Cold Weather hesitation

I noticed today in our Florida 36 degree frigid morning that my truck ran awful. It hesitated very bad when moving from a dead stop up to about 50 mph; like bad gas.

I have been thinking when to go to the dealership to inquire about the TSB hesitation but my truck has never acted like I needed the TSB in my nonprofessional opinion.

Would the TSB smooth out the cold morning run or is this typical of our newer trucks?

thanks

 

Not typical...it was 16f where I live this morning and my 18 ran fine.

 

I’m in Tallahassee. I showed 34 degrees this morning. While starting was noticeably sluggish, I didn’t have any issues with my ‘17. I do have the T-SB-0058-18 update.

 

You probably have a bit of water in your gas. Run a bottle of yellow HEET, if you can even get that in Florida, through your gas next time you fill up. It should help, I use it at the beginning of every winter up here for the same symptoms and it clears it up immediately.

 

Not normal at all, my truck has performed well in cold morning at first start in the teens.
If you can, I would check for loose air-intake hose clamps.

There should be two past the air filter box. The first is easily accessible, the second one requires lifting and removing the plastic top engine cover which snaps on.

I would also recommend a trip to the stealer if all is well there, as a temperature sensor could be a culprit and should be a simple fix

Good luck
Cheers!

 

I will try this.

 

I will also check these clamps. I was starting to regret my purchase of the truck. thank you.

Funny, just went out to check the clamps - all good.

This is the first time I really inspected the engine compartment. The air filter cover looks like it will be much easier to line back up than the Gen 2 truck I had. The spark plug change now, looks a little daunting compared to my previous Gen 2. I did not realize all the space from the grill to the radiator; was a little stretch.

I appreciate the motivation!

 

I'm also in Florida.... it was 45 when I woke up. When I got my vehicle it had the hesitation and I wondered if it could be bad gas. I ran premium gas in the truck for awhile and it has never hesitated since. Try it out, I think it's a better option instead of getting the TSB and having the truck "learn" all over again.

 

I actually thought mine ran better this morning, not that I think it runs poorly at other times. I figured the cooler denser air was helping, but it was in the low 50s here this morning and my truck is garage kept so was probably mid 60s in the garage all night.

 

Vehicles will actually run better in cold weather, but you gotta let them warm up for a few minutes. Remember, even though this is a modern engine, there is still a "choke" being used, albeit a high tech choke, that will limit air mixture for the first few minutes.

 

This I do not do, as I read somewhere that a warm up is not needed on the new trucks. I used to warm up my older Tacoma. I will have to try again with a warm up tomorrow.

I am open to anything as I would like to love this truck but am having serious reservations.

 

You do not need to “warm up” an engine. In fact idling is bad for your engine. It warms up faster by driving it.

I would not run anything like HEET. Too big of a risk with modern cars with excessive sensors.
The only time you should have higher amounts of water in your gas is if you’ve been using that same tank of gas for a few months or you put in like E-85 by mistake.

It is winter time, so the winter blends have started. Gas prices have also gone down tremendously, makes me wonder how much ethanol got added in this year.

 

The only cold weather hesitation I experienced with my 3rd gen is when I refused to get out of bed.

 

Got em'

 

It may be a modern engine that doesn't require warm up or idling but regardless it's an engine that uses oil. The viscosity is going to be high while cold. As it warms up, the viscosity will lower allowing for better performance.

You can drive it cold, but I wouldn't hot rod it until it's at operating temperature.

 

LOL its florida. They don't know COLD. he needs to just warm it up a bit to its operating temperature and go. it was like 6* by UAF this morning at about 5AM

 

I agree with not needing to warm up engines. Idling is the worst for engines. It's better to drive gently, it will warm up faster.

As for Heet, any gas tank antifreeze is good to run through a vehicle in the beginning of frigid temps. I run the red bottle with FI detergents.

 

0W20 is super thin already. Your engine will be fine.

 

I had a little mishap with my car last winter, it had been sitting in freezing temps for 2 months accidentally revved it to about 5 grand upon start up, sure that probably shaved a few miles off its life.

 

I know, I live in Ester and drive past UAF every morning. I’m real curious to see how my Taco will act when it gets really cold. My Mustang loved it, even down to -60F, but my Mazda and Subaru both hated anything below -20.

My guess is the OP got enough water in his tank through condensation or from his last fill up or both to cause a drivability issue, and the HEET will help get the water out.