It started, then shutdown in two seconds (choke up). I tried again, and just empty cranks. After 2-3 tries it finally started and was running rough with RPMs jumping up and down, finally stabilized. I let it fully warm up, then tried again and it started fine, like usual.
Any idea what it is, is it just random because of long stay and tank being only 1/4 full ?

 

how cold was it??


sometimes the fuel gets gummed up from the cold and everything just doesn't work proper.

happened to me in one night... car sounded horrible I was worried too... but it's all cause she was freezing and sitting.

 

That happened to me when I was in NY a few weeks ago. It was when it was single digits out and the car sat for 2 days. It took three tries to start and on the third I had to hold the throttle open slightly for about 10 seconds then it ran on its own.

I think if its really cold the ECU has a hard time adjusting to the very dense air on initial start up.

The fuel shouldnt start to gum up as unleaded generally starts to freeze around -100*F IIRC. It shouldnt begin to gum up until well below 0*F, however it does depend on the additives. If your fuel is watered down, it will definitely begin to freeze sooner.

 

use that block heater. that is if you have one.
but it's only 35$ or so , and it's well well worth it.

 

well, my car was off for a week and during that week here in NJ the temperatures were around freezing mark during the day, and maybe 20F during night. I also had to hold my foot on the gas pedal to start the car, it would not, just empty cranks. The next day (on the same tank of gas ) it was starting fine. I guess as car gets older, things begin to rust when its not in use for number of days. I am still on original spark plugs at 87K miles, maybe time to replace them after 10 years?