Questions and Answers

Plymouth Voyager Hates Cold & Snow Q. Dear Vince: Thanks for you help in the past. You have a great site! My question deals with starting problems. I have a 1996 Plymouth Voyager, 3.0 liter V-6 engine. Two Saturdays ago, the van would not start. The weather was cold, less than 20°, and snowy. Being the good husband that I am, I started the van in the morning to warm it up before my wife took it to work.

It started right up, and warmed for about 15 minutes. She drove to work, only half a mile away. When she left work, about three hours later, the van would not start. It would crank, but not start. I attempted to start it several times that day, but to no avail. The van uses oil, and it was very low, so I did add oil. On Sunday morning after church I went back to the van, and it started up on the first attempt. The weather was slightly warmer.

We had no problems for two weeks, but then again yesterday, another Saturday, the same problem occurred. Similar weather conditions were occurring cold and snow, only more snow and colder. Once again, the van failed to start all day Saturday after having been driven in the snow on two short trips on Friday evening, and it is still not starting today, Sunday, when it is even colder. We have had starter problems in the past. The common events between the two occurrences are: Short trips preceding the problem, cold, and snow.

I have a two-part question. What could be the problem, and is there something I can do to get the buggy to start, so that I can at least get it to the repair shop myself without having to have it towed? The local auto parts store recommended spraying some starting fluid into the air cleaner, but in this cold weather I am having difficulty getting the air cleaner cover off, no garage, so I'm trying to do this in below zero wind chill outside.

Is this just a Saturday/weekend problem, where my van wants the weekends off just like I do, or is it a symptom of a more serious problem?

An additional note: For about a month or more, my wife and I have smelled a strong intermittent gas odor, from the van that is. I could find nothing obviously causing this, and for $40.00, neither could my mechanic. Just wondering if the two problems are related.

Thanks for your help, and your great web site!
Mike

A. Mike, I would have assumed the strong gas odor was coming from your van and not your wife. And when it's cold and snowy out, looking of the window there's about 9" on the ground and still snowing, I don't want to start and get going either, especially on a weekend.

But seriously though, I don't think you have a very serious problem. I think there is some water trapped in the fuel system that is freezing up and cutting off the supply of fuel to the engine.

When this happens there's not much you can do except wait for it to thaw out. I'm assuming you live in an area that doesn't have ethanol blended fuel. If you did you would not have this problem. So, get some dry gas, which is basically ethanol, and put one bottle in for every gallon of gas. That will give you about a 5% ethanol and gasoline blend. Normally what is sold is a 10% blend of ethanol and gasoline.

The ethanol mixes with the water in the fuel and makes it burnable and keeps it from freezing. Ideally you should put the dry gas in first and then fill it up to mix it up. Otherwise drive it around so it will mix and circulate through the fuel system.

A side effect is the ethanol will clean the fuel system out and you will need to replace the fuel filter fairly soon.

You do not need to take the air filter housing off the test this theory. Carry a can of carburetor cleaner, one with the this red straw. When it won't start, disconnect a vacuum line from the intake manifold and spray a good healthy shot of the carburetor cleaner directly into the intake.

If it starts and runs as long as the carburetor cleaner lasts, you confirmed the frozen fuel line theory.