Everytime i coldstart my '98 felicia in the wet it seems to have some kind of problem...i was planning to go out and get something to eat just now, but when i started it, the running sound was like a two-stroke lawnmower...it was struggling to rev, so i decided not to go out driving since i'd be expecting it to die, as i has has before, but it's never been this bad though.

it took roughly 4.5seconds to rev from idling to 3500rpm so yeah, sounding a little like a lawnmower there, also made a small pop when the rpms were going back down.

What do you think might be wrong with it?

Damp HT leads? Can't remember whether they're visible with a Felicia, but if they are try spraying with something like WD40 before starting.

Edited 9 December, 201015 yr by AnotherGareth

dad just suggested i put some antifreeze in the petroltank since it's been below freezing -2 for the last 8 straight days, he thinks the tank may just have some water in it since i'm so poor i can't afford to even half-fill it every week.

How on earth would antifreeze help matters?

Sounds reminiscent of my old 120L when it had it's habit of dropping down to running on 2 cylinders (barely enough power to pull itself along at 30mph) which was down to the HT leads. However if it's an MPi then there aren't any - if there aren't any obvious damp connections between the ECU and the coilpack, then it could be the coilpack itself at fault.

How on earth would antifreeze help matters?

Indeed. Also, I'm no chemist but at -2 surely there's not going to be much water vapour in the air to be able to condense in the tank in the first place? For the past couple of weeks that we've had similar temperatures, whilst I don't particularly enjoy being out when it's -4, the car certainly did and was running better than ever. Come to think of it that was all with less than 1/2 a tank to start with too, and I didn't fill up until this week when coincidentally it was warmer again, so I can't say I'd agree with Dad on that one.

Besides, it's a Skoda engine: putting coolant in the cylinders is the head gasket's job, not yours!

Good running is down to more dense air, and probably a lack of water vapour helps too.

Head Gasket - most amusing!