[jhein]

Rather than just cranking it until it gets fuel, is it best to fill the bowl with gas, or just a bit of gas straight into the primaries or use a starting fluid to get it to fire?

[steve25]

First off you want to pull all the plugs out.

2) kill the power to the Dizzy .
You bo not want any spark to be produced.
3) crank it over for 10 seconds.

4 dribble fuel into the fuel bowl vent(s) until the accelerator pump works good .

5) put the pugs back in power back up the Dizzy and it should be ready to fire for you.

[b-man]

Crank it until it starts.

Don’t crank it so long that you overheat the starter, do it in a few steps.

What’s the big deal, it’s only been a few months and nothing special needs to be done.

At the most I would fill the float bowl through the vent tube using a small squirt bottle.

[jhein]

Yeah, just wanted avoid the excessive cranking after sitting for so long. I'll just put some fuel in the bowl and fire it up. Thanks.

[kingbuzzo]

Mines is usually pretty dried out after a long winter nap and won't fire even if I prime the carb which gives the oil enuff time to circulate anyways. Sometimes I have to prime her a few times but no issues after that - knock on wood...also check for critters

[jhein]

I put about 25cc of fuel in the bowl via the vent using a syringe. It took a couple strokes of the throttle to get it to squirt. Fired right up. I like that method better than the prolonged cranking. Plus it gave me a chance to inspect everything, especially since I had some trouble with fuel leaks in the past. Nice and dry now.

[grandam1979]

Crank it till it starts not priming carb gives it a chance to pump some oil before fire up.

[gtokid1968]

I crank it for about 10 sec 2-3 times pump the hell out of it and it fires right up been doing it that for 20 years now.
However my garage never gets below 55 deg in the winter.
I havent even ran Sta-bil in many years. Nothing but 93 octain.

[Sirrotica]

Originally Posted by grandam1979

Crank it till it starts not priming carb gives it a chance to pump some oil before fire up.

This^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This would also be my recommendation if you're not priming the oil pump. Turn it over until the oil pump sends some oil into the bearings before you actually start it.

Sprint cars are started this way with the magneto shut off. The car is pushed with the ignition shut off until oil pressure shows on the gauge, then they flip the ignition on after the bearings have oil. Most race cars only sit for 7 days maximum between races, but they do want the bearings to have oil before the pistons start pushing the crank with no oil wedge between the bearings, and crank.

After a few months setting, there isn't going to be much oil on any wear parts, so spinning the engine without ignition, or waiting for the carb to refill will give the internal parts a fighting chance of some lubrication before they're subject to the pistons pushing the crank under power.

Also having any oil whatsoever thrown on to the rings, and cylinder walls will make a much better seal for compression, than a dry set of rings on a dry cylinder wall. Flooding the dry rings, and cylinders with gas or either, surely is going to shorten the ring life when restarting an engine that's been sitting for any length of time. This is the reason boat owners fog their engines with aerosol oil, when storing for winter, so the cyllinders and rings aren't dry, and subject to rust from the atmosphere.

I very seldom use any ether when trying to start engines. The last time I bought a can of ether was about 15 years ago, that's how infrequeently I use it. Ether detontes really hard in gas, and diesel engines. The posssibility of breaking a piston, or ring is high and goes up the more that is used. Using ether in a diesel with preheating devices can cause the intake tract to explode, just a PSA. I only use ether in an engine I don't care about.

Will it make a huge difference if you fire it up without getting some oil into the galleries and moving parts? Probably not, but it's not going to cost you anything to spin the engine over a few times before you put fire to it.

As many people that fill oil filters during an oil change on this board worrying about that 5 seconds that the engine has no oil due to an empty filter I'm surprised anyone recommends starting right it up, after months of no running.

BTW, I've started probably easily 100 engines over my career that have sat for extended periods, it takes a few minutes of running an engine that's been sitting for long periods of time to quiet down, as opposed to an engine that has sat 15 minutes during an oil change. I'd be much more concerned about sitting an extended period, rather than an oil change startups.

[Schurkey]

I don't understand why folks want to crank the engine longer than needed. Fire the biitch up, get the oil pump spinning. Oil pressure builds quickly, oil film wedge builds almost instantly. Oil flung off the crank spinning at fast-idle lubes the cylinder walls, piston/pin, and camshaft/lifter bottoms. Pumps-up the lifters quickly. Less wear on pretty-much everything because the oil is circulating like it's supposed to.


Or grind on the damn starter on and on and on and on, crank turns slowly, oil pump spins slowly, no oil film wedge, no oil slinging off the crank. Leads to excess bearing, piston/piston pin/cylinder wall, and lifter/cam wear. For that matter, it's not doing the battery, starter or the flexpate/flywheel ring gear any good, either.

I know which one I choose.

Fill the float bowl with gas, blow a little gasoline down the primary venturis--either by squirting gas directly in, or by working the accelerator pump AFTER filling the float bowl. Check the oil dipstick to assure the oil drain plug hasn't leaked all the oil out over the winter. Wouldn't hurt to verify the coolant level, the trans fluid level, PS, etc. Set the choke, (and therefore the fast idle cam) fire it up, watch the oil pressure gauge. Enjoy.

[Formulabruce]

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ .. What Schurkey Said.. above

[78w72]

After a few months sitting, there is definitely still oil trapped in between bearings & other wear parts, Ive torn down engines that have sat for a couple years or more & there is all kinds of oil still in the bearings, galleries, lifters, lower rings etc. Within a few revolutions the pump has pressurized bearings & sent oil to other areas, no need to pull plugs or spin the engine on the starter, it takes a few seconds for the engine to start even if you prime the carb so the pump has circulated plenty of oil.
As mentioned, at such a low rpm on the starter, no oil is being flung to the cam or other areas, its best to start as soon as possible, just like a new cam break in so oil is flung to those parts ASAP... an engine sitting a few or even 6 months of storage is not a new engine that requires full priming of the oil.

I live in iowa & store 3 classic pontiacs over the winters,1 for 20+ years & the other 2 for 12-15+ years, 1 or 2 cars sit for 6 months & have gone 8 months, never done any of the stuff mentioned above about pulling plugs & excessive cranking or fogging (most marine engines sit on or near water so fogging may help but not always done or needed, Ive winterized friends boats before) have never had any problems storing cars for the winter this way.

One thing that hasnt been mentioned that is a good practice, is to change the oil BEFORE winter storage, especially if theres more than about 1000-1500 miles on it, that gets the old oil with acids etc out before sitting over the winter and lets you start it up & go for the new season... if its less than 1000 miles I usually leave the oil alone as its got plenty of life left in it, oil doesnt go bad sitting in the pan for 6 months or even over a year with low miles. I also use seafoam to stabilize the fuel and it acts as a mild cleaner while it sits & prevents varnish etc. Doing these basic steps has worked for me for 25+ years and my father stores his motorcycle the same way for 40+ years.

[kingbuzzo]

Oh there is no excess cranking going on but she usually just takes that long to shart first time out after the hibernation...even amazon primed

[jonmachota78]

I agree with get the cam wet ASAP

[redhawk44]

I usually just pull the coil power and crank it until i see oil pressure coming up, then power up the coil and 2-3 pumps and shes ready to go. Works great for me.

[Half-Inch Stud]

I usually warm it up, a little, then drive it hard, and put it away wet.