• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Finally starting properly

Share this page

Nelson

Nelson

Jedi Warrior
Country flag
Offline
Ever since my Sprite was "finished" late this summer it has not wanted to start without a small whiff of starting fluid. With the starting fluid it would start instantly. Once it was run for even a few minutes it would start quickly with no hesitation. I was told to raise the fuel level and raised it as high as the adjustment would go and still it needed the starting fluid. Today a light bulb finally went off in my head. In looking down at the jets with the domes removed they were only maybe an eighth of an inch down even with the choke cable all the way out. When I examined where the choke cable is attached to the jet levers I saw that there was a bit of slack. Consequently the jets did not move for the first movement of the choke knob. Bingo! Reattaching the cable to take up the slack meant that the jets would pull further down. Now after sitting several hours in a 30 degree garage the engine fired right up without anything other than the choke being pulled out all the way. HOORAY!!
 
Oh well done, what a nice feeling it is when the light bulb goes off.
 
One of the big advantages of the BE, over say the later cars and my MGAs is that one can look right at the side of the SUs. One can check if the pistons ride up and down the same, and also if the choke is moving the jets enough. Most of the other BCs one has to use a mirror or try to see from the top. Good work
Scott in CA
 
Back
Top