Lex Won't Fire Below 40 Degrees

[BillyC]

Hi All,

My 1991 LS400 (238K miles) cranks over but will not fire below about 40 degrees, or if it does fire up it immediately dies as if out of gas. When this first happened the temperature was below freezing so I poured in 2 bottles of Heet thinking perhaps condensation in the fuel system had frozen. Later that day after the temperature had warmed up into the 50's my Lex started on the first turn as usual and ran fine for the several relatively warm days that followed. Then came a night of 38 degrees and the problem reappeared. Obviously not frozen condensation, but what? I am stumped.

Can you tell me what could be sensitive to temperature?

Thanks in advance.

BillyC

[1990LS400]

Cracked and/or corroded wires and other electrical contacts can work fine when warm and shrink ever so slightly when colder and not make enough contact to conduct electricity.

For example, the remote locking worked only in warm weather for years on the 90 LS I used to have and stopped working whenever it got a little cold. After I sold the car, the new owner discovered that the ROM chip in the receiver in the trunk was not fully seated.

Something similar happened with my 90's fog lights -- they worked fine when warm but not at all when it was cold when I usually needed them. I was told that the cause of that problem was a corroded connection at some fuse block -- the repair shop would clean the corrosion and the fog lights would work again for another year or so until the corrosion returned. I once had a similar problem on the after market car horns (Hella Supertone) I added to the 90 -- corroded connectors.

This kind of issue may not be the cause of your problem but electrical problems like this seem to get worse as these cars age.

[vroom8]

my lexus really doesn't like the cold weather. it is from texas, and is now in northern new mexico where it gets -5 easy, and she screams at start up. i think the belts contract in the cold.

now that the weather is warmer, it starts up quieter.