The art of starting the banger

who the fug

that earlier thread about Electrics reminded me, that starting a car in winter Ireland was an art form in itself

The brother

Opel Reckord

Put coffee on , put oven on a low gas, insert leads

Brew coffee

Take leads out of oven, and proceed to car with coffee

Connect the leads start car and leave to warm up whilst drinking coffee



Moi

Fiat 131 2000 Diesel

Find piece of wire which should be under the driver seat

Touch one end to live lead on battery, other end to bar linking the glow plugs
Count to five
try starting

Normally worked on the first go



So what was your morning ritual to start the banger in the deepest winter

Max_Damage

My '82 Escort Mk3:

Pull out the choke slightly.

Turn engine over. Won't start.

Pull out the choke more.

Turn engine over. Won't start.

Get out, open bonnet, take off air filter, squirt some petrol down the carb.

Turn engine over, and it starts!

Keep the foot slightly on the accelerator for about 2-3 minutes until it warms up enough not to cut out by itself.

carchaeologist

Datsun 100A pull choke, turn key, start ...;)

Gary ITR

My father had a 1980 Mazda 323, we used to have to cover the engine with a blanket at night so it would start in the morning. I was often asked to 'tuck in the car'

Anan1

I don't tend to go around boasting about this, but I can start old cars that won't start for anyone else by talking to them.

charlie1966

Anan1 wrote: »

I don't tend to go around boasting about this, but I can start old cars that won't start for anyone else by talking to them.

There is a very good reason you shouldn't tell anyone that.

Gary ITR

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Are you sure he said "tuck"

My family are mad but not that mad

Anan1 wrote: »

I don't tend to go around boasting about this, but I can start old cars that won't start for anyone else by talking to them.

The Car Whisperer

carchaeologist

Onkle wrote: »

My father had a 1980 Mazda 323, we used to have to cover the engine with a blanket at night so it would start in the morning. I was often asked to 'tuck in the car'

S'funny how you would still hanker after such cars nowadays isnt it.
We had a big hill outside the house that rarely failed to bumpstart any duff motors over the years.

Big Nasty

'79 T/A

Use at least once every 3 weeks, usually more often. Takes 'a few goes' to start each time.

Give it a short sprint mid week and she will spark first time the following weekend.

Older cars, or in fact any cars, do not like being left up for any length of time. The more often you use them the kinder they will be to you.

That said, had an '89 Supra a few years back that had been left sitting up for 18 months. Battery flat, tyres gone soft, moss growing on it - the whole nine yards. Stuck a booster pack on it and she turned over first time! :eek::eek::eek:

Mr Benevolent

Anan1 wrote: »

I don't tend to go around boasting about this, but I can start old cars that won't start for anyone else by talking to them.

Mechanical sympathy eh?

johnos1984

Old 305

Try to start

Pop bonnet

Remove wrench from drivers door

Hit starter

Try start

Hit again

Turn key

Start

Close bonnet

STALL

Repeat from the beginning 3 times

junkyarddog

I can remember an elderly realative starting his MK1 Transit,by putting a lit newspaper down the inlet manifold and crossing the starter untill it fired up(eventually).
Pushing dads various bangers down the road in a sometimes vain attempt to get them to start,the hunter tended to start fairly easy,when it had a decent battery,so did the avenger,but the renault 4 what a disaster:rolleyes:sometimes nothing would get it going,and if it did start something would fall off,total POS put me off french cars for life.
The '79 sunny estate that replaced it,though totally rotten never failed to start(became a jap fan for life:D)

johnos1984

Actually my Dad used to take great pleasure in giving all the neighbours a lift to work when their various Jags, Mercs and Volvos wouldn't start during the 70's and 80's.

He usually had a new but high mileage Escrot, AShtray, R11 or Snorolla as they never let him down.

45K miles a year back then was rough on a car

shawnee

Had a fiesta diesel dan !! It had about 300k on it and usually needed to be heated and tried then heated again and left for a few minutes. Come back then and turn it , heat it again and usually after about 10 minutes it started and was good until the next cold morning. Traded it in and often wondered how they managed. It remained in the same spot for around six months

who the fug

Other endearing quirks of that Fiat

Hit 70 MPH (that took along time) the passenger door opened along with the bonnet .

_Conrad_

last car i had that was routinely "hard" to start or had a major proceedure was an 85 opel rekord with a galactic mileage nissan LD20 diesel engine from a vanette fitted to it.
It had formerly had a 2 litre petrol engine.

To start that you needed to:

-proceed outside, open the car, pop the bonnet
-disconnect long induction pipe from airbox
-point in pipe more in direction of exhaust
-reconnect battery
-go inside car
-turn key to starting position
-reach WAY under dashboard to access crudely wired glowplug switch
-hold switch and count to about 100
-turn key while still holding switch
-move accelerator to a precise and seemingly unobtainable position
-keep cranking

-FAIL

-repeat glowplug switch exercise and starting proceedure
-once it fires hold pedal half way down for about 30 seconds as engine tries to shake it's way free from the already battered and rotten car
-when shaking subsides a litte hold pedal at 1/4 for another 30 seconds
-exit car
-go back inside
-spend 5 minutes having coffee
-go back outside and drive away, with the car now hopefully having warmed up anough to be able to move without coming to a shuddering hault.
-10 minutes later stop to reconnect airbox.




that was for a moderately cold day, in winter it would need starting fluid too



A funny one that i had was a free fiat marea 1.6 that needed a rolling start if you started it more than 3 times every 6 or so hours.


had numerous escort/fiesta vans over the years that unless they ahd brand new plugs would need about 10 minutes to start, but always went fine for the rest of the day.


briefly had a sierra 1.8td (same cold hating engine family as the vans) that needed a big shot of start up juice straight into the inlet manifold or it wouldnt start, but the glowplugs were almost totally gone. had a few other sierra tds and they just needed the usual 3 or more heats and a lot of cranking to get going.


V6 engined (2.3 cortina) Jago type kit jeep for the fields stands out too, that was a pain to start from cold if it hadnt been run in a few days, you always had to prime the carb then you'd get it going then it'd flood. didnt like to start when the engine was hot on a hot day either.


drove a diesel jetta to college for 2 months that needed a pull start first thing in the morning too, but then again it was free and had over 300k on it


i like the random element of old cars though, much more interesting

_Conrad_

who the fug wrote: »

Other endearing quirks of that Fiat

Hit 70 MPH (that took along time) the passenger door opened along with the bonnet .

oh yes charming! sure you don't really need doors at 70 at all