Having a hard time starting when its cold. Starts just fine when its warm out

Asked by Ozzy1972 Nov 10, 2018 at 10:08 AM about the 2001 Saturn S-Series 4 Dr SL1 Sedan

Question type: General

I have a 2001 satn SL 1 having a hard time
start when its cold but start up just fine
when its warm out.  Took it had the battery  
and stuff cheek came back good. Can
someone help me out please.

1 Answer

103,215

From what I've read on a couple forums, the problem may lie with the engine coolant temp sensor. The older factory units became unreliable with age and can send false readings to the ECU when it's cold out, especially if the coolant level is low, and that may be causing the car to flood and not start. Try starting the car with the throttle pedal all the way to the floor (WOT). This clears any flood condition when cranking. If it starts then you can assume it's a bad ECT, and that's a cheap easy part to replace. Keep in mind this is just a shot in the dark based on very little information, if you really want to know what's going on with the car when cranking it will have to hooked up to a scan tool.

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