Cold Start Issues...Need Some Advice

[roastdawgg]

I have a broken choke thermostat (I went to pull the connector off the nipple and the nipple and internal wiring came right off the choke...oops) and it will take a week for the parts house to order a new one.

In the mean time I need to drive the car. The weather has gone from 60's to 15's in about 4 days. The car cranks (slowly) and stumbles a bit trying to start but usually takes me many tries and about 10 minutes.

I understand how the choke thermostat works, but what I don't understand is how even with a bad choke the car eventually starts after cranking it enough?

Are there any cheap tricks to getting it to start every time in the cold? A block heater would get me going in the morning from my house but what about when the car has been parked for many hours in the work parking lot?

Thanks for the help in advance...viva la marquis!

[grandpaslincoln]

The choke is there as a means to start the car quicker. Without it, it takes forever to get it to start. A car with a malfunctioning choke will start eventually, especially if enough fuel is dumped down into the carb. What system do you have? CFI? While you crank it, if you have a car with fuel injectors, they continually spray fuel into the carb. They probably gave the engine enough juice to start without a choke.

[roastdawgg]

yeah it's a CFI...I am going to otder a Choke Thermostat in hopes that this remedies the starting issues. I need to have the car ready by next week cuz school starts back up for me.

I been pouring Gas Antifreeze in with every full tank to make sure that isn't an issue...so I am hoping the issue is 100% choke related.

[Grand Marquis GT]

Well roast, you know how those choke things are.

Mines got a similar problem. My choke caught on fire!

Replace it, it should work.

[85crownHPP]

have you tried slightly holding open the throttle with your foot while you crank? That really all our chokes do... also after some cranking and poor/stalling running for a bit, the computer should kick on the solenoid for the VOTM (the thing I hot-wired with a switch) and that helps it run better too, but mine wont make it run alone.



All you can really do is use your foot to make it run and idle without stalling, untill it warms up enough to idle on its own

[roastdawgg]

ok here is the situation update...

After three attempts with about an hour or so time in between each time it finally started. So I tinkered around a bit and heres what i did to the choke.

The nipple had broken and pulled out of the choke thermostat unit...on the other end of the nipple is a metal shaft that snapped off...apparently this is how it grounds the nipple/unit. I took a hammer and pounded the nipple/broken shaft back into the unit and hooked it all back up.

I let the car sit in the freezing cold for about 5 hours after running it for 10 minutes and it fired right back up no problem. So I will see if fires right up in the morning after sitting in the 12 degree weather all night....I hope this fixes everything....In the process I discovered several pin hole radiator leaks...

the problems never end....

[roastdawgg]

car didnt start this morning. damn thing!

[Grand Marquis GT]

Motherfucker! :cuss:

[roastdawgg]

i can smell gas in the cab now...so fuel has to be getting there...i adjusted the choke thermostat with the marks on the stat and the tbi. I unplugged the CTS...still no start. It gets like 97% started and just wont finish the job. Maybe the coil is bad again....the car eats coils for breakfast...i dunno.

anyone got any constructive ideas on what this could be?

[Grand Marquis GT]

If the car is eating coils left and right, thres gotta be a problem somewhere.

SOMETHING IS WRONG. I dunno, do Duraspark/EEC III systems use a resistor for the coil like points systems do?

[Grand Marquis GT]

Also, dump some drygas in ur car, and hope for the best.

Hey, never know!

[roastdawgg]

ok well the ROASTmobile started finally.


For shits and giggles I pulled the almost brand new coil out and put in the old one I took out a while ago...just to see what happened. The car cranked but the battery sounded like it was dead and it was no longer even close to stumbling or coughing, just low cranking.

So I put the new one back in the car and cranked it...it stumbled a whole lot but started turning over by itself at like 3 or 4 rpms....very very very rough and very slow. I was pumping the pedal and it started picking up a little stumbling and coughing the whole way. My bro said it was pumping some nice black smog out the back at the time too.

Then eventually it smoothed out and ran like a champ. I drove it for a bit with no problems...so my guess is i am gonna have to go out and start the car every 4 or so hours to keep it from dying in the chilly mornings.

I know the car is overdue for an oil change...so maybe that has something to do with it...but i dunno. For the time being every four hours it is.

[roastdawgg]

ok my main man pete (the cfi guru) informs me that most likely i could start the car even if the choke was bad but i would have to keep my foot on the gas pedal...well the car wont start even with my help...

so this master of the carbureator turns me onto a new prospect...a shrinking gasket issue. Says he has seen a car with a shrinking EGR gasket that created a huge vacuum leak when the gasket got too cold and shrunk up. But when the car starts and the manifold heats up the gasket expands as well and the vacuum leak goes away.

This problem doesnt have to be the egr gasket...so what else could we be talking about here? So far his answer seems to be the best match for my symptoms...can anyone else add input here.

Thanks a million to pete the guru! i seriously hope his idea is whats wrong...now to pinpoint the leak....


here is what i have tested so far...

I pulled the CTS connector and that made no difference.

I put the DOVM on the connector for the Choke Thermostat while the car was running and came up with 14.6V so there is voltage getting there.

I also let the car run for about 15 mins and the choke flap in the air horn on the air cleaner never opened...it stayed shut...i think when the car warms up it should begin to open to allow cool air into the TB...I dunno for sure though.