having been away for some weeks I got in the car on Monday and turned it over and it really struggled to start. A good 15 seconds of starter motor was needed. This is normal for my car (2e2 carb) when left for over a week but is very different from teh more usual jump in and she starts immeadiatly which is normal if the car is parked up for only 1 or 2 days (or even 3-4 days) so why is the car so much harder to start when left for some weeks as opposed to 2 days? this is not a battery issue as the battery is very good, even after 15 seconds of turning over there was no drop in speed/ revs. I am assuming it is something to do with the carb/ choke. thoughts?
Sounds like your float chamber's emptying itself? Could be a fuel leak via the 'power valve' (split diaphragm), can't think of much else*. Next time you leave it for a while, whip off the airbox, carefully prise out the little mesh filter at the rear of the top of the carb, and shine a torch down the hole to see if the float-chamber has any fuel in it. Maybe?! *Edit: been watching my car porn again, this time Carburation, the basic principles. In this one another mechanism of float-chamber emptying/leakage is mentioned. Siphoning due to blockage of air jets at the top of the carb. These help mix fuel and air into an emulsion in the various fuel delivery passages, but also help prevent fuel release after shutdown (or change of vacuum conditions) due to siphoning. Wouldn't have thought of that, well, I didn't...!
few months ago i had problem that i could not start my car and i had bad start at all. and one morning i was trying about 15 minutes and i could not, i push my gas pedal down and pump it and nothing. than i tried for about few more minutes and than i had big explossion from my car but no smoke just smell. and i tryied more and i had explossions in my car and black smoke at exhaust. than i check cables and sparks and there where fine on the first look. than i buy new sparks put it and car started immediately when i just turn my key little bit and everything was fine. i did not have problem with start at all after that even when you drive car for miles and stop car then you start it without problem. i had also problem when my car ishot you stop it, and cant start immediatly you need few seconds to keep key turned. so now no problem at all. i heard from guys in garages that compression make bit different in cold start. but leaks of power valve possible. you should keep you carb very clean. i did not believe but it make sence to keep it clean, because of that you have on problem down always and do doubts about durts. one thing from my experience is igntion timing if it is preignition then start is good and sharper and bit noise with first explosion better. but when it is late it is bad and you have to keep key turned few seconds and this true from my parking experience just move distributor to right side and ignition is better, you need just touch key and car is starting i tried that and works. one more thing is that i had bad durty air filter with and breathing was bad and cause bad starting, true but stupid right.
Could it be fuel evaporating over time? I would expect an increase in time taken to start to be in proportion to the time left standing. Does weather make a difference? Wondering if water ingress over time could cause starting problems. Could be discounted though if left for over a week in the dry.
Could also be evaporation (as gbk says above), I suppose you could find out whether it was that, or a leak by opening the choke flap and primary throttle wide, shining a (powerful!) torch down the primary venturi, and see if you can see a wet hedgehog , or not. Edit: Probably easier actually to 'whip off' the power valve and carefully inspect it for defective bits, 'cos if there's any fuel at all anywhere in the carb, opening the primary throttle'll tend to squirt a bit out of the accelerator pump, confounding the (visual) experiment, I think. Edit: actually, I think if you open the primary throttle very slowly this wouldn't be a problem. Edit2: and as Shex says, always make sure all your ignition components are in good condition before blaming the carb for just about anything. Also a clean air filter is a must, fuel filter too. This is a general piece of advice, easy to overlook; though I'd be quite surprised if you hadn't sorted these items Drew. Shex: people will find it easier to see the wisdom in your posts if you split your text up into paragraphs.
