Questions and Answers

Nissan Sentra Hates The Cold Q. Hello! My question is about my 1988 Nissan Sentra, 4 cylinder, manual transmission. Winter has arrived here in Arkansas in a serious way, and these days it's below freezing pretty much every morning. When I start my car at such temperatures, it invariably does not run on all 4 cylinders until it has warmed up for some serious time.

Now, I've had cars do this before, and at the end of the day it's no problem unless I don't take the time to let the car run for a while before leaving home. But I've never known what causes this, and if anything can be done about it?

Thanks,
Greg

A. Hey! When it's below freezing outside, I don't fire on all cylinders either.

Usually when this happens, it's related to a secondary ignition component. Most likely a spark plug or coil wire. And since it's a Nissan Sentra, I would suspect the distributor cap and rotor as well.