7.4L Hard Starting

[Bottom Line 2013]

Have a 7.4L with TB IV ignition and Edelbrock 1409 carb electric choke and mechanical fuel pump. When cold engine is hard to start. Fuel is good, plenty of cranking power, good spark. With one shot of starting fluid it will fire right up. Idles and runs fine. Will restart after shutting down. However, the next weekend same thing all over again. Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[alldodge]

Re: 7.4L Hard Starting

Have a 7.4L with TB IV ignition and Edelbrock 1409 carb electric choke and mechanical fuel pump. When cold engine is hard to start. Fuel is good, plenty of cranking power, good spark. With one shot of starting fluid it will fire right up. Idles and runs fine. Will restart after shutting down. However, the next weekend same thing all over again. Any thoughts? Thanks.

My 1995 Rinker has the same setup. It is always harder to start after setting a week or so. I now just disengage the shifter and crank the engine for about 10 seconds. Then pump a couple times and try again. The longer it sits the more short pumps and re-crank, but she does fire right up. Just the nature of the beast.

Edit: forgot :welcome: to iboats

 

[DeepBlue2010]

Re: 7.4L Hard Starting

Same issue here. As AllDodge said the nature of the beast. I always give it a 4-5 pumps and advance the throttle - with the engine disengaged of course - a little forward then crank it. It works most of the times. Occasionally I need to do this few times. I am in Seattle area, few days ago I went early in the morning – it was about 40F – and I couldn’t get it to start at all. I manually opened the flap that is connected to the choke and she fired right up. Not sure what is that means in my case, I start doubting that my electrical choke is working.


Another thing I want to ask the experts about is the oil weight for this area? Does oil weight has anything to do with hard cold start?

Sorry, don’t mean to hijack your thread but both of us might benefit from the answer.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: 7.4L Hard Starting

...Edelbrock 1409 carb electric choke .... When cold engine is hard to start.

Is the choke closed when the engine is cold? Pull the flame arrester and see. A couple of pumps of the throttle before starting is always a good thing.

 

[Bottom Line 2013]

Re: 7.4L Hard Starting

Is the choke closed when the engine is cold? Pull the flame arrester and see. A couple of pumps of the throttle before starting is always a good thing.

What do you think the starting fluid is overcoming? One quick shot gets it going and running fine. Too much fuel/too little?

 

[Fishermark]

Re: 7.4L Hard Starting

What do you think the starting fluid is overcoming? One quick shot gets it going and running fine. Too much fuel/too little?

Too little fuel. It sounds like the choke is not closing. Get rid of the starting fluid. It can cause more damage than it solves. A properly working choke should solve your problems.

 

[alldodge]

Re: 7.4L Hard Starting

Same issue here. As AllDodge said the nature of the beast. I always give it a 4-5 pumps and advance the throttle - with the engine disengaged of course - a little forward then crank it. It works most of the times. Occasionally I need to do this few times. I am in Seattle area, few days ago I went early in the morning – it was about 40F – and I couldn’t get it to start at all. I manually opened the flap that is connected to the choke and she fired right up. Not sure what is that means in my case, I start doubting that my electrical choke is working.


Another thing I want to ask the experts about is the oil weight for this area? Does oil weight has anything to do with hard cold start?

Sorry, don’t mean to hijack your thread but both of us might benefit from the answer.

Sounds like Fisermark got it, need to make sure when your choke closes it still has a 1/8 air gap on the top. To much choke just floods it even when it's cold.

Oil weight can slow it down a bit but shouldn't impact the starting enough to notice; that is unless you have a weak battery, starter or bad connections.

What do you think the starting fluid is overcoming? One quick shot gets it going and running fine. Too much fuel/too little?

Agree with Fishermark, Carb still going to need a pump or two.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: 7.4L Hard Starting

me three (or four) . . . My 7.4L w/ mechanical fuel pump was hard to start after sitting a week or so. If I ran the boat the very next day, it usually started right up.

If it sat for a week or longer, I would have to crank the engine for a good 15 seconds or so to get it to fire up . I attributed the issue to the fuel draining back down from the carb into the filter & tank. Seems like it took a bit of cranking to get the fuel to re-prime. I never really worried about it, because it always seemed to start after a bit of cranking.

Now, I got these new fangled MPI 7.4L engines and they start after about 10 revolutions . . .

 

[Bondo]

Re: 7.4L Hard Starting

What do you think the starting fluid is overcoming? One quick shot gets it going and running fine. Too much fuel/too little?

Ayuh,.... It's the Carter AFB carb design,... All of the clones tend to leak off the bowls, some worse than others,...

The Merc/ Webers seem to be the worst,... but Edlebrocks I guess aren't immune,...

The ether allows the fuel pump to refill the carb,...

Next time, disconnect the throttle linkage at the carb, 'n pump it,...

Betcha, She's be Dry as a bone,...

 

[OldNBold51]

Re: 7.4L Hard Starting

I'm with all the other guys on their starting procedure. The longer my 7.4 sits idle (1-3 weeks), the more cranking I have to do, or i should say the more cranking and pumping.

Me, I crank for a bit assuming that the carb is dry and I start pumping a few strokes. With time, I crank less and pump more.

 

[Bottom Line 2013]

Re: 7.4L Hard Starting

I'm with all the other guys on their starting procedure. The longer my 7.4 sits idle (1-3 weeks), the more cranking I have to do, or i should say the more cranking and pumping.

Me, I crank for a bit assuming that the carb is dry and I start pumping a few strokes. With time, I crank less and pump more.

Thanks guys. I'll take a lookm at the carb with the flame arrester off when I get to the boat nexdt weekend.