My wife’s car stalled about a month ago during one of the snowstorms that hit the mid-Atlantic region. It wouldn’t start back up again until someone jump started it. It still had power, just not enough to turn over the starter it seems. We’ve driven the car since then a number of times and it always starts right up and seems to run well. I’ve since invested in a jump-starter so I can jump start it if need be.
My questions for the teeming million are:
How common is it for a car to stall out in the cold, the day was about 22 degrees fahrenheit, and not be able to re-start?
Why would jump-starting the car make a difference?
I should also note that we don’t use this car a lot and we don’t want to put a lot of money into it since it isn’t worth much and we are looking to replace it.
Also, the alternator and battery have been replaced within the last 2 years.
batteries have a rating on them beside “cranking amps” that says “cold cranking amps”
easy answer, in the cold batteries lose some of their ability, it comes back in the warm. maybe your battery wasnt charged very well and had a low cca rating in the first place and couldnt deal with the extreme cold… maybe?
Thanks, I think I understand why it wouldn’t restart after it stalled. I’m still trying to figure out why the damned things stalled. It has been starting up fine in the weather we get here in the DC metro area which I assume is fairly humid.
I remember driving on one winter day. Needed a jumpstart becuase I had left my lights on. So we are clearly dealing with a weak battery, though it recharged a bit while I was driving it home.
It started to get dark, so while sitting at a red light, I put the lights on. Car stalled immediately.
I learned something new about cars that day: Once a car has started, it might drive fine on the highway, but it won’t idle so nicely. Even after a car has started, it needs just a little bit of juice from the battery in order to keep on going while it idles at the red light. And the drain from the headlights was enough to pull it below that critical level.
Brujo, was your wife driving or idling when it stalled? If it was idling, then the story is like mine: The battery was just on the edge of being too weak, and the cold got to it.
Actually, I have a portable battery that I keep in the trunk of that car. Those things are cool. I almost want to get the opportunity to use the thing.
The car’s alternator is responsible for providing electrical power to all systems (incuding the battery for recharging purposes) while the car is running. The power available from the alternator depends on how fast the engine is running. If the car is idling and you have all systems go, you may be using more power than the alternator can provide, so you’ll be drawing power from the battery. It sounds like that’s why you stalled, brujo.
If you want to keep running the car without spending more money, just make sure you keep the revs up while you’re idling in colder weather. In this case, a little throttle goes a long way.
Often when the car warms up it’ll run more smoothly, too; you may only have to watch the revs when the car’s cold.