I am new to having a carb and am not sure on the correct protocol. I drive it almost everyday, so it doesn't sit for more than a day or two.

-Is it necessary to wait for the choke to be released?
-How long should you let your car warm up in the morning idling?
-Is it bad to let it sit idling for excessive time?

 

This will be a topic of debate I'm sure, but honestly if you drive conservativley (under 3000 rpm, gentle driving) for the first few miles you really don't need to let it sit there and warm up prior to driving...
If I know I'm just going up the road and it won't be warmed up by the time I get there I will warm it up a bit, but normally I just get it, start it, let it run for maybe 10 seconds while I put my seatbelt on, put my phone in the cup holder etc, then go. Like I said just be gentle (you should even on a FI car anyway) on it until its up to operating temp and you won't have any problems.
To you last question, as long as the cooling system and fan are in good order you can let it idle for a long time with no problems.

 

No - you'd be sitting there for a while if you did.


In the winter about 30 seconds; in the summer, maybe 10; but I live in Florida, so my winters are relative......If its cold and the car bucks - try waiting longer. Every car is different. Just get to know it!


Idling does burn gas! And might overheat if your cooling system sucks. Biggest problem is the exhaust smells like hell.

Keep the car tuned and you will be fine. Treat it like any other FI car. Nothing special for a carb. I personally wait for the oil pressure to get where it should be before I move the car. Don't run it hard until its up to normal operating temp. Nuff' said.

YMMV

 

Like Transam said, be gentle, that means no high revs AND no lugging, most people don't realize that lugging/bogging the motor can be as bad has over revving. It helps to have an oil temp guage.

As for the idling, it just wastes gas, and fuel efficiency is not the rotarys strong point so unneccesary idling just makes it worse.

 

Just make sure to NOT turn it off until it gets to operating temperature. Shutting
off cold is the biggest reason for flooding a rotary.

 

and this is also the reason to let it warm up at least long enough not to stumble and stall while you pull out into an intersection . You may not get it started again easy and cause some traffic issue or worse get hit .

as someone said earlier , learn your car and how warm you need to get it not to stall . That is all that matters on this question. You can drive with the choke still out and adjusting it as you go as well . I live in very cold winters (-20) and dont move when its cold until I at least see the gauge starting to move up .

 

Keith put it correctly in that you need to learn the car, no 2 carb'd cars are totally alike, each will have their little quirks.
Very good advice about not shutting it off before getting up to operating temp, I should have mentioned that...
Ourxseven - agreed, if it was that cold I would also let it warm up for a while as well, but if its in the 20's *F I wouldn't hesitate to start it and go, gently of course

 

Thanks. I knew about shutting it off prior to it being warm. My commute is only 2.5 miles so I'll keep an eye on making sure that it gets warm.

**Transam - as a note Ourxseven said -20...that is effing cold. At that temp someone would need to warm me up before going outside.

 

Yeah I saw that it was -20, I should have chosen a different number to avoid confusion lol. Was just saying really that if it was at least in the positive double digets (commong to NJ winters) and I knew I'd be going more than 5 miles or so I wouldn't really warm it up for more than a few seconds to make sure it built oil pressure etc...
Very true, -20 I would probably not be in a FB lol