Car Hard To Start In The Winter?

There are three main reasons your car can be so very hard to start in the winter.

1 – Like other liquids gasoline evaporates less when it is cold. When it is really cold as it has been here lately, gasoline evaporates slowly making it harder to burn it. This is important since the gasoline must be vaporized to burn. Occasionally people will spray ether into their engines in cold weather to help them start because ether evaporates better than gasoline in the cold.

2 – Batteries can have problems in cold weather as well. A battery is basically a can full of chemicals that produce electrons. The chemical reactions inside of batteries take place more slowly when the battery is cold, so the battery produces fewer electrons. That means the starter motor has less energy to work with when it tries to start the engine, causing the engine to crank slowly.

3 - Oil becomes a lot thicker in cold temperatures. When you try to start a cold engine, the engine has to push around the cold, thick oil and that makes it harder for the engine to spin. In cold areas people should use synthetic motor oils because these oils stay liquid in cold temperatures.

When the temperature drops be sure to let your vehicle warm up a bit before taking off. Your car and maybe even your wallet will thank you!