Winter starting tips needed...
 

Looking for some tips on cold starting. Temp's were around 7 degrees this morning. Full choke and pumped accel several times before cranking without any luck. After several attempts, I ended up cranking all the way to a dead battery. Ended up driving my other car.

I think I may have flooded it. My fuel pump is wired to come on with the ign switch so it is constantly running if the key is on. (not sure if they are wired like so from the factory).

Any tips on starting in sub 20* temps. would be appreciated.

The car always cranks right up cold or hot if the temp is 30* or above. So there are no low compression issues. Sub-zero assist has been removed. rats nest removed etc...

If you have the stock niki carb and choke in place I would not pump your gas pedal as well as choke the car. The stock system provides plenty of gas without pumping. You probably flooded it.

Your flooded, the nikki with choke should do the job without pumping it. You have to deflood it and get a jump on that battery now. BTW if your battery is more than a couple of years old, it may be fried as well. Don't be surprised if it decides to not hold a good charge after this.

I usually have someone give a couple squirts of starting fluid as the engine starts cranking; it usually starts the first time in cold weather.

I love efi. :D

I have an 83 GS fully stock and if it hesitates to start, then I pump it a few times while I'm cranking and it has started right up everytime so far (knock on wood!)

if it's too cold or has sit for over 2 days, i just pump it about 2-3 times wait a couple of secs then crank, from there it's just a matter of pumping a bit of gas until it can hold idle on its own (no choke)

As others have stated. If you have a working choke then you don't pump the gas pedal to start it.

The key here is that the battery is in "Excellent" condition as Rotaries rely on cranking speed/compression to start properly.

Get the battery fully charged and have it load tested at your local Auto parts Store. Usually batteries that are "Marginal" will fail when the first real cold temps hit. Make sure that the guy at the parts store load tests the battery several times. Sometimes the battery will have a good surface charge but after 3 load tests will fail.

Make sure that your plug wires, cap, rotor, and plugs are in good shape. If any of those are marginal then firing will be an issue in cold climates.

Make sure that your battery cables are clean between the posts and the posts on the battery is clean. Ensure that grounds are clean and that everything is free of corrosion.

Winter fuel should be in effect and that means that Butane has been added to the fuel to help fire off carbureted engines in cold climates. As added assurance you could put in a bottle of "Heet" in the fuel tank if need be.

Shoot, here in texas we dont see temps below 40......(types this while shivering in 20* weather)....most of the time.

Shit. Tell that to my 25* thermometer. :lol:

I was using my tiny odyssey race battery. It doesn't like cold and has pretty poor cranking capabilities. I forgot I swapped out my optima red top a a few months back. Swapped the optima 900cca battery back in and it fired right up at 17*.

No pedal pumping or startfluid needed.

Thanks...