Cold starting (or not!)
Discussion
It seems that my Cerb doesn't like the cold 
Aside from the fact that the starter motor likes to disengage itself when the car is cold, the car refused to start even with a booster pack attached to it this morning. It just flattened the booster and the battery.
Keeping it outside doesn't help matters......
Has anyone got any ideas how to improve things? A new battery is going to be my first port of call, although I don't think that this alone will sort it.
Aside from the fact that the starter motor likes to disengage itself when the car is cold, the car refused to start even with a booster pack attached to it this morning. It just flattened the booster and the battery.
Keeping it outside doesn't help matters......
Has anyone got any ideas how to improve things? A new battery is going to be my first port of call, although I don't think that this alone will sort it.
Scrooloose said:
Aside from the fact that the starter motor likes to disengage itself when the car is cold, the car refused to start even with a booster pack attached to it this morning. It just flattened the booster and the battery.
Keeping it outside doesn't help matters......
Has anyone got any ideas how to improve things? A new battery is going to be my first port of call, although I don't think that this alone will sort it.
Keeping it outside doesn't help matters......
Has anyone got any ideas how to improve things? A new battery is going to be my first port of call, although I don't think that this alone will sort it.
If it drained a fully charged battery and booster, could it be a weak spark problem - if so I check the HT lead for arcing to earth or try a different coil. Might be good to find a completely dark environment and watch for sparking when the engine's running - taking care you don't have anything dangling about your person when leaning into the engine bay
Steve_T said:
How do you start her? I've found mine tends to catch better with a small amount of throttle opening.
Steve.
Steve.
Likewise - Mine won't even fire in this cold weather without a little throttle.
Mine also can (when cold enough) stutter a couple of times, like she's going to refuse and then fires. Problem with that is it can confuse the central locking system and result in non-responding door electrics.
I've had my first "Red" snowflake of the winter this morning, but mine always fires up ok. It's had a new battery and alternator this year though. Whilst stuck at the traffic lights by the house, the car let off two huge back fires, I don't know what that was all about. The window being froze in the up position is a nuisance.
Scrooloose said:
c3ber said:
If the car is outside damp etc can get into it. Do what I used to when I had an MG put a blanket over the engine at night (when cold). Never had a problem after I did that.
I presume that you mean inside the bonnet?
Yes under the bonnet, I used a thick army blanket to keep the cold and damp out, it really does work. When its cold the warming up process is so dam vital that I wont move the car for 10mins. Sad that I am I push the car a few feet forward so I dont get to many fumes in the garage while I'm warming the car.
Edited by c3ber on Friday 22 December 09:27
RUSSELLM said:
I've had my first "Red" snowflake of the winter this morning.Ditto - wondered if I should have worn me ballet shoes instead of the chunky Panama Jacks but I guess if you're mad enough to drive a Cerb on a red snowflake...
Felt pretty solid though - no itchy, I mean twitchy, rear end.
southendpier said:
be interested to know if this works keep us posted.
failing that you could always try the russian army trick of keeping a burning fire under the engine block for those really cold nights...
failing that you could always try the russian army trick of keeping a burning fire under the engine block for those really cold nights...
Did you know that the bloke that they used to employ to do that, in France, was called The Heater or "Chauffeur" !
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