[bandit7319]

Has anyone else had problems starting their car after a major icing? I've got a 2013 with ~ 39K miles on it. The last time it was in the shop, they did a battery check and it had about 2/3 charge on it, but that was after another major cold wave (for North Carolina), and I hadn't driven it much since the cold and snow/ice, so we thought maybe it was just due to that.

However, yesterday after a sheet of ice formed on my car and was melted off, I tried starting the car and it just chugged. I'd started it the night prior and it started fine. I assumed maybe it was the battery, so my wife got home and I had her try jumping me off, and it did the same chugging away for a good 8 seconds or so. I was having her accelerate in her car to help the charge out more, and it still took a bit of that before my car turned over and started. It didn't click at the time, but I was able to unlock my car with the remote and the electronics came on in it, clock hadn't been reset, and I was even able to roll the window down without any kind of delay pr signs of a low battery before it started.

I took it to the battery store down the road and they tested it and it came back fine, so I'm really lost as to what happened. Any suggestions/experiences?

 

[Octane]

to me that sounds like it could be bad fuel. When there is varying temps, and the fuel tank is not full, you might get condensation in the tank and ethanol will act like a water sponge. try keeping the tank full in winter, and adding a water remover might help

 

[RTexasF]

Perhaps icing in the fuel lines?

 

[Denroll]

Same problem with my 2015 Limited. After a snow/ice storm it sounded like a low battery when starting, sometimes clicks. So far it has always started but seems sluggish on the starter. Temperatures get to around zero or minus 5 C now. Not sure why this occurs. Would be nice if these still had an amp gauge to see if it was charging while running.

 

[Blogson]

Ethanol actually works as a gasoline line antifreeze by absorbing water in the fuel system. Since the freezing point for ethanol is much lower (-173.2 F, -114 C) than that for water ethanol will absorb water in the fuel system and the combination will have a lower freezing temperature than plain water. Ethanol is sold as a gasoline line freeze preventative. Ethanol also absorbs vaporized water in the fuel tank but with today's closed fuel systems that vapor should be relatively little, and keeping one's tank rather filled with fuel helps. Of course if somehow there is a lot of water in a tank or a gas station pumps gasoline which also has water that will cause problems, but gas stations are supposed to monitor their tanks to make certain that water isn't pumped with the fuel.

 

[bandit7319]

Did you just keep on turning the key (pushing the button) to get it to start? I was worried I was going to flood the engine so I stopped.

 

[tmrav4]

Methanol, not ethanol, is used in the yellow HEET, a gas line antifreeze product that works well. Isopropanol is used in the red HEET. That product also has a fuel injector cleaning additive in it. Check out their website for more info.