Arabguy

Hi,
My TL has been giving me a problem since about 2 winters ago. It is extremly hard to start it if left in cold temperatures for a long time. The problem was not apparent before because I parked my car underground heated garage, so the last 2 winters weren't bad at all (the problem wasn't a problem). I had maybe left the car out in the cold 4 times in the past 2 years. Now the car is parked outside and temperatures can get to -10C. The only way to start it is to what I call "trick crank it"; Basically Crank it for about a second or 2, stop for 0.5 seconds and crank again, repeatadly until it starts. I'm worried about my starter going so I don't want to do this for much longer.

Someone mentioned to me that it might be the pgm fi relay gone bad, and I've had the car stall on me once very recently when the engine was at idle. Once the car warms up, I can turn off and on the car and it works fine. I've never had the car stall when I was in the middle of a trip. There is no odd noises, there is no weird engine reving or fluctuatin rpms. I am pretty sure that I can hear the pump noise when I put the keys on the "ON" position, and I hear a click after a few seconds, so I'm pretty sure the pump is working fine. Could this still be a pgm fi relay problem? or could it be something else?

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

3.2TLc

Hey Arabguy, how many miles are on the car ?

When was the last tune-up ? Is the CEL light on ? How old is the battery ?

My suggestion is to have your electrical/starting system load tested. Most auto parts stores will do this test for free. Maybe if the car sits for extended periods, the gas may be stale. Try a quality fuel cleaner and top off with super premium fuel.

Arabguy

Hey, Thanks for the suggestions.
As for your questions:
The car has about 133000 Miles on it.
I havn't done much of a tune up recently. I put in NGK platinum spark plugs about 2 years ago, when the car had maybe 100k miles on it. I put maybe 20000km on the car a year (12500 miles). The CEL is not on. The battery is about 1 month old. I changed the battery hoping it would fix the problem, and it didn't. I change the oil every 3 months of 5k km, whatever comes first.

While waiting for a reply, I ran through the forum and I found out that my car is eating too much gas, so that probably has something to do with this original problem. I looked at the DIY section and I'm gonna see if I can attempt any of the cleaning/seafoaming. I'm also gonna try a good quality fuel cleaner (Which brand is good for the acura?)
Nothing but premium (vpower) shell (with that nitrogen mix - not sure if it's a gimmick) goes into the tank for as long as I've had the car (6 years or so)

fsttyms1

You havent said, but What exactly are the symptoms When the car doesnt start, what does it do? Just crank and crank but not start?

Arabguy

That's the thing. There are no symptoms. It just does not actually start. Yes, The car cranks fine, I hear the engine trying to start like usual/normal. It doesn't struggle as if it doesn't have power or the battery is low, but I can crank all day it won't actually start unless I do the key on "start" position for about 2 seconds, bring the key back to "on" position and then "start" position again. I'd have to do that multiple times and I usually pump the throttle but I don't know if that actually helps it.

Oddly enough, it's -12C (10F) right now, and I just went to start the car, and it started right away!. Now this does happen from time to time (about 5% of the time?) but if I turn off the car right after this happens and try to start it again, it will even be harder to start than usual. It's as if there's no gas reaching the engine. But I hear the pump working when I put the key on the "on" position, and I hear a click after a few seconds, which I thought was an indicator that the pump is done its job.

3.2TLc

Could be that there's a restriction somewhere within the fuel system or perhaps the pump is weak and not providing enough pressure. Maybe the fuel pressure regulator or malfunctioning injectors ?

The best thing to do would be to have the fuel system's pressure checked. Also, a fresh tune-up with NGK plugs may help !