Who remembers starting cars with carburetors when the temp was 10 degrees to below zero???
Back in the early 60s my Dad and I would drive to school together as he taught school in the same building I went to school in. Once it got cold, 15 to 20 minutes before we would leave, he would say "Go start the car!" Remember all the pumping of the accelerator just to get the car to start?? Remember that once the car started you had to sit there and continue pumping or the engine would die?? Dad taught drivers ed among other subjects. So I would be in the drivers ed car freezing my butt off in all the cold that NW Ohio can throw at you. This started my freshman and was the norm for the next four years. Dad would come ambling out after the car was defrosted and warm. The school was 15 minutes away, on cold mornings I don't think I ever walked into that school warm!! 
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I had an old ‘68 Chevy telephone company van. It had the dog house engine cover in between the front seats. I had to raise the dog house and work the choke by hand. Of course, the engine fan would blow cold air in my face until the engine warmed up. My friends made fun of that van, but then they would want to borrow it to take their gal to the drive in movie. 0 -
truthful said:With a properly adjusted carburetor and a functioning choke there was no problem at all. And there still isn't with any of the old vehicles I own. If you had to pump the gas maybe you needed to learn how to pull the choke.
Exactly. But with the way my folk's vehicles ran, it was necessary to pump the gas in cold weather.0 -
This shows what happens when you pump the accelerator pedal:
https://www.carburetor-parts.com/How-an-Accelerator-Pump-Works_ep_1851.html
Carburetors were always a mystery to me, but after lots of tinkering and questioning of mechanical folks, and a few youtube videos, I have been fairly successful repairing a few.0 -
Here's an automatic choke story: This guy(not me) had a vehicle with an automatic choke. One cool morning the choke stuck closed and flooded his engine. The only thing he could find to hold the choke plate open was a 12 gauge shell stuck in brass end up. Next thing that happened was a backfire that ignited the gas in the intake manifold which melted the plastic shell releasing 1 1/4 ounces of #4 lead shot into his intake manifold. Complete top end take down and reassembly to remove all those pellets. OOPS 0 -
i remember all the starting rituals...especially with 6 volt.....double parallel cabled batteries, lighter winter oil, and god bless just the right pinch of ether to kick it over.....block, hose, dipstick heaters and runs of extension cords....winter treatment in diesel fuel.....dose of premium gas in pickup...and now after years of one pickup and one car, i have several ready so no more being dead in the weather, in the dead of cold winter in the dead of the country.....used to crank up the 4wd tractor with 12' dozer blade and open roads for the neighbors but haven't had to do that for several winter now...but i am ready 0 -
Too many comments to read when I need to go to bed. I usually installed a tank heater. Before that a Pan of charcoal slide under the motor worked good but took more prep time. Installing a mechanical choke system was usually better than the electric ones. A shot of either (starting fluid) in the carb body and quickly closing the choke was another useful move. Best was installing the tank heater and plugging it in over night. 0 -
Remember them, I still have 2 of them. A 1941 Ford Super Deluxe Tudor Sedan w/a flathead v-8, and a 1958 IH A100 1/2 ton pickup truck w/a OHV 6 cyl. Kept in a heated barn they are easy to start.
I still have a vivid memory of getting on the school bus when I started first grade. It was a 1948 Chevrolet short bus driven by Mr Apple. Mr Apple didn't really know how to operate the manual choke. That thing always burnt your eyes and really stunk it ran so rich. I didn't realize until years later that he left the choke on while running his route.
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Several of them, Ford and GM for sure. They weren't until the mid/late 70s IIRC. The early automatic chokes relied on heat from the exhaust manifold or EGR crossover in the intake manifold to unwind the bi-metal spring in the choke coil. Those were hugely problematic, as pointed out in many posts above. So in later years they come out with an electrically heated choke coil. These were better. Parts places like NAPA even sold electric coils to replace the older exhaust heated coils.us55840 said:What vehicles used an electric choke?
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I thought a lot of GM's rochester carberators had the electric choke systems......us55840 said:Electric chokes?
Wow, never knew they made such as with all the vehicles been around/worked on as a mechanic and part time in a salvage yard to pay for school, never once saw an electric choke for a vehicle.
What vehicles used an electric choke?
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