Technical Starting Engine After Car Sitting 3 Months

Thanks, that's what is confusing me. I've had the choke set up this way since March and I haven't had problems starting the engine up. Sometimes it takes a few more tries. I've tried quite a bit and no luck so it may have something to do with it having sat a month and a half. I will try the suggestions Mike51Merc suggested in a few minutes either way.

 

You don't have a kill switch that you might have forgotten about do you?

 

Yep there is a kill switch indeed. However it controls the fuel pump and I can hear the fuel pump running.

 

Just be methodical. You've verified it's getting gas when you actuate the throttle, right? You have a good charge on the battery. Now verify the choke is closing on a cold engine. If it's getting fuel and the choke is closing and it's cranking over properly, and it still won't fire up, then it will be time to verify you're getting a good spark.

 

Thank you everyone especially Mike51Merc.

I disconnected the electric choke, and manually closed it all the way and let it stay there. Then I got a hammer and carefully tapped both sides of the carburetor but not too hard. I slowly pressed on the pedal to the floor once and released. Then I started it and it almost wanted to start but not quite.

I floored the pedal and tried it and it came close again but not quite. 3rd try and it fired up and i let off the gas a little but had to play with the pedal a little for 10-20 seconds to keep it from dying and then it went to idling. Then I connected the electric choke back. It has a lopey cam so maybe that makes it a little harder to idle at first but I let it run for 5 to 7 minutes until it seemed to be at normal operating temp. I will drive it this weekend or maybe monday at an off time since I still have to road test with all the brake system changes I made and I'm in the heart of an urban part of San Diego. I'll capture a video of the motor running with the hood open and at the exhaust just so others can give me a sanity check that its running fine.

Not sure it makes much difference but when I started it in late Aug/early Sept the air temps were in the 90s and it seemed humid out and it fired right up first try and seemed to not require much help idling. Yesterday and today the temps are in the mid 70s but different humidity.

I'm never letting this thing sit without starting it at least once a week.

 

In Mn our hot rods sit 3-5 mos, and they fire right back up. There is no reason you should have to start it once a week.

 

70 degrees must be cold in California .

 

I try to pull mine outside and bring them up to temp every month so things don't dry out or batteries go dead. I have used Stable fuel additive in the gas during the winter and I never put ethanol blend fuel in them.

 

I see you got it started. Keep in mind California gets different gas blends than the rest of the country. STABIL is probably a good idea. Who knows what gets added and how long it's good for.
I'd put some miles on it, run that tank out and fill it up, add some stabil.
If it's running rough, swap the plugs. A lopey cam is hard on plugs, plan on changing more frequently than a stock engine.

 

good that you got it started. full choke is not needed, blade closed 3/4 plenty. blade should open to near straight up in a few minutes of running. having to feather gas pedal on a modified motor upon start up is normal until it starts to warm up. 70-90 degrees will not make a difference on a cold start up. do not need to add stabil to gas unless it will set for many months. but, after doing a lot of cranking of a motor with fuel system functioning means a lot of gas has washed down into oil. pull oil dip stick out and check for the smell of gas. if any smell of gas change oil/filter. you should also make sure that carb idle mixture screws and engine timing are set correctly - will also help with engine stating easier, and running better. hope that you are making some progress on the many other problems that you have had with that car.

 

No reason it shouldn't start.

Let's approach this logically. 1) Is the gas ok? Smell it, if it smells like gas good. If it smells like old stinky varnish bad. Take off the air filter and pump the gas, you should see it squirt into the carb, and give it a whiff. If no gas getting to the carb that may be the problem/

2) Ignition working? Take a spare spark plug, pull off a plug wire and plug it in. Lay the plug on the engine where it can ground (steel part). Turn over the engine, does it have a good white spark? Or at least a yellow spark?
3) Plugs fouled. Take out a spark plug. If it is dry and brown or white ok. If it is black and soaked in gas and oil, bad. When they get like that the only cure is to sand blast. They get a conductive coating that shorts them out that can't be removed by a wire brush or cleaning solvent. If it is black and dry and sooty then you can clean them up and reuse them.

Basically if you are getting gas, spark, and compression, all at the same time and in the right mixture, the engine has to start. It has no choice.

Unless you have messed up the carb and ignition there can't be too much wrong. Maybe not getting gas, or spark plugs fouled, something not hard to fix.

Once you get it running let it run at a fast idle for 15 or 20 minutes and warm up thoroughly. With a carburetor car, staring and stopping without warming up can foul up plugs.

 

With the electric pump it should fire right up even if it sits for months as long as you put some gas stabilizer in the gas to keep it from going bad. I'd say you probably flooded it the first try and it went downhill from there.

Every one of these cars with a carb has it's own little routine for easiest starting. I think I'd adjust the choke to work as the instructions say to set it and then after turning on the key and the pump switch and waiting a few seconds push the pedal to the floor to set the choke with maybe one light tap on the pedal and hit start and crank it.

And yes if the gas went bad it would stink pretty much like old paint varnish as someone said, I've got an ot rig with several gallons of bad gas in the tank sitting out in the yard now that I need to pull the tank out of and clean it out.

 

Good it started. Now change the oil. Sounds like it prob has half gallon of fuel in it.

 

Oddly enough it feels like it this year. We've had so many rounds of heat spells with temps near 99 to low 100s in parts of San Diego and lows in the upper 70s.

 

Thanks, I'll change the oil regardless. I've driven it maybe 250 miles since last oil change but that was in middle March.

I also put new plugs in middle March. Not sure I should just change them anyways? They are AC Delco R45TS which are cheap enough.

 

I know with this carb and motor, I've had more luck getting the car to start when it's completely cold by turning the ignition on and cranking once. This is without touching the pedal. When it starts running I feather the pedal for a little due to the lopey cam.

I also had adjusted the electric choke and it seemed to have helped but that was in slightly different weather though I'm sure the weather variance in Southern CA isn't enough for it to cause much difference?

If it doesn't start I leave the ignition on for a couple minutes and come back and then it usually starts easier. I've never had an instance of not being able to start it up until two days ago but I regularly started it about once a week.

Also it has HEI not points since I know leaving the ignition on long can damage points.

 

The thing to remember is that an electric choke pays no mind at all to the engine temp. It's based solely on time, time that the choke spring gets heated. That's it.

So if your cold engine fires quickly, the relative time relation works ok on a electric choke. But if the key is on and the cold engine doesn't fire then the time relation is off, way off. The engine could be ice cold and the choke wide open compounding problems.

 

That makes sense for sure. I had played with the adjustment earlier on and got it to open all the way up in about 3-5 minutes time which seemed ok. I can't remember if it opened up evenly in time. When fully closed I had it at about 3/16 inch open (not fully closed ever).

The ambient temperature will also have an effect on the time the electric choke takes to open fully right?

When I got the car the choke butterfly was jammed full open. The linkage was super bent and I suspected someone purposely did that because it was bent so hard. I didn't straighten it and adjust the electric choke until March this year when I discovered it (from working on the driver side cylinder head). Prior to that I would crank first try and if it didn't start I would wait a few minutes and come back and it usually started much easier. In that instance that electric choke wasn't doing anything.

 

I just went downstairs and checked the oil dipstick tube. The oil doesn't smell like fuel to me.

I took the air cleaner off and checked but it didn't smell like anything other than what I remember fuel smelling like. I also went to the trunk and took the gas cap off and it smelled a little different when I put my nose on the filler tube. It wasn't a pleasant experience but I don't know what old gas is supposed to smell like other than what people describe.

I'm pretty sure the tank was near empty when I started it two days ago. I put two gallons of Octane 89 from Chevron to diagnose further when it wouldnt start. I plan to fill all the way with 89 and then put a can of B-12 Berryman Chemtool in the tank and drive it.

Not sure I need to change the oil and filter (250 miles since done in Mid March) but maybe I will. Also not sure I need to mess with the R45TS A/C Delco plugs they were changed mid march. I don't feel like taking a plug out to check but maybe i should.

 

When an engine is flooded, the plugs get wet, fouled with fuel and won't spark.

Holding (not pumping) the accelerator to the floor while cranking helps clear this wetness from the plugs.

 

You have already said that you have fuel squirting in the venture, You need spark & air to fire it it off. Check for spark as in the grd on the HEI coil. Tap it with a mallet or take the screws out & clean the ground.

 

Thanks I got it running without touching the hei or plugs. I suspect it was flooded.

One interesting thing. I have a streetfire hei I put in late June. I remember someone saying sometimes they have crappy grounds from the factory.

Anyways I'll have to see if the issue repeats with having trouble starting it.

 

I pulled #3 spark plug out. I didn't pull any others. Here's multiple photos of the same plug. I estimate more like 350 to 400 miles since March when I put new plugs in. I don't have a sandblast cleaner. Should I buy new ones? I'm changing the oil and filter even though I only have 350 to 400 miles since March when it was changed.

 

One interesting thing... I don't think there is a fuel pressure regulator and I don't know what type of fuel pump it has. I know where the fuel pump is located though and it's outside the tank. I texted the previous owner since he might remember why. Perhaps it's a 5psi pump.

Will I likely need to do a bit of adjustments to the carb if I put a fuel pressure regulator in? I usually never have had trouble starting the engine after a couple tries when fully cold. Sometimes I would drive it somewhere and it would start first try when still hot or even a couple hours later when a little warm.

 

Not all electric fuel pumps need a regulator. See if you can find a tag listing info on canister. Best if located closer to gas tank to act as a pusher. Post a pic of what you have. Yes, replace spark plugs.

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Thanks, I'm going to try and find out what type of electric fuel pump it has as I want a backup anyways. It is located close to the tank. I imagine if it had way too much fuel pressure without a regulator, I would see other issues. Also I probably would have a hard time starting even after warm due to flooding? As I said before it starts fine when warm.

Not sure why the plugs look like they do after not many miles on them. Maybe the carb is flooding when cold or if it sits for weeks?

 

Everyone should know their fuel pressure - actually measured at the inlet.

 

Thanks. At the carb inlet correct? The previous owner just texted me back and said that it's a 5psi pump that he put in it so no regulator was needed.

I'm guessing maybe it occasionally floods or maybe the choke adjustment. Not sure the condition of the spark plugs is something else entirely.

 

Hey Dan,

Sorry I never got back to you, I actually forgot you texted. Glad to see you got it started. Keep in mind your choke is electric, so if you leave the key on while your working on it, the choke will be warming up, even if the engine isn't. The choke housing will increase both the hi idle speed and mixture richness when you rotate it, but there is a separate high idle speed adjustment screw on the throttle linkage somewhere (can't remember which carb you have, Holley or Edelbrock), but their on the passenger side of the throttle linkage. (See pick of Holley below). Edelbrock is similar, but you have to hold the throttle wide open to access it because it points almost straight down when the linkage is closed.

Kurt

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Thanks Kurt! I have an Edelbrock 1406 and I'll have to play with it some more. I'm living in University Heights (right next to North Park) San Diego now.

I had looked at a youtube video of someone adjusting the electric choke on an edelbrock and I had done a similar adjustment on mine and also played with the high idle screw. I'm still not sure I set mine up correctly.