89 2.3 Mustang Turning over, not starting in cold weather

rachelann89

New Member
Apr 1, 2019
1
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0
Texas
I have a 1989 2.3 LX Mustang. In general the car starts up great, it has been almost a year without a starting problem, but recently in the past few weeks I've had problems with it starting in the cold weather. The car will start fine at about 50 degrees and above, but as soon as the temperature reads in the 40's usually in the morning or late at night, the car will turn over but will not ignite. The car can be cold and not start, but if I push it into the sun and wait for 30 minutes, it will warm up enough to start. When I turn the key on, I cannot hear the fuel pump prime. I live in North Texas, and currently it will be cold in the mornings and warm up shortly thereafter.If I wait for the weather to warm up and then turn the key, I will hear the pump and the car will start up- no problems. This is the first time I have had this problem, in fact I got through the coldest part of the winter with temperatures in the 20s and 30s with no problems. It wasn't until March that this began.

First I read about batteries not producing enough current in cold weather. My battery was about 2 and a half years old, when tested it was perfectly fine, but I replaced the battery anyway, so currently the battery in the car is less than a month old.

Next, because I was not hearing the fuel pump "buzz" when it is cold, it was suggested that I replace the fuel pump relay, which I did. I thought this fixed the problem, as it was starting in the low 50's for a couple weeks, however the weather warmed up so it was starting and I was unable to really test if this solved the problem. Unfortunately this morning when the temperature was in the low 40's the car did the same thing, it would turn over and crank but would not start.

Is it the fuel pump itself? I have a new one and was thinking of replacing it next. The fuel pump works fine and I can hear it when it is warm, which leads me to believe its fine, but perhaps it is getting weak? Or is this another problem? I'm currently stumped.
 
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