Can someone diagnose this for me? Car is a 2000 RS with 45k miles on with original battery.

Parked the car (no garage) monday night and I did not drive the car on Tuesday. The whole day on Tuesday was around 5-10F without the windchill factor. I went to start the car Tuesday night and the car would not turn over. The car was cranking very slowly and then after 6,7 slow cranks the alarm went off. I did it 3-4 times and gave up.

Wesnesday morning I tried to start the car again and still no go. Alarm still works. It started to snow Wesnesday afternoon and I figure as it snows temperature should raise a little. I went to start the car and after 3-4 slow cranks, it turned over!

I know the weak OEM battery might be the culprit but perhaps my fuel line froze up as well? Maybe I got some bad gas with some water and it froze up after 24+ hours sitting in 5F temperature?

Car started up again this morning and I drove 25 miles to work and everything was fine. My questions:

1. definitely replace my battery as soon as I can? (optima redtop 35R)
2. how do I prevent the fuel line from freezing up again in the future?

Thanks

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good Luck

Iggy

not so sure it would be the fuel line - points more towards battery.

Turning on/off your alarm obviously draws a lot less current than a starter (VERY LARGE DIFFERENCE).

Go to your local auto shop and just get the battery tested, you can see how close to the grave it is right there and this should help you decide if youneed to look into other things.

If thats the original battery then you need to replace it. 5 years is about the average life of a good oem battery..go for the optima. I was having trouble starting my 05 WRX because the craptastic OEM battery only supplies 300 approx. CCA's..I was having trouble when it was 30 degrees out so I got a Optima back then. Good thing I did because it has been subzero for the last few days and the Optima is cranking good..

I used to have the same problem with my alarm going off like that. I ended up getting a new battery and my problems went away. And by the way, it was freezing out when it happened to me too! I would get a new battery and not worry too much about it.

It's very unlikely your fuel line froze up. In NY the gas is now 10% ethanol (replaced MTBE) which is the same thing that's in dry gas.

yeah, ethanol is absolutely horrible for having in our gas, it destroys more than you think, even in our lawnmowers! stupid ny state! :furious: