Has anyone had problems with their car idling when it gets cold? It got to 15 degrees here last week and mine died over and over until I sat in it and let it warm up a few minutes. The dealer said to stop using premium gas. It worked. He said they have the same problems with high end VW's.
Is this bull or true? I had a hard time beleiving the premium gas caused it.

 

your dealer sounds like he is smoking premium weed.

 

Do a search on this forum for the "Spark Plug TSB" and "Spark Plug Issue".

There is a hotter replacement spark plug which is supposed to be for cars that are driven mostly at slow speeds and something else. I forgotten now, but this might cover your problem. Take a look.

Yeah, it says for cars driven at slow speeds or in cold areas. I would talk to your dealer about that.

 

heres the TSB for the plugs.

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...h_rf04-04.html

 

under no normal circumstances should your car die repeatedly.

If your car is stalling at startup.......bring it down to have it looked at.

If they cant pull any codes from the computer, they may need your car overnight tp repeat the problem in the morning.

Its printed all over the place in your manual and car to use premium gas.

A "Bad" tank of gas with moisture in it could cause stalling....and when you switched to regular you noticed no stalling.....may have been just a "good" tank of fuel.

Also....if your service dept told you to use regular gas to solve the problem......find a new dealer. It would be a long 4 years otherwise.

 

My wipers stopped working so I put in different fluid and that fixed them. :D
Joking...

Your dealer deals in more than cars it seems.

 

Does your RPM increase to 2500 rpm and above ? When colder then 30 deg mine rev's up for the first minute or two. Sounds like you cold start sequence is off. If you get more gas and less air you are going to stall. Do you run a lot in the city? Your plugs could be loading up. Try and rev it up more often. Regular gas might help because it is hotter and may be cleaning off the plugs better. You might try some gas additive.

 

Talked to the Mazda rep Friday and she said the same thing as the dealer. It is a problem they have had in North Texas. I switched to regular and it is fine. It's a first for me. Always have ran premium in performance cars. BTW a guy at my work had the same problem with his Toyota Tacoma and the gas change fixed it.
WEIRD!

 

Higher octane = harder to burn, so in the colder temps, I can see that being an issue until the engine is up to operating temp.