Cold start procedure

[Dino]

It's embarrassing but I honestly don't know how I'm supposed to start my car when it sits for a while.  It's a 6545S Thermoquad and I do not have a choke, at all.  I know that if it had I would have to pump the pedal once to set the choke but since it does not have one, what is the correct procedure?  It takes minutes for this thing to fire up if it sits for more than a few days.

Can I assume that the crappy fuel has left the carb and I need to fill the bowls before it can fire up?  At this time it won't even give me an indication it would fire up, it just cranks and cranks and I pump and pump.   

Should I pump several times to let the accelerator pump squirt gas down there before I attempt to start it?  I really don't want to install an electric pump as I am hoping to get this system back to stock specs with a choke and heater air cleaner but if all else fails I may have to do just that.

Maybe there's an easy way to install a manual choke? 

[1974dodgecharger]

I know its not as cold as MI but we do get down to to 35 degrees here in AZ.  I pump it to fill the up and crank and press gas pedal and hold for 1500 rpms for nearly 5 mins....,what a waste of gas.....

[Dino]

We're currently a little warmer than that although not by much.  I put my plugs back in, reset the metering tree which was only off by a quarter turn and tried to start.  I pumped 5-10 times and cranked for 5 seconds, repeated this about 4 times before it started to indicate fuel was getting ignited.  A few more pumps and it fired up.  Once it does I can keep it running just by holding it around 1100 or so rpm (guessing here).  It seems that there was simply no fuel in the bowls but I'm guessing again.  At least it was a little easier to start compared to yesterday so pumping seems to be the thing to do. 

[RECHRGD]

Dino, I have a Holley D/P with a proform main body and no choke.  I normally just crank it over a couple of times to get the oil circulating a bit and then pump the pedal eight or ten times before turning the key.  It will usually fire right up, but I need to feather it for a bit until it will idle on its own.  The colder it is, the more pedal pumping you have to do.  

[Dino]

Alright that seems to be pretty much what I have to do.  It used to start up easier when cold but so much has changed on this car that it is hard to pinpoint what the cause is.  It probably ran way too rich before. 

When I change the cam I intend to install some type of choke to make this a bit easier.  Funny how long it takes before it acts like this.  When I took the car out last week it sat for about 5 hours and fired right up.  A day more and it's cranking time.  So it seems this fuel evaporates slowly, but surely.   

[b5blue]

  After fiddling with my six pack choke, replacing the vacuum pull off and thermal do-dad checking this and that I started looking in a manual choke. When I posted about it a member showed me how and it took about 12 bucks and 1 hour. I had to enlarge one hole a bit but just removed a few parts but honestly it works like a charm!
  Several factors make a manual choke a good idea especially on an automatic transmission car. Firstly if the engine is having to be revved up to keep from stalling buy your hitting the gas if you put it in gear to move backwards, your slamming the crap out of the reverse solenoid. It can jam or stick engaged leaving you stuck binding forward and reverse battling it out inside your transmission if you try to go forward. Even if that's not happened (yet) your slamming pump pressures as they drop from near zero to too much as your struggling to keep the engine running. Other factors are things like our cars can sit for days or weeks while we work on them. We could be changing parts or adjustments to the engine, have stale fuel or other issues like weak spark/battery that an automatic choke can't compensate for.
  I'm not saying only have a manual choke, when everything is stable and tuned/adjusted it's probably better. In my case I use my Charger to go to work about 2 miles away. Florida is so hot 90% of the time I want to pull off choke ASAP just to keep extra fuel out of my cylinders. The 440 tells me when exactly I can kill choke so I plan on keeping manual choke. I'm certain there is a kit, mine came with a bunch of adapters and nothing was destroyed to install so you can put it back to stock later.       

[b5blue]

Alright that seems to be pretty much what I have to do.  It used to start up easier when cold but so much has changed on this car that it is hard to pinpoint what the cause is.  It probably ran way too rich before. 

When I change the cam I intend to install some type of choke to make this a bit easier.  Funny how long it takes before it acts like this.  When I took the car out last week it sat for about 5 hours and fired right up.  A day more and it's cranking time.  So it seems this fuel evaporates slowly, but surely.   

Keep in mind with no choke it's harder for the engine to get fuel when it needs it the most, mine can sit for days but fires right up with the choke on. The choke plate being closed sucks fuel out of the bowls to get the engine lit. Your not moving much fuel cranking.

[Dino]

That was my though as well, this pump is fine once there's fuel in the bowls, but it takes a while to get it there.  I'm going to look into installing a manual choke, I think it'll work fine for me.  Heck it works great on my little lawn tractor!   

[b5blue]

Here is a bunch of info, it said a manual choke kit is widely available: http://www.carbkitsource.com/carbs/tech/Carter/pages/thermoquad%20-%20AUS.html

[John_Kunkel]

From my personal experience the TQ is one carb that really needs a functioning choke.

[tan top]

on a daily , better to have a choke   ,
if your running with out a choke , be an idea to richen the  idle mixture up a little , spin the motor over on the starter for a bit , to get the fuel up into the float bowls , if left over night  , pump the gas 3 or 4  times  , then fire it up , if it just dies again nother couple of pumps of the gas , when it fires , slowly ( gently ) ease down of the gas pedal increase the rpm to 900 - 1300 or  ( what would be considered a fast idle for your set up ) , depending how cold the ( temperature )is ,  hold it there for a bit till the  motor gets a bit of heat in it  , &  away you go  , (( there are a few variables ie what climate conditions & how rich your idle mixture is , as to how many pumps / cranking time , holding the rpm at a fast idle etc , ))  don't start jabbing on the gas pedal while the motor is still cold & or your cranking it over , will end up shooting ducks out the top of the  carb & prolly  stalling the motor & or maybe setting the air filter alight.

[flyinlow]

As a fellow owner /operator of the plastic fantastic, I have to agree with John that the TQ needs a choke in the winter.  With Eddy heads, an unheated Street Dominator intake and a cold air system the TQ is not exactly in its comfort zone. I soldered a lever too the existing choke rod attachment  point . A manual choke cable was installed an the cable routed around the carb in front with the sheathing ending near the front passenger side of the carb  at a fabricated bracket. The bare cable extends back to the new lever. This lets the choke on position be with the knob pulled out.

To operate, pump the gas a few times ending with the gas pedal down about 1/2 way . Pull the choke knob  out all the way ,then push in a slight amount. Release the gas petal. Start the engine. The engine should idle 1000-1200 rpm at first. After about 10 seconds you can open the choke about half way. After about 1-2 minutes depending on temp. you can turn off the choke. It will idle a little slow at first then gradually achieve a normal idle as the engine warms fully. Not perfect but it's passable. Without a choke you will need to pump the gas petal 10 or more times to prime the engine assuming you have enough fuel left in the bowls and then feather the gas petal until it will run on it's own.

As far as the carb being dry after it sits for awhile there are three choices.
1. leave as is crank the engine alot.
2. install a small electric pump on for priming the carb. 
3. Pull the evap vapor hose off the carb , the large one going to the air horn high on the passenger side. Put a length of 3/8 fuel hose on the nipple. Using a squirt bottle of gasoline , bottle feed enough gas to the carb to start it. It works but don't over do it or it floods the engine. 

[1974dodgecharger]

that what I do, but with less pumps usually 2 pumps and she fires, but I gotta hold gas down for awhile.....I don't have a choke.

on a daily , better to have a choke   ,
if your running with out a choke , be an idea to richen I idle mixture up a little , spin the motor over on the starter for a bit , to get the fuel up into the float bowls , if left over night  , pump the gas 3 or 4  times  , then fire it up , if it just dies again nother couple of pumps of the gas , when it fires , slowly ( gently ) ease down of the gas pedal increase the rpm to 900 - 1300 ( what would be considered a fast idle for your set up ) , depending how cold the it is ( temperature ) hold it there for a bit till the  motor gets a bit of heat in it  , &  away you go  , (( there are a few variables ie what climate conditions & how rich your idle mixture is , as to how many pumps / cranking time , holding the rpm at a fast idle etc , ))  don't start jabbing on the gas pedal while the motor is still cold & or your cranking it over , will end up shooting ducks out the top of the  carb & prolly  stalling the motor & or maybe setting the air filter alight.

[Dino]

Plastic fantastic     That's priceless.

Thanks for the info guys.  I'm actually happy to hear it's quite normal for a TQ to have starting issus with a choke.  I almost bought a TQ with electric choke a while back, but the price was pretty high and I felt it was a bit overkill to buy another carb yet again.  I'll do some homework and see what I can come up with to get a choke on this thing. 

[1974dodgecharger]

chokes nice, but I do look like a oddball in morning going home from work idling at 1200 to 1500 trying to keep my foot in place for the right RPM and being a muscle car its loud....especially at my company that's all about being, 'green' 

[don duick]

Dino, heres a photo of a manual choke I made for a carter avs

[Cooter]

Think it's bad with a non functioning choke? Try a Holley with no choke horn/tower at all. (Think Dominator). When it's really cold, forget it.

[71 SE3834V]

Dino, Do you have a choke plate but it's not hooked up? I should know this having looked down your carb before.
If you have the choke plate there I have a push/pull cable you can have if you want to try to rig something up to try. It's only 39" long though. Don't know if that'll work.
Oh, and I have some cable clamps you might be able to attach to the carb like don did.

[Dino]

Thanks Don for the picture and Jeff for the offer.     I do have the choke plate.   

I'll bring the old beast over this weekend Jeff, did you still want to check the compression?

[71 SE3834V]

Thanks Don for the picture and Jeff for the offer.    I do have the choke plate.  

I'll bring the old beast over this weekend Jeff, did you still want to check the compression?

Yeah we can do that. Shouldn't take that long to shove my trans up in place. Looks like some nice weather coming. Might be the last nice days for a while.

[Dino]

Yep but we can't complain, we had a good year.

Trans comes first, we'll look at mine only if the time is there.  I'd drive the car regardless, I always do.   

[68CoronetRT]

This seems odd to me. I give it two pumps and hit the key and it might turn 1 revolution before firing and idling. I do have to hold the RPM up for 20-40 seconds depending on how cold it is.

Running a Holley 770

[Dino]

This seems odd to me. I give it two pumps and hit the key and it might turn 1 revolution before firing and idling. I do have to hold the RPM up for 20-40 seconds depending on how cold it is.

Running a Holley 770

Is this without a choke? 

With the Edelbrock carbs and electric choke the car starts up fine, but they run like crap so the TQ is back on.

I'll rig up a choke for it and when finances allow i'll be efi time but that may be a while. school is draining my account faster than I can fill it.  I barely drive the car anymore because it's such a pain dealing with all this.  It was disappointing to find after all this work the car runs worse than before and it really took the wind out of my sails.     

[don duick]

This seems odd to me. I give it two pumps and hit the key and it might turn 1 revolution before firing and idling. I do have to hold the RPM up for 20-40 seconds depending on how cold it is.

Running a Holley 770

yep that sounds right. I have  750 holley VS starts straight away no choke and idles and I can drive off  in warm weather. when cold weather needs 1/2 choke for about a minute.

[Dino]

I took the car out today, turned the key and it rumbled for a split second so that must've been what was left in the carb, fumes probably.  Pumped it several times and cranked for a few seconds, repeated this and it started to come to life, did it again ad it fired up.  Not ideal but a lot better than before.  This is after sitting for a week or more so the fuel must've evaporated.  71 SE3834V rigged up a choke for me today so I'll test it out tomorrow.  At this time the car had been sitting for about 4 hours and was still warm enough to fire up without a choke.  Starting is only an issue when it sits for a while.  I sure had a blast on the freeway again.