So, here is the story. Ever since it's gotten really cold here in IL my car has been throwing a CEL saying that the cylinders are misfiring. But the car always ran fine, and sounded fine even when this CEL came up.

It would only come up after there had been 2-5 cold snowy days where I had not run my car. Then when I started it up again for the first time, it would turn over, run fine, but the CEL would be there.



Yesterday the car ran fine. Today, it was like -40 w/ the windchill, now the sun has been shining for about 2 hours, but it's only about -20 with the windchill and my car still won't turn over. The alternator, battery, ignition, etc are all fine. And every once in a while it sounds like one piston fires, but it's really loud and slow, and since I don't want to damage anything, I just stopped trying.


What do I do!! This is my only car!!

 

Have you used a block heater? What is the ambient temp...the car doesn't care about windchill...that is a measure for humans with exposed skin.

 

temp right now is -2F, was -8F when I tried starting it earlier.

And I haven't tried using a block heater, I don't own one.

 

I'm a suthern boy...but I've heard of issues if you don't use a block heater in temps that low. Basically, your oil is about as thick as honey.

 

yeah, that's what I was thinking . . . I'm running 5w30 synthetic and it wants to turn over, just the pistons won't fire, probably cause there is no oil . . . I'm gonna see if I can find a block heater to use at work tomorrow

 

Since the alternator, battery, and ignition checked out fine, it must be a fuel problem.

 

i'm also down to two bars of gas . . .and parked on a slight slope with the rear of the car lower than the front . . . could that be affecting anything?

 

would it be ok to use starting fluid on a supercharged ap1?