hard cold engine start

[john swenson]

in these really cold temps lately , it takes quite a bit of cranking to get the briggs vanguard to fire up . maybe everyone else in cold weather finds the same . i was just wondering if a primer squeeze bulb in the gas line would help . otherwise it may be just a squirt of carb cleaner in the carb to help get it going . thanks , johnboy va.

[john swenson]

also choke is on to start . jboy

[tbone9]

Give it half throttle while cranking at full choke.

[Laird]

I have a squeeze bulb plus as mentioned, full choke, half throttle and it fires up after 3 or 4 revolutions. That's at around the minus 10 Celsius or 14 F . Any colder than that and I don't need to go anywhere so if is colder than that it may not start. I think it would but I really don't care because it isn't going anywhere anyway. Are you using high octane fuel? There also is a difference apparently in winter and summer gas. Maybe where you are located the gas is the same all year round. I know up here the diesel fuel has a summer and winter rating. Tbone9 will know. I'm in the bananna belt compared to his location.
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[john swenson]

thanks guys .... as i crank with full choke i've been pumping the throttle ...so i'm going out now and do half throttle . lets see . does high octane fire up better and is it much better anyway for the briggs ? usually use regular . jboy

[Bennett20200]

Just my own experience with the fuel bulb/primer: it helps me a lot. It seems that my fuel like to drain out pretty quickly, and if I don't prime it until I can hear it squirting into the carb bowl then I'm in for a very long crank time (just to get the fuel into the Carb). If your carb and lines are staying full though, then a primer bulb may not help you.
As for the high octane fuel, there are a few benefits. Depending on where you live, it may contain a smaller percent (or just zero) ethanol in it, which is nice for our small engine fuel lines, gaskets, and pumps which sometimes don't play nicely with ethanol. It also stores a bit better than the ethanol stuff does (ethanol attracts water). I run it in all my small engines, but it's mostly just for the storage benefits.

[john swenson]

thanks bennett ...i also will check the vacuum line from motor to the fuel pump . if it has a small leak , i may not be getting good pumping until the engine fires up running . does the primer bulb go on the fuel any place before the fuel pump thats easy to get to ? . i usually add some sta bil 360 ethanol treatment additive to the tank . j.b.

[ARGOJIM]

John you want to put an inline shut off near the tank, any tank vacuum would draw the fuel back in.
Curious though, does your oil smell like gas?

[john swenson]

jim ...i do have a shutoff maybe halfway between the tank and fuel pump . i'll check the oil tomorrow for gas smell . so to stop vacuum from drawing fuel back should i shut the valve after running ? seems like it's just in this cold weather it takes more cranking to fire up , otherwise there's been no problem. thanks , j.b.

[Cupwalker]

How cold has it been where you live and do you keep your machine indoors when you're not using it? Where I live it's been(relatively speaking) really cold. We had below zero temps for over a week recently, as low as -16?F. Several weeks prior and since of only single digits above zero and a few days with highs in the teens or 20's. My machine is kept in my garage but it's not heated. If I haven't ran it in a week or two it'll need choke to start but it fires in 2-3 seconds usually. If ran more frequently I dont even need choke. I used it to go ice fishing and it sat for probably 45 minutes in below zero temps and it fired right up. Should I consider myself extremely lucky?
Just wanted to share so you had something to compare to....Cup

[john swenson]

thanks cup ...mine sits in the garage ..not heated either . lowest temps have been around 6 deg. anyway just got back from riding , decided to choke it to shut it off . it made no difference, the engine ran the same . come to find out , the choke cable had slipped in the clamp on the carb so i was getting no choke at all this whole time . re -adjusted the cable and choke now closes . simple fix . i will know tomorrow when i choke it and fire it up . i think in this cold it still takes a strong battery to crank the starter good . jboy

[Cupwalker]

thanks cup ...mine sits in the garage ..not heated either . lowest temps have been around 6 deg. anyway just got back from riding , decided to choke it to shut it off . it made no difference, the engine ran the same . come to find out , the choke cable had slipped in the clamp on the carb so i was getting no choke at all this whole time . re -adjusted the cable and choke now closes . simple fix . i will know tomorrow when i choke it and fire it up . i think in this cold it still takes a strong battery to crank the starter good . jboy

No problem jboy. That choke cable connection at the engine is kind of lame if ya ask me. At least it is on my motor. I'm guessing it's similar to yours even though they're different sizes but I could be wrong. On my motor it's held in place like the throttle cable but it's real sensitive to how tight the bracket bolt is. Even remotely tight and the choke plunger can hardly be pushed in and out. For it to function freely the bracket bolt has to be barely snug. Which doesn't seem right to me at all and I'm always worried about it coming loose from vibration. The cable jacket or sheathe whatever it's called moves under the bracket with little force that's how loose it has to be for the choke plunger to work easily. Hasn't been a problem yet so I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed lol...Cup

[john swenson]

cup...i realize now the choke cable and clamp are something i need to keep a eye on from time to time . should be a way to add another little clamp on the cable housing to keep it in place . check out my last post today '' cold cranking amps '' and see what you think . thanks, jb

[Cupwalker]

You read my mind jb! An extra clamp or something to secure it in a different( better) way would be nice. Maybe make the end of the choke cable the same as a throttle cable?? Make it with the same metal end so the clamp can be tightened enough to secure it yet not impede the movement of the choke cable. Not trying to hijack your thread jb by saying this but I thought you might get a laugh out of it. Ironically enough my briggs vanguard will start easily in the coldest of temperatures and stay running no problem but I'll be damned if I can get it to run like it should ...Cup

[Bennett20200]

Sorry Johnny, I haven't been online much lately to reply. You can put the primer bulb anywhere between the fuel tank and pump that you like, I keep mine close to the fuel tank so that I can pump it from the driver seat easily. Its nice both because I'm a tad bit lazy, and because if my fuel pump ever gives out on me, I can use that primer to force feed fuel to the motor to hopefully limp myself home. Or until my forearms give out, whichever comes first.