How to start a cold engine ???
 

Hi guys,

my 460 SVO with 750 Holley doesnt like to start, when the engine is cold. I do turn fuel pump on and wait a bit, but neither way pushing throttle or no throttle - she just keeps cranking.

Do you have an tips, how to start the baby - she does start pretty good when the engine is warm with no throttle.

Any advice is welcome ...

Laters

Jürgen

I don't have a choke on my carb, not sure if you do or not but if you do you might want to check to see if it's working or needs adjustment. I turn the motor over and gently start tapping the accelerator to pump squirts of fuel into the manifold. I guess by letting up on the pedal it kind of works like a choke keeping the throttle plates closed. When it gets enough fuel to start it fires up. Usually 3-4 taps. When warm I turn it over and then start tapping again. If it floods I hold the pedal down and keep turning over. Usually will start one way or another.

John

Got an 850 with no choke, two quick pumps with the gas pedal, it explodes to life!!!!!!

That's what I have. Always wondered why it doesn't have a choke?? It starts at 10 below no problem.

When I was running 2 / 4 barrels I would just hold the gas pedal on the floor until it started, worked every time.

Jurgen,
Most carbureted engines have too high an air to fuel ratio on a cold start to run well (or at all). Back when most cars had carburetors, they had chokes to temporarily limit the amount of air to the engine on a cold start. Manual chokes had a control in the cabin that allowed the driver to close a flap on top of the carburetor. Automatic chokes did much the same thing, but the engine had to be cold and the driver had to "set the choke" by pressing the gas pedal fully to the floor one time before starting. (That's one reason some of us old guys still instinctively want to pump the gas pedal on our modern EFI cars).

If you don't know what you have, remove the air cleaner and look in the top of your cold engine. Manually move the throttle to full open and release it. You should see a squirt of gas going down the barrels of the carburetor. If you see a flap close off most of the air to the carburetor, you have an automatic choke. If you have both a squirt of gas and a functioning automatic choke, then it is possible the choke is not properly adjusted (i.e, it's shutting off too much air or not enough). If you don't have an automatic choke (like many of us Cobra guys), just pump the gas a few extra times before a cold start to increase the fuel in the air to fuel mixture. If your engine is like mine, you may have to pump it a few more times to keep it running until it warms up enough to like the fuel mixture.

One more thing. If you do have an automatic choke, you disengage it much the same way you engaged it. When you sense the warmed engine is starting to idle too fast, blip the throttle and the choke will disengage.

I have no choke on my 69 and it has an 850 double pumper. I just pump it a couple of times and wait a few seconds for the gas to get down the runners and into the combustion chambers and it starts right up. Like Tommy, I have to play with it for a minute or so until it will idle.

Ron

Thanks guys for your input.

I do feel a bit stupid, asking about it. I've been around engines, race cars and bikes all my life and usually have no issues getting the babies to start.

However, the cobra (no choke) baffles me. Sometimes, a quick throttle squirt before starting the cold engine helps and sometimes she gets totally flooded and everything smells like gasoline. Even the full throttle start won't help then.

Once she starts coughing, I can hold her with the pedal and bring her to life. After about 2 min, she starts idling by herself.

Yesterday, I had to roll down the hill about a quarter mile (2nd gear) until she said hello.

I guess, she is just a moody little thing - need to get more aquainted ...

A good friend of mine always said: When you are gone and finally gave you spoon back, you need to have at least one vehicle in the garage, that nobody can start. Until now, this was my GasGas250 trial bike - but the cobra now takes the #1 plate on that list.

I'll try a few more different procedures and let you know.

laters and thanks

Jürgen

Try adjusting the idle mixture a little richer.

Jurgen,
If you don't know when the engine was last tuned, perhaps it could use a tune up (e.g., new plugs).

Our 460 the bowls are always empty on the 1000cfm every spring so I always pull the primary bowl plug pump the throttle till the gas comes out of the squirters climb into the car and lite it. After it has run a while never have a problem starting till the next spring.
Have to add have used starting fluid at times.

Also a good EFI will solve the problem.,

If you are giving it a quick blip & it's flooding, you are putting way too much gas into the manifold. I have 4 webers & I give it good pump before I start. That's 8 nozzles of fuel being squirted. If check your setup

Sounds like the choke is set too rich... or sticking ...