turned the key to the acc position and waited a few seconds before turning it and it started fine, but those 2 times were minus 20 days and it might have been a fluke cause I tried it today and it didn't work. Is there anything I can try or do? Should I be using gasoline antifreeze, I've never used it in previous cars so I figure I don't need to. Maybe my car doesn't like s weeks plus of cold.

 

Sounds like you have a fix. The problem is that it's cold.

 

Not really b/c yesterday it didn't start very easily and when it did it sputtered for a few seconds. I used to own a 2005 elantra and it started in -45 weather (-65 with windchill) no problem. what is an acceptable cranking time b4 it starts.

 

Just an FYI...wind chill is not a measure of air temperature. It's the sensation of temperature experienced by human skin as a result of the wind. Your car feels whatever the air temp is, not the windchill.

 

Sounds to me like you need an engine block heater.

 

I have a block heater. Took it to the dealership today and it was deemed faulty. I know there is continuity, b/c I have an inline tester. Dealer said resistance values are wrong and therefore not giving enough heat so it starts on really cold days. Does anyone know what the resistance should be, just want to make sure dealer isn't screwing me around, have had past experience of being ripped off. Not by a dealer but by an auto repair chain.

 

Another part of the question is at what temperature should the car start if it isn't plugged in assuming everything else is good? I only ask because I've owned older fuel injected cars and they have started in lower than minus 30 C temps without being plugged in. They crank slower but fire up in 3-5 seconds. Car is less than 2 years old.

 

If your car is less than 2 years old with 12K miles, take it to a dealer, they should fix it for free. Did you pull the trouble codes? Go to Autozone (if available) and do a free trouble code scan. You might have a problem with the cold start valve, and that would show up in a scan.

 

?

 

Hyundai calls it an ISC valve, GM calls it an IAC valve. Usually they stick open, and engine idles high, sometime they stick closed, and make it hard to start when it's cold. Basically it runs fast idle for a minute or two.