DGV Question

[Eleven]

67 SV 32/36 Manual Choke DGV
My car has always been hard starting but yesterday was a trial. Lots of cranking and nothing. Pulled the air filter (not clogged) and drippled a very small amount of gas into the driver side venturi. After a few coughs it started fine and ran great as always. I checked the accelerator pump and it is working fine (one jet on the passenger side V). Am confused. When cranking I am working the choke in and out and pumping the gas pedal all during the process. Why would pouring gas in the throat be any different than pumping the accelerator? Seems both are putting raw gas into the system. Or is there a difference which throat the gas goes into???

Thanks!

 

[sunalp]

It sounds as though you may be flooding the engine which will make it hard to start. Why do you pump
the gas and work the choke in and out? Assuming you're doing this on a cold engine I've just pulled the choke
fully closed, pumped the gas a couple of times to give it a shot of fuel and started the car. It's worked on
every Alpine I've worked on. Just make sure that the fuel is getting to the carb and you should be ok. Check the regular culprits like spark & timing as well.

 

[hartmandm]

Tracy,

Do you have the original glass bowl fuel pump? If yes, have you checked the amount of gas in the bowl prior to attempting to start? Have you tried manually priming the fuel line using the lever on the fuel pump? Just wondering if it takes a bit of cranking for fuel to reach your carb.

Mike

 

[Eleven]

I have a good electric pump and a flow meter. Have checked both and the float levels. Am confident that the bowl is full and staying that way. Have wondered if I do flood it but cannot understand why after pumping and no joy but pouring a very small amount did the job. Sorting the starting issue has been a constant since I bought the car 15 years ago.
Thank you both for your thoughts!

 

[alpine_64]

Tracy,

Is this a food start issue or once the car is driven?

 

[Eleven]

Cold. Once started it fires up without too much fuss

 

[sunalp]

Check your fuel pressure. Some electric pumps put out too much and will flood the carb.
That could be your issue. Easily solved by adding a pressure regulator on the fuel line, after
the pump.

 

[Eleven]

Could be but why would adding gas from the top cause it to fire when the accelerator pump is doing the same thing? Mysteries of life I guess.
I have a regulator in the system. Unfortunately, it is not one that actually measures pressure. I have it turned down pretty low...much lower and the engine "falls over" under mild acceleration. I've done some plug cuts and have light brown coloring (varies a bit from middle to ends, not a lot, but nothing I've done changes that some figure it is inefficiency in the intake system)

 

[Eleven]

Honest to Pete, I swear if you put a rod through the side of the block on an English car it is due to dirty contacts or grounding. Long story short, the Bendix has been banging the fly wheel for a while and the starter cranking slowly. Removed and cleaned the starter wire contacts. Starter reacted like it should and promptly jammed the Bendix to the fly wheel. Wacked it with a hammer and it did the trick but immediately jammed again. Suspect starting issue has to due with excess current to the starter; now I have to replace the starter. Am afraid of using the same type due to damage so need to figure out a gear reduction or some thing. Anyway, thanks for your help; the above is another thread topic.

 

[Tim R]

Tracy,
If you fit a Hi-Gear style starter it will not only spin the motor much quicker it also works on the reverse side of the ring gear (like getting a new ring fitted). If you have 'hooked teeth' holding the Bendix when it flies forward, this will overcome the problem. On one of my Alpines I have a low pressure (4psi) electric pump, when I set the regulator to 1/2psi (lowest setting available) it pumps at 2.5psi (checked with an accurate gauge). The hard starting symptoms that you describe are what we suffered with pattern distributor caps and rotor arms (this video tells the story

). Making sure that you have the correct tolerance between the tip of the rotor arm and the electrode in the Distributor cap might solve the problem. As soon as we fitted the correct items and not imitation, pattern parts it started straight away and has carried on doing so.


Tim R

 

[Eleven]

Thanks for the reply. I did order a gear reduction unit for the car. I checked the rotor and cap per your advice. Both are in good shape; both came with the dist from Pertronix a few years ago. Am going to have to get a proper meter on the fuel flow some day.

 

[Tim R]

Tracy, just be sure that they are correct, not just 'look in good shape'. In the U.K. I can buy brand new rotor arms and caps from specialist suppliers that look perfect when examined but in reality are not correct. They are poor quality patterns. As a result they struggle to get the car started. Good luck with resolving it.

Tim R

 

[Eleven]

Thanks Tim. Mine are the real deal. I know all about the crappy one from bad experience

 

[nsbluenose]

My 32/36 works with a 2.4-4.0 psi electric fuel pump. When cold I turn the key on-fuel pump starts, pull choke fully out, pump the gas once. The lag between turning the key on and the one pump gives time for gas to flow. Usually starts first time, not always, but mostly.

 

[Eleven]

I'm replacing the starter as I thought it was pulling too much current. It cranked slowly. In a rare moment of mental clarity, I cleaned the terminal and it behaved like it was new except it promptly jammed. Cleared that and it did it again. The Bendix had been banging the fly wheel from time to time over the years so I suspect that the dirty connection caused that; who knows. (The starter is actually fairly new miles wise but is about 15 years old). What ever is the cause of the Bendix issue, I just hope it is not so severe that I have to replace the ring. Am going with a gear reduction type in hope that the constant mesh will work. Last thing I need is to pull that d____d transmission again. Maybe I'll just get a hand crank...
I have an electric pump metered to about setting 2 whatever that is; seems to like that setting best.