Starting Question

[stevemus1]

Here's my question...

I have a 69 with the orig 289. Brand new High torque starter, wires, batt, coil, plugs. Orig dizzy, points seem clean, contacts good.

Its the winter, so I start the bronco once a week just to keep it going. Fires right up with a choke, idles nicely. Never not starts.

Drove it around today, and this issue happened, 2nd time in a year that I have owned it.

Shut the engine off to visit a friend, truck sat for 20 mins. Went to leave, turned ignition, NO choke, tapped the gas like I always do when starting, and NOTHING. Turned over strong, but wouldnt start. batt drained down of course, and had to get a jump. When jumped, it took about 10 seconds of me cranking the engine with NO gas pedal depression, and it started.

I want to fix this, bc if I didnt have a jump, I would have been screwed. Like i said, she always fires right up cold, never have issues... this is the 2nd time this happened, and i cant think if why it wouldnt just fire right up nice and warm... majkes me afraid to take it out bc you never know when it could happen.

Is this just the BS you deal with, with a carb and manual choke? Do I need EFI to be surefire good? Or, would elec ignition maybe work, like pertronix?

Love some answers... thanks

 

[broncnaz]

How much are you cranking it before it dies? a new battery shouldnt die that quickly. Lots of things can cause the issue. Old gas, flooded engine due to fuel boiling out of the carb. Which would also cause the carb to be empty of fuel also causing the issue. There's a whole lot of things that can do it. You really need to do some troubleshooting when it happens to figure out the exact reason. I'd probably pull the spark plugs and check them when it happens see if they are wet or dry that will tell you a lot. But it sounds like the engine is flooding hence all the cranking.
Electronic igintions help but wont fix it. EFI is good but really this is not a standard issue with carbs. Its something that can happen with EFI as well but I guess you could hook a code reader to EFI and maybe have a better idea as to whats wrong. but still spend $1K on EFI or just do a little trouble shooting and probably fix it for less than $50

 

[stevemus1]

thanks for the advice

I think my carb might be off a bit. Its a Holley 2BBL, ive cleand it twice and I retuned everything "by ear" so Im sure the specs are prob off a bit.

follow up question: why would it fire right up cold with a choke, but then after its been warm, not fire right up without the choke? maybe i am screwing up the fuel amounts for ideal starting by pressing the pedal too much? this is my first carbed truck.....

thanks again

 

[broncnaz]

Sometimes it can just be a learning curve of what any particular setup takes to start. It probably does need to be tuned to start better. both igintion timing and carb tuning are part of this. Pushing the throttle when cold is needed because of a cold engine which needs more fuel to start. sometimes pushing the throttle when warm will flood the engine. When tuning your engine just make sure its at full operating temp.
Typically I can start my bronco without touching the pedal when its warm.

 

[stevemus1]

makes sense.... maybe i flooded it, and then it took alot of cranks an time to get the right mixture....

ill get the carb tuned.... thanks a lot