I was warming up my car today and it's cold as crap so i have to use the choke. It ran well for about 6 minutes and then it starts to shoot flames. It is usually at 1000rpms with the choke still in. If anyone could let me know if this is normal if it's cold. And this only happens when i am warming it up with the choke on. Please tell me it is nothing serious

 

sounds like a lean misfire, i wouldn't worry about it.

 

it was cool the first time but when it started doing it like 10 times in a row i kinda paniced and turned it off and restarted it

 

Um... no, that's not normal.

Probably what's happening is that the choke is causing an overly rich mixture and/or your carb is allowing fuel to get through the engine in unburned form, which is leaving raw gas in your exhaust to be combusted. This is bad, will overheat your cats (if still installed), and could leave to exhaust system explosions or fires. There was a forum member here with an -SE that was backfiring that exploded out the side of his muffler and tore the metal to shreds - this isn't something that you just let go.

For starters, check your ignition system to make sure that it's up to snuff and will burn all of the gasoline being drawn in, even when choked. If you have some fouled plugs or an ignitor that's not working, this will exacerbate the problem. Also, a carb rebuild wouldn't hurt, since needle valves and seats that are worn or don't close off properly will allow full fuel pressure to overpower the valves and run raw gas down the intake resulting in too much to be burned.

Is it flooding on startup at all?

Chokes should only be used long enough to get the engine to idle well enough on it's own, in fact, if you start driving, usually that keeps the rpm's up high enough that it won't die when you let off the gas - could be that you're using the choke longer than you need to. It has a mag switch in the choke **** that should return it to no-choke after a preset time frame. HTH,

 

Are you kidding me, flames coming out of any part of your car is as designed. No I'm kidding, but you should mix some thermite into the gas, that'll probably fix the problem.

 

is your choke actually working right? if it's only doing it on a cold start then i doubt it's too much fuel. even if it was enough fuel to put the afr's at 10.5:1 it would idle beautifully till it warmed up. since it's cold and doing this it sounds like it's not enough fuel. maybe the actual door to the choke isn't closing over the primaries all the way which isn't letting it pull fuel from the secondaries = lean as hell till it warms up. mine does this on severely cold days but i do not have a choke. i just rev it up a couple times and then it idles on it's own.

if it did this all the time then i would say leading ignitor.

 

it hasn't flooded when i start it yet. Whenever this(backfiring) happens i usually just turn the car off and start it again and then it stops back firing. Also my exhaust is loose where the downpipe meets the cat so i was wondering if the lack of backpressure could have some affect on the fuel delivery. Thanks for the responses guys. I warmed it up a couple of minutes ago and after the choke automatically went in it was purring like a kitten. It only seems to happen after really cold nights. I live in the northeast and the nights here are horrible. I'm fat and I shake like a little dog after 3 minutes in the stuff, burrrr.

 

yes sir, sounds like it's a lean condition. try this, before cranking it pump the gas about 5 times, then only have the choke pulled out half way. turn it over without your foot on the gas and see how it does.

 

alright i'll try that tomorrow

 

i can assure you there is no problem
tighten up the exhaust and i bet most of the backfires will go away

i am familiar with this car

good buy rotadrift

 

You're obviously very knowledgeable about these cars if you think you can tighten down a 20 year old exhaust...

 

hey dumbass
i am familiar with this car
i have driven it, rode in it
the exhaust isnt 20yrs old.......its a monza
exhaust hangers broke once causing the exhaust to hang low in the center, the weight of the exhaust slowly caused an exhaust leak that probably just needs tighted.

 

Wow. Cut out the first line and the emoticons and there is a civilized answer in there.

 

my fault. i apologize. just felt insulted with the sacasism and all

i am familiar with this car
i have driven it, rode in it
the exhaust isnt 20yrs old.......its a monza
exhaust hangers broke once causing the exhaust to hang low in the center, the weight of the exhaust slowly caused an exhaust leak that probably just needs tighted