automatic stalling when cold

[G-C]

hi everyone.
this might be stupid, but i have a 1.6L DOHC auto, and days like these when the weather is cold (anything under 10 degress celcius) if i dont let my car warm up for at least 3 minutes and i put it into reverse or drive, itll stall once i touch the gas pedal. its happened last fall/winter as well too... i see my buddies cars all starting up and driving away no problem. so whats up with mine?

[Zim_Zim]

I had that happening last year... it sucked!!!
You're not alone!
check your battery..
and check your sparkplugs,, we had a problem with valve cover gasket leaking oil into the sparkplug hole and getting the sparkplug wet.

we replaced our old battery(cause it died and never came back) and then got that gasket&sparkplugs fixed and it seemed to be alot better by the end of last winter..and this year too!

[mitmaks]

most likely your coolant temp sensor

[G-C]

Originally posted by TriSha_mx3_96:
I had that happening last year... it sucked!!!
You're not alone!
check your battery..
and check your sparkplugs,, we had a problem with valve cover gasket leaking oil into the sparkplug hole and getting the sparkplug wet.

we replaced our old battery(cause it died and never came back) and then got that gasket&sparkplugs fixed and it seemed to be alot better by the end of last winter..and this year too!

yeah my mechanic noticed that i had oil leaking in there too a few months back during summer. i got that fixed, and still this winter its the same deal. also, the battery i just bought a month ago... still running great as of last months checkup.

[G-C]

Originally posted by mitmaks:
most likely your coolant temp sensor

how does the coolant temp sensor play a part in the engine stalling on colder days? (sorry if thats a stupid question... i dont know much about the topic)

[mitmaks]

when you starting car, coolant sensor senses that coolant/engine is cold and it keeps sending signal to TPS I guess to keep revs higher at like 2K or whatever till engine warms up, basically works kinda like choke on carburators. So if you got bad sensor it wouldnt work and youll have to keep foot on gas trying to start it and rev it till it warms up. Had same problem in civic, until got it fixed

[manowar821]

Yep, if you notice on cold days (if your sensor isn't broken that is, haha) the car will idle at about 1500rpm.

[G-C]

Originally posted by manowar821:
Yep, if you notice on cold days (if your sensor isn't broken that is, haha) the car will idle at about 1500rpm.

yea when it first starts, it idles at 1500. it takes about 2 minutes for it to drop below 1000 though, and only then can i drive it without stalling. so that tells me my sensor isnt broken... is there any other way to speed up the process instead of having to warm up?

[Josh]

i had the same problem when i was an auto. use a thinner weight oil. what was happing with me was it was so cold that the oil wasent breaking down fast enough and it was staying thick and syrupy. so it was causing drag on the motor, so every time you put it in gear and push on the gas a little it wouold die. so i put in a thinner oil and had no more problems.