2003 Grand Am won't start cold / starts warm?

Question

I have a Grand Am, 2003 model, that is not starting when it's cold. Not JUST when it's cold temperature wise, but when it has sat for a while. On cold days (temp) outside, we can raise the hood and let the sunlight beam on the engine for a while and it will start when it gets warm enough. However, when cold, it won't start.

We have tried injecting some gas and ether directly into the breather port to try and diagnose a fuel filter problem. However, we can't get the car to start with that either.

Are there any electrical problems that could be temperature sensative that anyone knows about or is this just a very, very strange coincidence?

Any help would be appreciated.

UPDATE: I checked the fire during the day and it was fine. However, I checked it this morning, while the car was cold and not starting, and there is no fire at all. What sort of electrical problem could be cold-related like that? To recap, 2003 Grand Am, won't start at all when it's cold, but will start when the outside temp warms up above 40-45 degrees. It is electrical in nature (good fuel filter, good pump, good fuel pressure). Yesterday, while the temp was 45 degrees or so, it ran fine and there was plenty of fire. This morning, with the temp at 37 degrees, there was no fire.

Anyone have a suggestion?

Answer 1

There could a lot of things that need to be checked when it does not want to start. You did not mention if the fire is ok to plugs.but i will assume it is. next would be the fuel pressure reading when its cold.i have seen the newer trucks do this because of fuel pressure dropping off while cranking and not holding required psi to start.A cold engine needs more fuel cold than hot. Mabe this will help some in diagnoising your problem .also a scan tool could be a useful tool to ck sensors.