NA 2.5 not firing in the cold.

[JoeBalz]

So, Abby and I went to breakfast this morning, took her 06 Impreza. It started right up before we left, we didn't let it warm up (oops) but the restaurant was just down the street. Finished breakfast, came back outside and the starter worked fine but the engine wouldn't fire. Just kept turning over. Anyone else have this problem? My foz started up like a champ.

 

[RyanR]

If you only drove it for a few seconds in this cold, you probably just flooded/fouled it up (i know, weird to say on an EFI car).  Scoobs burns really rich on cold startups, and if the plugs/cylinders don't come up to temp it can be shut down too wet.  Just crank it for 20secs at a time and it will start eventually.

Or you can spray something flammable in the intake such as carb cleaner/starter fluid to get it goin'.  That would be my last resort though.

The worst case is that you have a ton of water in your fuel and it's frozen up and not getting any fuel.

 

[CoupedUpSubie]

I think Ryan's suggestion is pretty good. No CEL? Fuel pump kicked on when the key was turned? Motors do give out without notice sometimes.

 

[RyanR]

I've seen this happen a bunch of times, not to my own cars because I warm them up, but at shops where cars get moved around in the parking lot and shut off immediately by genius salesmen.  Excess fuel will make the motor sound/feel like it has no compression.  I can come help you figure it out if you can't get it started.

 

[Matt]

If you hold the gas to the floor while cranking it it'll shut off the injectors temporarily so you can clear the cylinders

 

[05RSKID]

you get it running?

 

[flat4awd]

+1 on getting it to normal operating temp, using that yellow bottled HEAT stuff with every fill-up, etc. Some say the amount of ether in fuel these days makes that unnecessary. I do it anyway, I'm not trying to get stranded (again) in this freezing cold weather we've been having lately. Did anyone mention fuel filter, and fuel pump? Kind of obvious, but thought I'd throw it out there...

 

[i-wagon]

Yeah listen for fuel pump, check for spark. And run that thing before driving it

 

[Nigel Prodrive]

Matt's got it right.

 

[skipow]

i told you not to feed the gremlins after midnight. 

im sorry i have nothing helpful to say.

 

[JoeBalz]

I guess I should have checked this earlier. Thanks for all the input guys, I ran the starter for 20ish second intervals with no luck, came back about a half hour later and it started right up.