Idle Problem..cold weather?

[sui_winbolo]

I didn't drive my '83 GP this winter because I don't have snow tires for it and the roads are terrible during the winter.

I started it up last week for the first time since November. Had little trouble getting it running alright. I took it out on the highway and ran it around town a little bit and it was running good. Took it out a couple hours later, still running good.

However, today it's a little cold outside, 36*F. It started right up, but it wouldn't idle right. I know I should have warmed it up a bit. But it sucks because I have to sit in my car and give it gas to just keep it from dying.

So I drove it to the church, it would idle down really low at stop signs, but it never stalled.

An hour and half later it was even worse. I sat in my car revving it for 5 minutes, reversed out and pulled forward. It felt like it was going to stall at every stop sign, and it was very slow to accelerate. I wanted to get home because it was raining pretty bad out and it's cold.

It's a pontiac 301 v8, with an Edelbrock 4bbl auto-choke carburetor.

Is there really a problem here? Or was my car struggling because of the cold weather?

It just doesn't seem normal in order to warm my car up I have to sit in and rev it constantly to keep it alive.

 

[pokertramp]

how much gas was in the tank while it was sitting? You might want to try some dry gas and see if that helps.

 

[Geesie]

First step is to adjust the choke pull-off. It took me a lot of very small adjustments, trial-and-error style, to get my 81 Regal running well in very cold weather. It still needed a while to warm up to run without dying when the temp was in the teens or below.

 

[sui_winbolo]

how much gas was in the tank while it was sitting? You might want to try some dry gas and see if that helps.

It's sitting at about 10 gallons or so.

You think the choke might need to be adjusted? If I adjusted it for colder weather. Would that effect the idle when it gets hot out?

 

[Geesie]

The choke pulloff only functions at start-up. When the car warms up, the thermostat controls it.

Also check your fast idle settings.

 

[sui_winbolo]

Awe, okay. Thanks for the help! :wink:

 

[Geesie]

When the car starts up, the choke plate is closed, giving the rich mixture needed to fire the engine up. As soon as engine vacuum is built up, the choke pulloff opens the choke plate a fraction of an inch to lean it out a little but keep it rich until the choke thermostat opens it up more. So in cold weather, you'll want to adjust the pulloff so that it keeps the mixture richer longer (but not too much or you'll choke the engine to death!).