Not starting on cold days

[Anonymous]

I think the choke is freezing open on really cold days and will not start .
Does anyone have ths problem and if so what do you do to keep it from happening?

thanks

Mike

 

[Anonymous]

I don't have a problem with the choke sticking open, but my carb is relatively new and has an electric choke. At colder temps and when my car has sat over night, it takes more cranking than I like to get it to fire up. It still seems that if it is cold and damp, that my car still wants to die at stop signs until it is warm. I think the dampness is the key. It has been suggested that it may be icing in the carb. I am tempted to install a hot air duct. The 73 Comet 250 cu in that I had used to have some tin sitting on the exhaust manifold with a duct running to the carb.

If your choke is sticking, a thorough cleaning may be in order. Also, check to make sure that when you pump the gas to the floor, the choke closes. You have to "set" the choke on a carbureted car when starting a cold engine.
Doug

 

[Asa]

do you have an electric or manual choke?
and do you have any ignition mods? because the change in starting after i installed the Petronix was incredible

 

[strat1960s]

I had problems with my car dying when cold whenever I get to an intersection. I have narrowed it down to two things and it could even be both at the same time. First this I did was get rid of the 180* thermostat and droped in a 195* thermostat. That helped out tremendously. But on the colder mornings, the car still ran 10* below the fully open temp of the thermostat. I could go to a 200*, but i wouldn't need it for long being in Arizona. Secondly was my choke. I have a Weber 38 DGAS and it has an electric choke. When cold, the choke sometimes opens up even if the engine is not marmed up enough and that causes drivebility issues in the 900 to 1000 RPM range. I could have adjusted the choke, but the temps have gone up 10 to 20* and the car is running great. We had rain and sprinkles all day today and the car never once acted up. I wouldn't say it was moisture. I would be willing to bet that if you wet with a higher temp thermostat and adjustes your choke, your problems will go away.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Ted

 

[66 Fastback]

I added a couple of 10 ohm resistors in line on the electric choke. The day I did it, the choke was opening in something like 3 1/2 minutes without the resistors. With the resistors and a cold engine, it took about 7 minutes. So I have bought a little time and it did cut down on the number of stalls. It seems if it is colder and there is no dew or ice, then the stalling is not much of a problem. But with the due it is a problem more often.
Doug

 

[CobraSix]

Some good answers to what to do once the car is started, but are you getting it started? To me it read like you can't get it started at all.

First, you should be able to get the car running without the choke working at all. Is it easy? No. But I ran an entire winter in New England (and I drove it every day) with no choke whatsoever. Just gave it lots of gas and had to keep giving it gas for abotu 3 minutes until it would keep itself running.

Not to overstate the obvious, but without any other information, let's rule out the simple stuff:

1) What weight oil? Running too thick an oil in cold weather can really make it tough to start. my 91 explorer won't start on really cold days if I have 20w50 oil in it (dieing oil pump).

2) Are you pumping the gas to reset the choke? (this goes for manual or electric). Remember, the choke will not close itself.

3) Pull the air cleaner off, and open the choke plate up manually. Then push the throttle linkage and look down the throat of the carb as you do. Are you seeing fuel spray?

4) You may need to adjust the fast idle screw (not the idle mix screw). You may not be getting enough fuel mix to get it started. Not knowing what kind of carb you have, I don't know where to tell you to look.

Slade