Cold Starting

[RRoller123]

Just thought I would pass this along, because I am so impressed with the 35 year old FI system in my Spider: I need to move the Spider out of the garage in order to have any room at all to do woodworking, so it goes out in the morning, sometimes stays out overnight (covered) if there is no precipitation forecast, etc. Well the last week or two it has been brutally cold, and the car has started as easily as it ever does in the height of the Summer. -5F this morning and it started right up instantly. I have Mark's disty replacement system in there, otherwise the FI is stock. -5F is the coldest so far, but it has started with the same ease many times around zero or a little below. Good old girl.

[spider2081]

Great to hear you car is running so well. I too have been impressed with the stock FI system on my 81.

[So Cal Mark]

with our ignition, if you have fuel it will start!

[RRoller123]

Old mechanic in NH in the early 70's said to me:

"Yuh gotta have fuel, yuh gotta have spahk, yuh gotta have ayuh, and it will staht."

The Computronics certainly provides the spahk.

[76was124]

"Yuh gotta have fuel, yuh gotta have spahk, yuh gotta have ayuh, and it will staht."

The Computronics certainly provides the spahk.

Hillarious, I now know how to spell correctly when I email colleagues in New England!

[GeorgeT]

Fuel injection is one of the best developments for cars. I grew up with automatic and manual choked carburetors and it was a roll of the dice on cold winter days and if you had an automatic choke it would often stick. The last car I had with a manual choke was a 1982 Mazda RX7 - you would set the choke to start and it was held open by an electromagnet, when it reached operating temps the magnet was turned off and a spring would pull the choke off.

[phaetn]

-5F this morning and it started right up instantly. I have Mark's disty replacement system in there, otherwise the FI is stock. -5F is the coldest so far, but it has started with the same ease many times around zero or a little below. Good old girl.

Wow! That's impressive.

For those of you not used to those types of colder climes, you need one more thing apart from fuel, spark, and air with that ambient temperature: A battery with enough juice to actually crank an engine with oil as thick as molasses until it warms up.

I have a fading battery and back in November on some below freezing days where the car had been sitting in the parking lot all day it took a few tries (albeit with a carb and a not well functioning choke). Not that I would ever put one on a Spider, but we have block heaters around these parts to warm up the oil in the morning before actually starting the car. I suppose newer cars also start a lot more easily because of synthetic oils and engine tolerances so tight that the oil isn't that thick and doesn't even need to get replaced but for every 30,000km / 20,000miles as per a new Audi.

Quite a contrast to my sloppy '74 running 20W50 where the oil becomes a cold goo in freezing weather and I burn/leak so much oil during the summer that a full 5 quarts is probably replaced every month just through top ups.

Cheers,
phaetn

[garion]

Actually, that Audi manual says every 10k miles..The oil change is ticked off in every column..

I actually change my Audi's oil every 5k.. The turbo burns it, so there's no way I'd ever get to 10k.. I get to 3k before i have to drop a quart in.. Known issue in my generation of car.. The oil gets sucked up, and ends up in the intercooler.. When i changed the timing belt, I disconnected that intercooler and a whole bunch of oil dripped out on me..

[phaetn]

Actually, that Audi manual says every 10k miles..The oil change is ticked off in every column...

Ahh, I gottcha! Thanks for the correction: I was just reading the first column. Clever Germans confused me on that one by using a non-linear progression. I was astounded at the mileage. Turns out there was as reason to be -- it wasn't true!

Still, modern engines in even economy cars are a technical marvel compared to our old ones -- so if not oil changes, then amazing compression rations, the ingenuity of variable valve timing, previously unheard of power output per litre -- all that short of stuff.

There's sometime to be said for the old stuff, though. The only computer chip that I can think of in my car is embedded in the modern-era radio the previous owner put it. I like it that way!

Cheers,
phaetn

[4uall]

Love me some F.I. Had to take Fiona out of the garage today so we could move a couch out Started instantly Was tempted to go do some donuts on the snowy streets

[RRoller123]

This is for 76was124:

The old Vermonter was asked: "Have you lived here your whole life?"

To which he replied: "..... not yet."

[bradartigue]

Actually, that Audi manual says every 10k miles..The oil change is ticked off in every column..

I actually change my Audi's oil every 5k.. The turbo burns it, so there's no way I'd ever get to 10k.. I get to 3k before i have to drop a quart in.. Known issue in my generation of car.. The oil gets sucked up, and ends up in the intercooler.. When i changed the timing belt, I disconnected that intercooler and a whole bunch of oil dripped out on me..

I had the 2.7T biturbo in an allroad. Engine was good for about 80k before the turbos started sounding like little whistles. Known issue with that generation: it was poorly engineered. Great car with a short lifespan. For some reason I kept buying them...the coup de gras was walking home to get my FIAT so I could get to my (dead) Audi. And they are no more.

[phaetn]

I know this is going back a while, but a (very) rich kid at my high school in the '80s had a black Audi Quattro Sport.



Back when I was 15 and 16 I was drooling over that car -- this is still during the Group B rallying era. The owner must have been 18 at the time. His dad was in the Malaysian import/export business and had cash to burn. I remember the dealership cringed every time the kid came in because he kept messing up the engine (I used to hang around the Porsche / Audi dealer because I knew the owner and got to know the guys that worked there). I guess the kid didn't let the car warm up or cool down properly, but would thrash it and then just cut the ignition when still very hot and it somehow affected the turbo (maybe the bearings, I dunno, but it wouldn't spool properly).

Now THOSE Audi turbos sure had reliability issues.

I'm not sure what it is about cars during our formative years, but I still find the Quattro Sport dead-sexy...

Sorry everyone for digressing off-topic about Audis.

Back to our regular Fiat programming: I MISS DRIVING MY CAR!!!

[70spider]

My '70 starts on the first try even at 0 (cooldest so far) but if I do not keep my foot on the throtle (I use the pull knob to set it around 2k) it will die. The idle is very lumpy until it warms up, maybe a sticking valve.

[bradartigue]

My '70 starts on the first try even at 0 (cooldest so far) but if I do not keep my foot on the throtle (I use the pull knob to set it around 2k) it will die. The idle is very lumpy until it warms up, maybe a sticking valve.

No it's just a 1970s car. My parents have this weird memory of old cars being simple and therefore simple was reliable. But do you remember how many 70s cars were on the side of the road, or leaked something, even when new? Or they were hard to start or lumpy or whatever.

Sounds like you just have a good old fashioned air leak that closes up when things get hot. Not uncommon. Sometimes the carb itself has worn bushings and air gets by until things get hot and tolerances close.