Questions and Answers

Dodge Intrepid Hates The Cold Q. Vince, My parents have a 1994 Dodge Intrepid with a 3.5 litre engine and automatic transmission. The vehicle is parked outside. A few times, when it the temperature drops to the single digits or low teens, the car doesn't start. Each time it has done this, the temperature has to get above freezing for the car to start again.

We've read the repair manual, and it list a variety of things that could be the problem, but I wanted to check with you and see if you have any suggestions.

Thanks,
Jimmy
Knoxville, Tennessee

A. The manual is right, there are a number of things that can cause a no-start condition. The first thing to do is find out what is missing, fuel or spark. You can make a spark tester from an old spark plug gapped to about 0.200". Unplug a spark plug wire, plug in your spark tester and lay it on something metal. Crank the engine and if there is spark, you probably have a fuel problem. To confirm this spray some carburetor cleaner into the intake and crank it. If it starts and runs as long as the carburetor cleaner lasts, then it is a fuel problem.

Once we know what's missing, we can get down to some serious troubleshooting. Have you thought about installing a block heater?