no spark when cold

[maurice coryea]

1996 chrysler cirrus v6 mfi

since its gotten cold 35 degrees or less my car has lost its spark quite literally. but the days its in the 40s i have spark. it would run fine for a few days then not start for weeks, never stalled or idled weird.no codes either

replaced spark plugs and wires, distributer ignition coil and crank sensor, ecu, all fuses and relays.

please help im at a loss and i cant keep putting money into this car. 🙁

Topic

[Tony]

I would first check the charge of the battery, the colder the weather, the weaker the battery.

[maurice coryea]

checked that too

[Tony]

So it start just fine in warmer conditions (40+ as mentioned) but doesn’t do a thing when you try to start it on colder conditions? Or is there more to it than that?

[Kevin Criswell]

Just to clarify when it is under 40 out the engine will not spark the plugs?

Normally I would lean toward the ECT reading, if the engine thinks it is warmed up it wont give enough fuel to start. But, if you did a spark test and there was no spark than that would point to something else.

distributor ignition coil and crank sensor

does that mean you replaced the distributor and ignition coil or just the coil? If you did not replace the distributor the cam sensor in the distributor might be acting up in cold weather.

[Bryan]

When did you check the battery? Was it after driving for awhile and it had a good charge? Parasitic drain on your system? Where thw ccas good on the load test? All I know is that cold weather is harder on batteries, so a parasitic draw qould seem to be intensified when cold and may not be noticed when warmer if the vehicle is a daily driver. Could moisture be a contributer to this circumstance qhich seems to cause this no spark situation?

[maurice coryea]

everything was replaced

[Lorrin Barth]

Is there a cam sensor?

[Matt Brandsema]

When you try to start the car in the cold, if the engine cranks, then you can pretty much eliminate the battery as the problem. (Cranking takes THE MOST out of a car battery, it is not likely the battery would be able to crank the car but not fire the plugs.)

The next step I would lean towards, seeing as how you replaced so many things, would be the camshaft position sensor (This car DOES indeed have one). The most ideal case would be to hook up an oscilloscope and look at the waveform. But sometimes they have resistance checks you can do.

[maurice coryea]

ik we are awaiting the part, how ever the past few days its started normally and runs perfectly smooth. as far as i know when the sensor fails it runs rough or stalls. so im perplexed.

[Chap Tomanek]

I have same issue.
Cod weather , strong crank, no spark with spark tester .
New distributor, new ignition coil.
Gets power to AutoShutDown Relay, gets power to electric fuel pump, fuel pump gauge shows sufficient pressure.
Car last started in September /October just before cold weather.
Today, July heat: car fired immediately.

I considered that PCM had a bad solder joint that lost connection in cold weather.
Could not find exact replacement yet.

Any guidance welcome.

Q: since I can still get power to ASD relay in cold weather, does that eliminate the cam sensor as the culprit?

[Chap Tomanek]

Let me add: 1989 Dodge Dynasty 3.0 liter .
Also, there is no power to ignition (+) terminal when cold weather.

[Author]

Replies