It's a cold morning, about 15 F. I turned it on as normal and sat to let it warm up. About a minute or two into warming it died abruptly. I tried re-starting, but it's not cranking at all. The lights all come on but the starting motor isn't even trying to turn. I understand I'll probably have to de-flood it*, but I can't even get that far.


I've read that if I push the gas pedal all the way to the floor and turn it over, the ECU understands this as a command to disable fuel flow to de-flood. Is this correct? I read a suggestion to disconnect the fuel pump fuse, not sure if that's a good idea or not.

Please help!

edit: It was a bit slow to turn over, but that's normal when it's this cold.

 

Check your battery V+. Sounds like maybe it is low from a bad alternator. .... and the voltage dropped below where it will still fire ignition....then died.

 

I've got a multimeter, I'll check it as soon as I get home. Do you know what it should read? I can probably get a jump. I imagine if it is the alternator, it'll die right after disconnecting the other car, right?

 

Soon after for sure

Normal full charge is about 12.6V and 12.1V is about 50% charge.. At that temp your battery efficiency is a lot lower due to temperature...battery warmer blankets work well for that reason.

You should have 13.5 - 14V with the car running if the alternator is working...

A load test of both the battery and alternator is a good trial

The other thing that can cause this problem is poor or corroded connections between alternator and fuse box..or between battery and wiring. Grounds are just as important as +'ve side as well

 

Thanks for the voltages, that'll be really handy.
Is a load test something I can do if it won't start?

 

You can load test the battery... but you need a tester I think I would charge it. ... clean the connections and see what you have for voltages. Then try and start it and see what the V drops to when you try and start it

 

The battery's at 11.85V or so. I have a buddy coming over later to see if a jump works. The alternator does seem a potential cause, but would that have caused it to die so abruptly? I'm not seeing an alternator fuse, is there a related one that could have caused the engine to die but not the dash?