2002 Civic EX - frequent bad starts in winter

2002 Civic has trouble starting. It will turn or crank for a couple
seconds and then finally start with a loud grumble. This definitely
always happens when it gets below freezing temps, and happens
occassionally when the temps are cooler. And this happens when I
start the car the first time in the morning and at the end of the
workday.

The real problem now is that whenever I've left my car at a Honda
dealers to check it out, they can never duplicate the problem, even
when I leave it overnight or all day or both all day and overnight.
I'm so frustrated because I'm not convinced that it's normal, as I've
driven Honda Civics for the last 10-years. And even my mom's 1990
civic didn't have such harsh starts when it was 10-years old, not that
my car is nearly that old. It's been doing this since the first
fall/winter that I got it in 2002. The dealer service department said
that they can't do anything unless they can duplicate.

What do I do? It's now my 2nd winter with the car and the car still
has the same bad cold starts.

Any helpful tips and suggestions are GREATLY appreciated!!!

 

Purple,

The Honda boys know to hold the pedal half-way to the floor when it's
really cold. They also know to wait for the fuel pump relay to finish
it's 'cycle' before they attempt to crank it when it's COLD.

The first point is in the FINE manual. The second one just kinda makes
sense from what the manual says in the chapter about 'cold weather
starting'.

Stay warm.

'Curly'

==========================

--

To REPLY: If there are a couple of underscores in my return address,
you must remove them to reply directly . . . . . . Thanks.

Regarding stage performances: When everyone else has finished playing,
you should not play any notes you have left over. -

 

One thing I have found always results in faster starts in my Integra is to
turn the key to ON (not START), and wait ten seconds (or until the seat
belt light goes off). Then I crank it. Makes a big difference in start
times and always did even when new.

It seems to me that this ends up "priming" the injectors better than just
waiting 2 seconds for the fuel pump to run.