Weird Cold Weather Behavior
 

I took the P-car out last night in cold weather (mid 30's F) and let it sit for a couple of hours in a parking lot. When I tried to crank it, it sputtered, backfired, and barely cranked. It idled at low RPM's (300-400) for a few minutes - if I tried to rev it, it would cut off. Finally I got it started again at low RPM's, I let it warm up for a while and slowly got the RPM's up. So, I started driving it and it stalled out on me while driving home a couple of times. I got it started back and ran it on high RPM's all the way home.

I thought, "Something bad happened here."

I keep my garage about 60 degrees F. I took it out of the garage tonight (warmer) and it cranked great and ran like a champ. Nothing seems to be wrong.

Have any of you experienced anything like this?

- Bill

Have you thought about either bad gas or just some condensation in the fuel that was caused by the temp changes? Try putting in some "dry gas"to help and then run the car and fill it with fresh gas.

There are CIS 3 temp sensors on the SC's that could have gone bad (sorry, don't know their exact purpose off the top of my head). 1 on each cam chain cover and 1 on the engine breather cover. Check the Bentlys for testing procedures for these.

The WUR has a bi-metallic spring that changes the COLD control pressures which can affect cold enrichment if broken or mal-adjusted. The Auxilary Air Valve also reacts to temperature changes and can affect RPM upon warmup.

Possibly a new intake air leak from the cold air contracting things to new dimensions?

Dunno.....just throwing some stuff out here

Thanks for the tips. It definitely must be fuel/air or mixture issues.
It's like the problem doesn't even exist now.

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced weird behavior when the ir car has sat for a while in cold weather?
(I guess you Southern Cal folks don't have to worry too much about that?)

- Bill