cold weather versus the ls

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So with this polar vortex has anyone else been experiencing difficult times with their ls? I have a 2001 ls brand new battery and when the temp is below 20 degrees it has a horrible time starting, today all the electrical shut down while driving and eventually died, computer says charging system is OK! I have no issues when it's warmer, anyone else have this problem?
 
Put-LS-in-Garage-Get-Winter-beater.
 
I opted for this as a summer car, didn't go as planned last year unfortunately. Was out in the cold and salt for short drives but only once or twice a week, wasn't happy about it. They throw a ton of road salt around here during the winters. Pavement is white/gray most of the winter.
 
Langfe88 said:
So with this polar vortex has anyone else been experiencing difficult times with their ls? I have a 2001 ls brand new battery and when the temp is below 20 degrees it has a horrible time starting, today all the electrical shut down while driving and eventually died, computer says charging system is OK! I have no issues when it's warmer, anyone else have this problem?
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My wife's '06 said the same thing; even though the alternator was weak. Check the voltage while the car is running. You should see ~14.4 volts. Also, electrons flow m-u-c-h slower in the cold.
 
LS4me said:
My wife's '06 said the same thing; even though the alternator was weak. Check the voltage while the car is running. You should see ~14.4 volts. Also, electrons flow m-u-c-h slower in the cold.
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Check battery CCA current capability, 650 CCA minimum. I have 1250 CCA, 1050 CA, expensive battery. But starts below -30f. Sisters house Ellenburg, NY. 12934. Auto parts store can check for free. Real good advice about alternator above, same check @ auto store.
 
Been between 20 and -20 lately. This am started LS around 0 degrees and the inside door handle stopped working. Had to crawl out pass side. And even though it got to 30 today is still not working...damn cold.
 
Ditto, other than the door seals sticking when I forget to armor all them, no real drama. My '05 might take a nanosecond longer to start. One good thing is my tires don't seem to get flat spots in the winter like they do during the summer. Not sure how that works out.

To the OP, I'd lay money that you have corrosion somewhere in your main wiring or fuses. My radio used to buzz when the rear defrost was on. One of the troubleshooting steps was to put some dialectic grease on all the plug in fuse / relay terminals and all the main wiring lugs at the battery and fuse boxes. Buzzing went away once done.
 
Yea, I bought one if those plug in cigarette lighter volt meters, when running the car puts out 14.1, off it puts out 12.8
 
I drive mine throughout the winter, but I don't drive a lot as a whole. I usually drive it 1-2 times a week, usually on back to back days so I sits outside under a carport for 5 days in a row without starting, sometimes more.

I have a battery almost 2 years old. Nothing special, just an autocraft I think. I have a small ritual when I start the car. I turn the ignition to run and let it sit there for about 30 seconds or so, until the dinging is done anyway. Make sure the HVAC is off and then crank. Takes maybe a second longer than if it is summer.

It is my experience that this car is really not a fan of cold temptures. It will artfically hold the RPM's at the 1200 mark for a good 45 seconds before coming down to regular idle, it also makes some uneerving noises after a cold start. Sometimes it whines a bit, other times it doesn't. Either way, my serpentine belt is less than 6 months old, replaced it at the beginning of winter for this reason alone. I let it sit running, for maybe 10-15 minutes and its back to normal, after it reaches full tempture its completely fine.

My biggest problem really is flatspots on my tires. Even if I don't have to go somewhere on my days off I try to go out and just drive the thing weather permitting because I want to warm up the tires. I have Hankook Noble 1 Ventus 2's (terrible name) and they perform rather well I think, but they do not like the cold what so ever and it takes a good 20-25 minutes of constanting driving to get them plyable again.

Oh yeah, I had the door handle stick once. That sucks too.



I'd also like to add that sideways snow hooning is very easy and fun in the LS.
 
Literally just started mine after sitting for 2.5 weeks. Still single digits here. Battery seemed relatively strong despite being 6 years old. I highly recommend running 0w20. Compared to last winter running 5w20, it starts a lot easier and sounds better the first couple sec of running.

^+1 on the flat spotting too. Didn't take as long to get mine back to normal but it was bad for the first couple miles.

Shifted pretty weird for the first couple miles as well, seems to do that after sitting for a few days.
 
The engine is supposed to have a 1200 rpm idle when it first starts to get the fluids flowing and (on the 4.6's at least) to cover up the piston slap that's designed into these newer engines.
 
Yeah I understand that, it's a feature on most modern cars. I only brought it up because in my opinion it lingers a bit longer than most other cars I am familar with.
 
Ranchero50 said:
The engine is supposed to have a 1200 rpm idle when it first starts to get the fluids flowing and (on the 4.6's at least) to cover up the piston slap that's designed into these newer engines.
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It's actually to get the engine warmed-up sooner so the emissions system will get into closed-loop sooner. Designed piston-slap? Sounds like a too loose engine!
 
LS4me said:
electrons flow m-u-c-h slower in the cold.
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I dont know if I would say that

Because the resistance of a wire increases with temperature, less current flows in a warm wire than would flow in a cold wire with the same applied voltage. At high temperatures, the true speed of an electron is higher because the electrons have more energy from the heat. At high temperatures, current tends to be less because the electron motion is less organized, more random.
 
1LoudLS said:
I dont know if I would say that

Because the resistance of a wire increases with temperature, less current flows in a warm wire than would flow in a cold wire with the same applied voltage. At high temperatures, the true speed of an electron is higher because the electrons have more energy from the heat. At high temperatures, current tends to be less because the electron motion is less organized, more random.
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So I probably worded it wrong. A battery doesn't work as efficiently in the cold as in warmer weather.
 
LS4me said:
It's actually to get the engine warmed-up sooner so the emissions system will get into closed-loop sooner. Designed piston-slap? Sounds like a too loose engine!
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Honest, remember reading about the real early 4.6's owners complaining about the piston slap on their brand new cars.
 
LS4me said:
So I probably worded it wrong. A battery doesn't work as efficiently in the cold as in warmer weather.
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exactly, batteries can struggle to keep up with current demands with extreme cold temps!
 
Only issue I have is when gets below about 15 degrees abs light comes on, other than that my battery is less than a year old and is a Deka AGM battery and has been awesome in the cold so far. If a battery is a little weak and still works well in warm temps the cold temps will definitely have an effect.
 
I'm in Holland, Michigan. My poor LS has been suffering through this whole winter. I'm glad I did the COPs and cooling system before the snowfall though. The blistering cold has been taking its toll on my baby but she still starts and drives fine.

I do notice that it makes a whiny noise from the trans while whinding through gears for the first couple minutes of driving on a cold start but that's probably normal though. I'd assume the tranny fluid thickens up in severe cold.

I've had a few bugs though. Sunroof has randomly opened when unlocking the doors. Advance Trac faulted a couple times but fixed itself after being restarted. Same thing happened with the parking brake, fixed from restarting.

All in all, I'm ashamed to have put it through winter. But it won't see another one. The LS is a four door luxurious mustang, it's not designed for snow in anyway whatsoever. Forgive me for name dropping the LS lol.

I love my LS and if I ever buy a new car, it'll be an '06 LS.
 
What makes me nervous is finding parts for our cars as they age. I love my LS and want to keep it many years, but what will the parts availability be in five years from now? This past week I did some work on it after taking it apart for an IPOD install. I had to fix several broken plastic parts, namely the mounting tabs that hold the emergency brake and a tab that houses the set up buttons on the upper console. Looking down into the shifter assembly, I see all that plastic and well, it just makes me nervous.
 
Machspeed said:
What makes me nervous is finding parts for our cars as they age. I love my LS and want to keep it many years, but what will the parts availability be in five years from now? This past week I did some work on it after taking it apart for an IPOD install. I had to fix several broken plastic parts, namely the mounting tabs that hold the emergency brake and a tab that houses the set up buttons on the upper console. Looking down into the shifter assembly, I see all that plastic and well, it just makes me nervous.
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JB Weld is a wonderful thing!!!!
 
SoulSoak said:
... I've had a few bugs though. Sunroof has randomly opened when unlocking the doors ...
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If you hold the unlock on the FOB too long, it begins to open all windows and the sunroof simultaneously.
A short click on the unlock will do, holding it too long and it initiates the above process.


Also during the cold days, messing with the sunroof can result in broken plastic sliders on the rails, ask me how I know this!
 
I had the same trouble the other day with mine, it was -40c which is -40f and for an hour long drive almost every option was disabled... (ABS, seat heaters, trac control... ect) i let it warm up for a bit in the garage after and it went back to normal.
 
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