My GL has been getting hard to start recently, despite me not changing anything on it in the months since I've installed the Weber. Once warm, it will start fine, but the car usually will not start by cranking when cold. However, if I crank it briefly, then compression start it by rolling downhill, I can get it going. Sooner or later I'm going to have to park someplace flat, though, so I'd like to figure out what's going on. Anyone have any idea where to look? I'd like to get a timing gun and make sure the timing is good, since the car will usually diesel when shutting it off hot.

 

Thx

Does it crank normally when its cold or just like a half crank.

 

Clean your battery cables. Can be a bad battery or bad starter. If the battery is old, i would load test it, as that would be my prime suspect.

 

Also define "cold"

 

 

nipper

How does it run when its warmed up? I would be willing to guess your carb is not opperating correctly. How many miles on the car and/or carb. Might be time for a rebuild. Also ive found that some EA81s are a bit temermental. Mine if its warm likes me to have my foot a bit on the gas to start..at least it used to when it had a hitachi.

Do you have the anti dieseling solenoid hooked up properly? That would affect both starting and shut off dieseling. it should get power when the key is on and none at shut off. I believe the power is supplied through the Rev sensor, so it won't get power until it senses the engine spinning via an ignition pulse.

The car cranks normally when cold, and all other electrical accessories work fine, so I don't think it's a battery issue. By "cold", I mean the coolant is not up to normal operating temperature, such as when I first get into the car in the morning.

 

The car runs perfectly once warmed up, and my weber 32/36 is only about 3,000 miles old, so I doubt it needs a rebuild.

 

As far as I know, the 32/36 doesn't have an anti-dieseling solenoid, and dieseling is a big problem for the car since adding the carb. I've heard that you can add them on after the fact, which I'm definitely interested in. I will have to check though.

i vote for a choke problem.

 

nipper

I just put on a weber and my car doesnt diesel at all with it where it did with the hitachi. I think you need to do some more fine tuning to the carb in the choke and idle settings.

I've also verified that my choke works fine. I talked to a Redline employee today, and he said it sounds like I have the common stuck throttle problem, which prevents the throttle from closing all the way. I'll try fixing it tonight and see what happens.

Alright, I've fixed the dieseling by correcting the idle speed, but the car will still only start by rolling. Perhaps it's time to check the timing?

How many times do you pump the gas before starting it cold?

How many times do you pump the gas before starting it cold?

 

As my great-grandpa would say, I could pump the gas 'til the cows come home, and it still wouldn't start.

Like many problems, this one turned out to have a simple solution. The spark plugs were seriously fouled from months of me flooring the gas as I'd turn the car off to work around the dieseling issue. Now that I've un-stuck the throttle plate so it will close all the way and swapped in a fresh set of spark plugs, my car starts and turns off like a dream I've also advanced the timing a couple degrees from 8, so the car is a bit more peppy now.