Cold start question/help
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 277
Likes: 9
From: Clark County Nevada
Cold start question/help
My '94 C4 is in great shape, 41k miles. Been mosly garaged and few miles put on in the last 13 years by the previous owner. I've noticed when the car is first started, especially on cold mornings, it's a bit sluggish and hesitant until its warmed up for about 5-10 min or so, not long. Then it runs great. I typically warm my cars up anyway before driving. Is this a typical response from this engine on cold starts? If not what would be the correction? The reason I question this is in comparission, my newer '03 Sorento SUV, with a DOHC 3.5L V6, bought new, and now 11 years old, with 116K miles, can still run cold flawlessly without hesitation. Maybe my C4 just needs a tune up? Mass flow air Sensor cleaned? I've been running it with Lukas fuel additive and it is experiencing same symptoms before and after, so no improvement in that regard.
Thanks for the help.
Thanks for the help.
Last edited by Barchetta; Dec 1, 2013 at 03:16 PM.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2012
Posts: 1,005
Likes: 29
From: Bergen County, New Jersey
My '94 C4 is in great shape, 41k miles. Been mosly garaged and few miles put on in the last 13 years by the previous owner. I've noticed when the car is first started, especially on cold mornings, it's a bit sluggish and hesitant until its warmed up for about 5-10 min or so, not long. Then it runs great. I typically warm my cars up anyway before driving. Is this a typical response from this engine on cold starts? If not what would be the correction? The reason I question this is in comparission, my newer '03 Sorento SUV, with a DOHC 3.5L V6, bought new, and now 11 years old, with 116K miles, can still run cold flawlessly without hesitation. Maybe my C4 just needs a tune up? Mass flow air Sensor cleaned? I've been running it with Lukas fuel additive and it is experiencing same symptoms before and after, so no improvement in that regard.
Thanks for the help.
Thanks for the help.
Everything in bold applies exactly to mine too. Mine is well-maintained. I also find that it runs much more smoothly when it has time to warm up. I try to allow at least 5 minutes of warm-up before driving it. In reality, it's not a bad idea to do so with any car, especially this time of year.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,082
Likes: 3
From: Conowingo Maryland
you should not notice a difference hot or cold I can get into mine on a 30deg morning fire it up and drive the he?? out of it and not one stumble miss hesitation ect. could be anything from a tune to information the ecm is receiving or sending out
Race Director
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 10,036
Likes: 346
From: Anaheim CA
CTS (Coolant Temperature Sensor). The one the computer uses is either on the front of the intake manifold (L98s) or on the water pump (LT1s). If the connection is bad (like corroded pins in the connector), connector disconnected or wires broken then the ECM will see a high temperature all the time and think the engine is hot. It won't richen the mixture when the engine is cold, which will cause it to run poorly.
The ECM will set an error code if the CTS is bad. You can also do a visual inspection of the connector pins and such to verify that it is OK.
The ECM will set an error code if the CTS is bad. You can also do a visual inspection of the connector pins and such to verify that it is OK.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 277
Likes: 9
From: Clark County Nevada
Cliff,
It's been in storage during the bad weather here but will be looking into this soon. Questions... If it is the CTS would I normally see a check engine light come on during cold start hesitation? Would the ECM send an error code only when the CTS has failed completely, versus just an intermittent bad connector, etc?
Thanks
It's been in storage during the bad weather here but will be looking into this soon. Questions... If it is the CTS would I normally see a check engine light come on during cold start hesitation? Would the ECM send an error code only when the CTS has failed completely, versus just an intermittent bad connector, etc?
Thanks
