Starting Difficulties.
 

Ok, I'm sorry right off the bat if this post is a repeat to those of you that have answered these questions many times. I ensure you I searched for things that relate and tried a few things but I'm still having the same problem. So in the spirit of not ruining my car I'll ask.

I'm having a problem starting the car. It's an 85 GS Carbed. I've just bought it and it's being wintered. The car had a brand new engine put in it by the previous owner (<10000km on it), as well as some other work. What happens is this. I turn the key to on, pump the pedal once or twice, pull the choke out, start it. It starts and dies. then I keep the choke out...and it won't start. Then I push the choke in and it starts and dies...repeat this a few times...I then start it and it runs and I put the choke on (for high idle) and it dies. Finally after a couple more tries at this I can put the choke on full and it idles fine and everything is great.

Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? The car should be 100% mechanically, so I'm banking on it being my inexperience. But maybe not. any help would be good.

well are u giving it any gas after it starts up? You have to warm it up first sounds like u are restarting it over and over to warm it up. Have a steady foot and keep the rpms at 2000 rpms for about 1 minute. IF u are doing that it may be a vacuum leak.

I'm not doing that, I thought the choke would take care of that...pardon the ignorance...fuel injection has kept me in the dark

Normally, the choke will hold the idle up. Since many times the choke is not fully adjusted correctly, most people just use the throttle to hold the RPM's up until the engine gets a little warmth built up.

Yes sometimes choke will not be enough to keep the car running.

Ahh I see, thanks for the help.

Try only giving it halfway on the choke. Works a lot better for mine, and I live in Michigan so should be similar conditions. And if you plan on driving that thing in the snow I'll tell you right now, get some Blizzak snow tires or something of that sort. And throw a bunch of heavy crap in the back too (I've currently got 2 40 Lb bags of kitty litter) and keep the gas tank full. There's no way to describe how tail happy these cars are. We got three inches of unexpected accumulation while I was at work the other day and that made for a very exciting drive home (on 4 older snow tires). It can be done, but you really have to pay attention...:)

hell, sounds like you really don't need the choke. too much fuel. :D it was almost 20 degrees last night and i went out and turned the key in mine and it fired right up. i don't even have a choke so if mine can crank up like that.... yours should too, in theory. just act as if the choke doesnt exist... fire it up and just use your foot to keep the rpms up for a minute... after that it will most likely idle on it's own. with no choke at all.

try it out.

Yeah, you can usually coldstart a carbed car without the choke just by stroking the gas pedal, but it requires that the accelerator pump in the carb has an intact diaphragm. I once had a Holley carb that would occasionally split the AP diaphragm, so I just kept a couple extras in the glove compartment along with a small screwdriver to spin off the 3 screw access cover on the carb to R&R the pump. As usual you have to be wary of flooding the engine: don't overdo choking or pumping.