Stabil and hard start

[Wayne Maybury]

The first question has to be "why did you want to start it?". I am a great believer in leaving the car alone once it has been shut off for the storage period. Really, there is nothing that can be gained by starting it in the winter. If you do start it, make sure you run it long enough to get it completely warmed up as there will be lots of condensation in the exhaust system.

Now you tried to start it but it would not start. You have no choke so that means that you must pump the heck out of it before and while cranking to be able to get a rich enough mixture for it to fire. Starting an engine without a choke is always fun. It will stall many times and will require constant "pumping" of the throttle to keep it going. What weight oil do you have in it? 15W40 will not allow the engine to crank over very quickly in the cold.

Do you have an electric gas pump or a mechanical pump. An electric pump will fill the carb in a few seconds but a mechanical pump will require quite a bit of cranking just to get gas in the carb. If you did crank it quite a bit and it did not fire at all, I would pull the dip stick and smell the oil to see if it is contaminated with unburned gasoline.

If you really want to start it, wait for a warmer day or place a heater under the engine for a couple of hours to warm it up. Be careful about what type of heater you use as many people have managed to start a nice little fire with excessive heat.

Wayne