Hello,
Looking for advice as to troubleshooting
cold start problem. Takes a lot of cranking
when engine is cold but once started runs great and no problems starting when warm. I suspect its the choke but it seems OK. How do you check the automatic choke? Should
it be totally closed when cold? Also looking
for advice when starting this car cold, I'm
used to fuel injection, do you pump the acelerator before starting or can this flood the engine.
Thanks for any input,
Charles

In order to check an electric choke, I have just unscrewed the three screws holding the choke assembly and then watch: With the engine cold turn on the key(don't start) Then you can either use a voltmeter to see if you have voltage to the wire at the choke, or just watch the bi-metalic spring move. This will take some time (about 2-5 min.) But you should be able to see it move (in relation to where it was) a little. Hop this helps. I had to replace mine on my 84 because it would not open.

Charlie,
The proper procedure for starting the car is to press the accelerator to the floor all the way once. This allows the choke to close. It should be totally closed at this point. If the carb is worn some, you may have to floor it a couple of times to get a good shot of fuel from the accelerator pump. Once you do this, just crank it with your foot off the pedal. If everything is working properly, the engine should start and come up to a fast idle. Once the choke warms up, it will open and the idle will drop. If you are following this procedure and the car still wont start after sitting overnight, there could be a problem with the carb. Q-jets are known to develop a leak in the base that allows the fuel to slowly leak out overnight, making for a lot of cranking first thing in the AM.
Try the procedure and see how it works, keep in mind that you may even have to "play" with the gas pedal a bit when it first starts to keep pumping a bit of fuel in, carbs are not as sophisticated as Fuel Injection, but actually work pretty good when they are working right.
Hope this helps,

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Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md