dustindu4

When I start my car, it revs up to 2000 rpm for about a minute then comes back down. Today when I left work, I let my car idle for a minute, then when I went to drive off the car just flat out died. I tried to start it again and I had to keep the starter on for about 10 seconds before it barely turned over. It's below freezing out right now.

No idea what it could be. I'm using Penzoil 5w-20 synthetic in it right now and am due for an oil change next week. Should I be switching to a different cold weather friendly oil? I'm just worried about damaging the engine. I don't want to throw a rod or anything.

Maybe I should just let the car idle for 3 minutes or so before I start driving it. Glad I didn't put my Flowmasters on, my neighbors will be happy.

If it keeps happening, maybe I should take my Diablo tune out and see if that's the problem.

lodom

I'd suspect the tune or something else. The current temps and your 5W-20 oil shouldn't have a negative effect on the driveability. I never let a car warm up before driving it, and have never had these problems on a fuel injected car. Maybe on an older carburated car, but not on anything new in the last 20+ years.

Hubec

It's either the tune or a fault with the engine/ecu. The oil is fine for all Winter conditions, infact the Mustang owners manual doesn't even recommend plugging in the block heater until the temperature is -20c or below. 0c should be a walk in the park for it.

superman112

its funny youposted this today because the same thing happened to me and my girl.. I have the 05 Gt and she has the 05 sixer... I started mine and left it running for about 8 minutes.. as soon as i put it in gear and let go of the accelerator.. it felt like it was gonna die.. left real sluggish for a few minutes.. and its col but not that cold.. and my girls almost wouldntstart.. and same thing left sluggish.. taking it to ford next wednesday.. hope this isnt gonna be a seroius probelm.. I also have a tune.. I have the 93 performance tune from Doug @ Bamachips.. which rocks!!!

dustindu4

yeah once I got it started, it was really sluggish. I tried doing a burnout in the parking lot to get it warmed up and it didn't like that at all. I use the Diablo 87 tune BTW.

superman112

i dont know if its the tune.. cause yes my has a SCT tune but my girlfriends doesnt and its an 05 as well... something doesnt sound right...did u have a lot of gas in your tank? I only ask casue mine is allmost empty and so was hers.. might that have something to do with it?

max2000jp

It's the tune....My car does something very infrequently. When cold, it idles really rough. The car almost feels like it is going to stall. I usually give it a quick rev and the car hesitates a bit and then is fine.

dustindu4

I forgot to mention this happened before. I started my car and it idled very erratically. It would jump up to 3k rpm then down to 500 and bounce up and down again like crazy until it leveled off.

I question how much Diablo tested their tunes in cold weather.

Louie

Now with the cold weather here, when I start the car in the morning it revs up and idles at 1200 rpm for 30 seconds, then goes down to 800. I don't let the engine warm up before leaving, but I haven't noticed any problems. I have an auto with SCT tune. Could be the tune, like the others have said.

superman112

ok if its the tune.. how come it happened to my girlfriends V^ vert.. and she has no tune.. her's actually diidnt start right away...took 3 trys...

DENVER05GT

Temps here in Denver at night have been well below freezing as of late. GT starts up just as it should everytime.

I would suspect the tune.

TerpGT17

Mine idles a little weird sometimes too, especially when its cold out. I'm running the canned 91 octane Predator tune. The idle will fluctuate between 500-1000 rpms every now and then. Any ideas guys?

KWMJ-KTP

I have noticed when it gets into the low 30's or less and you start the engine while totally cold, it turns over noticably slower and requires probably almost twice the amount of time with the key to the crank position to get it started. However, mine does start, but if I were to let off the key too quick I know it would die from past experiences, and if you do let it die or choke, it is typical that it will take a couple tries to get it to start after that or either one good long crank.

At a cold start up, my idle jumps to 1500 RPM anywhere from 5 seconds to maybe more than 30 seconds. It will then idle down to between 700 to 1000 RPM.

I just had my custom tuning with an SCT X2 done on Monday night, and I've noticed no difference in the way it starts or how hard it is to start. It's been fairly warm here this year, maybe been below freezing 5 times at the most this year, but it's supposed to dip down to 15 F tomorrow night, so I may fire it up when it's nice and cold just to see how it reacts.