[DeTomaso] Why is it hard to start cars that have been sitting for months?

[Thomas Tornblom]

Charles McCall skrev 2011-01-12 20.17:
> If you smell unburnt fuel, then it has to be an ignition problem.
>
> I never have this problem, I flip the key, listen for the fuel pump to
> build pressure, may take another off-on on the key, and when I engage
> the starter it immediately starts and purrs like it was five minutes
> since I switched it off.
> ***Sure - rub it in!! ;-)

;)

>
> When I bought the car it usually only ran on 6 or 7 cylinders on a cold
> start, and also occasionally on idle. That turned out to be a mechanical
> issue with glazed bores and the plugs fouling with engine oil.
>
> What does you plugs look like?
> ***Um, I dunno. It's once again cold and damp, the car is covered again and
> probably won't come out for another 4 months :-( I'll look though.
>
> Should I look at the plugs after it has been sitting, or after starting it?

Im my case it didn't matter. Two of the plugs, #3 and #7, were always 
oily and black, when the other ones were nice and dry.

>
>
> Cheers,
> Thomas

Thomas

>
> Charles McCall skrev 2011-01-12 18.10:
>> Hi all,
>>
>>
>>
>> Please note that this is not a problem, it is curiosity more than anything
>> else.
>>
>>
>>
>> Last weekend it was unseasonably warm. It had rained the entire previous
>> week, washing the salt away. My wife commented that we were out of sherry
> (I
>> don't drink the stuff but she likes it) so I decided to take the Pantera
> out
>> to buy her some sherry. The Spanish equivalent of two states away. It took
>> nearly 4 hours for me to get to the supermarket and back, mostly on
> deserted
>> backroads. Am I self-sacrificing husband or what? I don't know if she'll
> let
>> me go out by myself in the Pantera to go shopping anymore though.
>>
>>
>>
>> Anyway that's not the point. The car hadn't been started for probably 4
>> months, literally. During that time, all the fuel evaporated from the carb
>> and fuel line, so it took a while for the engine to fire. The battery was
>> fully charged (thanks Thomas!!) so turning the engine over was no problem.
>> All that I see as perfectly normal and understandable.
>>
>>
>>
>> When the engine fired, I think it was running on about 2.5 cylinders for
> the
>> first minute. Then another cylinder joined the party. Probably literally
> two
>> minutes after starting the engine, another cylinder began firing. The car
>> rocked and shook due to the imbalance, and I was filling the garage with
>> unburned fuel. I pulled out of the garage and the car was probably running
>> on 7 cylinders. It was possibly a good 4-5 minutes before it was running
> on
>> all 8.
>>
>>
>>
>> And then all was fine. With the engine warm and all the cobwebs out the
>> engine ran and felt perfect.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm just curious as to what is happening mechanically in a cold engine
> that
>> hasn't been started for many months that prevents certain cylinders from
>> firing until good and warm. It's an intellectual exercise more than
> anything
>> else, although I do wonder if there is something that my engine is telling
>> me.
>>
>>
>>
>> Is this caused by a weak spark? Plugs that don't fire when cold? There are
>> only three possiblities, right? Lack of air, lack of fuel, or lack of
> spark.
>> Obviously if oxygen reaches one cylinder with a common carb and manifold,
> it
>> ought to reach all of them. Same with fuel I think. That only leaves
> sparks.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Does some kind of crud form over the spark plugs if they sit for months?
>> Does it all burn off if so? Is my engine telling me that I need to change
> my
>> plugs? Is this temperature related or time-related - by that I mean does
> the
>> engine smooth out because the plugs have warmed up to operating temp or
>> because they need x minutes of firing to burn off the crud?
>>
>>
>>
>> I've got an MSD 6AL in case anyone is curious.
>>
>>
>>
>> Again, this isn't a problem, I'm just wondering what's happening inside my
>> engine (or any engine for that matter) when it sits for months at a time.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>>
>>
>> Charles McCall
>>
>> 1985 DeTomaso Pantera GT5-S #9375
>>
>> "Raising Pantera Awareness Across Europe"
>>
>>    <http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2323>
>> http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=2323
>>
>>
>>
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