[Help] Cold weather car starting

[wellquickwoody]

Hands up - I'm clueless when it comes to cars.

This year, my wife's car has not been starting in the cold/damp mornings. The battery dies before it sparks into life. I've heard that spaying the spark plugs with WD40 can help with this but if I lift the bonnet i wouldn't even know where to begin. I can just about manage to jump start the car - but that's it and I don't want to have to do that at 6am every morning not least because i have to double park my car alongside on a busy road and it's dangerous as hell.

So...

A - Would using WD40 help?
B - If so then where, and how, should i apply it?

TIA.

I will make this as simple as I can.

Go and buy a new battery, the shop will tell you which one, and watch a YouTube video on how to fit it.

Any other advice will just be prolonging this ending.

 

[BrianB]

If it's a diesel it could be preheat plugs , often only needed in cold weather, the indication that they are involved is a coil light on the dashboard, the shorter time it is on means that some have stopped working .
As others say - it could be the battery tho .

 

[wellquickwoody]

3-4 years old is quite old and depending on the quality of the battery and how often it is run long enough to charge it up, it could well be on it’s last legs imo.

Jeez, for a car battery that is NOT old, unless it really was as cheap as chips. Quality batteries may have a five or seven year warranty.

 

[Justice]

Don’t they have mechanics for this sort of thing

 

[zefarelly]

Reminded me that I had the same issue with a van of mine, had to get the glow plugs replaced.

The WD40 trick was around in the early 80s when I started driving. Modern cars I can't see having the same issues. Apart from the fact it's a diesel of course.

minis were shit, distributor cap/leads pointing directly at the weather. I used to have a van, with marigold over the cap and leads to keep the water out.

 

[zefarelly]

Jeez, for a car battery that is NOT old, unless it really was as cheap as chips. Quality batteries may have a five or seven year warranty.

a lot of batteries are utter crap these days. they don't survive long if they get extreme cycles of discharge. ie diesel cars doing short runs. Diesel is for trucks on motorways, and trains. THe sooner they ban it for cars the better.

 

[Icy Gull]

Jeez, for a car battery that is NOT old, unless it really was as cheap as chips. Quality batteries may have a five or seven year warranty.

I have had Bosch batteries go within three years on cars that are not used that often and weren’t on a CTEK. I now disconnect or CTEK the battery on any car I am not using for a few weeks. Problem solved. The batteries were replaced under warranty though.

Usage has a massive impact on battery life in my experience. I know people who do big mileages and use the car everyday whose batteries last for 7 years or so.

 

[zefarelly]

I have had Bosch batteries go within three years on cars that are not used that often and weren’t on a CTEK. I now disconnect or CTEK the battery on any car I am not using for a few weeks. Problem solved.

I use a sealed gel battery on my Cortinas, with full isolation via a kill switch ( hidden on the road car) they don't get used that often and it help preserve them. modern cars are a pain because they drain constantly, cars need at least a 30-40 minute drive every week to keep topped up. sub 5 mile drives will slowly just kill them

 

[wellquickwoody]

a lot of batteries are utter crap these days. they don't survive long if they get extreme cycles of discharge. ie diesel cars doing short runs. Diesel is for trucks on motorways, and trains. THe sooner they ban it for cars the better.

I have had Bosch batteries go within three years on cars that are not used that often and weren’t on a CTEK. I now disconnect or CTEK the battery on any car I am not using for a few weeks. Problem solved. The batteries were replaced under warranty though.

Usage has a massive impact on battery life in my experience. I know people who do big mileages and use the car everyday whose batteries last for 7 years or so.

You are both preaching to the already converted. I actually monitor, process and analyse warranty claims on auto, moto and deep cycle batteries as part of my work.

 

[Icy Gull]

I use a sealed gel battery on my Cortinas, with full isolation via a kill switch ( hidden on the road car) they don't get used that often and it help preserve them. modern cars are a pain because they drain constantly, cars need at least a 30-40 minute drive every week to keep topped up. sub 5 mile drives will slowly just kill them

Likewise, I have a cut off switch on my GTV which only gets used on high days (and dry) and holidays!

 

[zefarelly]

You are both preaching to the already converted. I actually monitor, process and analyse warranty claims on auto, moto and deep cycle batteries as part of my work.

And I thought my job was exciting

 

[zefarelly]

Likewise, I have a cut off switch on my GTV which only gets used on high days (and dry) and holidays!

Still haven't got the wipers working then

 

[Icy Gull]

Still haven't got the wipers working then

LOL! They work fine but it’s an Alfa, apparently they dissolve like a soluble aspirin in rain

In fairness my Alfasud did!

 

[Deleted member 2719]

It's a diesel. I've not covered myself in glory there have I! (I've just googled it)

There is no way i'd look to replace the battery myself. I'm still not convinced its the battery though. It's not old, turns over quickly until it's near drained. It's as if the engine is cold/damp and just needs more time to warm up. Unfortunately that's about 1 minute more than the battery lasts. Jumping it always gets there quite quickly after the battery has gone.

Not to worry, you are not expected to know what parts belong to different fuel types, although a flat battery on any fuel type of car is a flat battery!

I wanted to see if it was a fuel not burning/igniting issue, this would be glow plugs in the case of diesel and spark plugs in case of petrol.

It could also be dumping fuel in via a leaky injector (can be costly). do you hold the ignition on long enough to let the light go out?
If yes sounds a bit like time for a new set of glow plugs.

It could be a number of things and always hard to do a long-range forecast.

Do you know of a decent garage? If not I am happy to give you a few names. Ps I am not a mechanic although I started my career on the spanners and it's within my blood.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

Hey Mouldy,

I know you know about cars including F1 ones, so I have an anecdote. Wife broke down on the OSR at the junction with Mile Oak Rd, she caused a pretty tailback that particular evening. I turned up on my bike and managed to push the car with someone off the OSR down onto Southwich St. out of the way. The conversation with Mrs Bold went along the lines of 'you definitely haven't put petrol in it have you', 'no definitely not'. Checked a variety of other possibilities, but alas no, so Westbourne Motors took it home as they couldn't work it out road side either.

Mrs Bold then went through her bag and found a receipt at Tescos Holmbush for 50 litres of petrol. That was a few years ago. If she had said 'I may have done' could have just phoned a mobile tank pumping service. So if I ever get anything wrong, I still have the receipts for 50l of petrol, Westbourne vehicle rescue, Pump out the tank service, and tell Mrs Bold - at least my error didn't cost us this much!

Perhaps it is worth going electric.

 

[B-right-on]

minis were shit, distributor cap/leads pointing directly at the weather. I used to have a van, with marigold over the cap and leads to keep the water out.

My first car was a MKII Cortina. Would cut out every time I went thru a big puddle and had to wait a few minutes for it to dry out before I could start it again.

Never bothered to find out why, I just knew it did it so didn't drive thru puddles fast and if I did, I'd just wait at the side of the road until it'd start again.

Oh the good old days..... Funny looking back at it now

Ps: car would be worth a fortune now

 

[LlcoolJ]

Not to worry, you are not expected to know what parts belong to different fuel types, although a flat battery on any fuel type of car is a flat battery!

I wanted to see if it was a fuel not burning/igniting issue, this would be glow plugs in the case of diesel and spark plugs in case of petrol.

It could also be dumping fuel in via a leaky injector (can be costly). do you hold the ignition on long enough to let the light go out?
If yes sounds a bit like time for a new set of glow plugs.

It could be a number of things and always hard to do a long-range forecast.

Do you know of a decent garage? If not I am happy to give you a few names. Ps I am not a mechanic although I started my career on the spanners and it's within my blood.

I must admit that if I had an issue with my car, my first port of call world be "Mouldy Boots" on NSC.

Ah no, by "my car" I meant "absolutely anything in the history of the universe ever"...... and "last' not "first".

 

[wellquickwoody]

And I thought my job was exciting

Part dear boy, part.

 

[zefarelly]

My first car was a MKII Cortina. Would cut out every time I went thru a big puddle and had to wait a few minutes for it to dry out before I could start it again.

Never bothered to find out why, I just knew it did it so didn't drive thru puddles fast and if I did, I'd just wait at the side of the road until it'd start again.

Oh the good old days..... Funny looking back at it now

Ps: car would be worth a fortune now

I've lost cound of how many Cortinas ( MK1's and 2's) I've had, that's never happened . . . . I've done hour long races in the piddling rain, commuted etc . . . .I'm trying to think why it would do it. It's not uncommon for altrernators or dynamos to get drenched and stop working at least temporarily.

I still have a few MK1's, they're not worth a fortune, but not £150 in the Friday ad either Crapis have crept up from £200 as well.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

I must admit that if I had an issue with my car, my first port of call world be "Mouldy Boots" on NSC.

Ah no, by "my car" I meant "absolutely anything in the history of the universe ever"...... and "last' not "first".

You would rather throw unfounded slanderous remarks on people you don't even know.

If I were you, I would never trust your gut, as it will let you down, like poor robs motor.