Help! Hard start issues

[Russ130]

Looking for suggestions why my truck is all of a sudden hard to start when cold. I used to just press the accelerator pedal down to set the choke turn the ignition for a split second and it would fire up aggresively and run at the high choke idle until I tapped it after it warmed up and it would drop the idle speed down to regualr idle speed of about 600rpm. I have a Holley street avenger 670 carb on a 383. I have verified the choke to be operating correctly. Right now I'm just looking for ideas for things to check and so on. In order to start it now I have to press the gas pedal down then keep it partially depressed while cranking. The I take my foot off the pedal and it gradually gains rpms until it gets up to the 1100 fast idle rpms. Thanks in advance.

[Russ130]

I can't believe everyone here is stumped with this.

[4x4orbust]

i have had the same problem, and i was told vacuum leak or choke misadjustment.

[werewolfx13]

Thats how I've always started my '83, one pump, press in the accelerator a little, turn the key, crank twice and fire, 3 revs to stabilize idle and wait for it to warm up a couple minutes. Did that for three winters, this would have been 4 if some of the under dash wiring hadn't melted, starting my rebuild prematurely.

[Russ130]

A little update: I checked vacumn as suggested and it was fine. I did however forget to plug the vacumn line in right away as I got side tracked with work;). Last night I finished installing my plow which has underhood hydraulics. So I reached in and turned it over just to make sure the belt wasn't going to get thrown before I fired it up. The truck fired right up not necessarily like it used to but better than it has been. This is without pressing the gas pedal at all. Later that night I went to leave with my plow now mounted and remembered I forgot about the vacumn line being unplugged. So I plugged it back in and the idle immediately went down. It was late and dark and cold so I just drove it home. Now after thinking about it for a day a couple things have accurred to me first, it started batter with a vacumn leak than no leak. Second, if the idle goes up with a vacumn line being disconnected that would mean the engine is running rich normally. If it goes down it means its either lean or good. So tomorrow if I have time I am going to check the carb to see if it is dumping fuel or something like that. I may even advance the timing a little more to see if that changes things at all. Hopefully I'm on the right path here.

[VileZambonie]

Sounds like it's a little too rich. Air filter is clean? Choke is adjusted correctly? No vacuum leaks? Idle mixture adjusted? Ignition timing correct?

[Russ130]

yeah I was thinking air cleaner though it looks clean maybe its not letting enough air through besides they are cheap

[Russ130]

Ok replaced the air cleaner checked the timing adjusted the idle air mix. Ran like crap on the way home don't know about the cold start yet. I'm thinking maybe changing the advance from the ported vacumn to full vacumn might fix the poor drivability.

[84ramcharger]

Are you running a open  element air cleaner or a factory style ?

[Russ130]

Its open element air cleaner. I didn't change the vacumn yet but instead I advanced the timing. I will have to play with it more tomorrow because I didn't have much time today for it.

[84ramcharger]

Its open element air cleaner. I didn't change the vacumn yet but instead I advanced the timing. I will have to play with it more tomorrow because I didn't have much time today for it.

You might be drawing in too much cool air , I used to run open elements in the winter , but suffered from a tough start until it warmed up a bit . I switched to a factory style for winter and no more issues .

[Russ130]

Sorry for the lack of updates but I just haven't had time to mess with it much. Today I'm going over to the shop around 3:30 just to mess with it some. I plan on pulling out the dizzy and turning it 2 teeth so I can get more advance out of it. I am going to try power braking it till it pings then back it off just a bit. I have been driving it back and forth the last couple of days though and have noted a couple of odd behaviors. One is up on the highway when I step on it to pass it acts like its out of gas as in sputters out the exhaust. Two happened getting off the highway with no gas on and turning hard right it just stalled but fired right back up. Three it died the next day turning left but not hard and again if fired right back up. There is a definite hesitation when you touch the gas any amount whether it be slightly or hammering on it. It still has cold start issues as described before as well. All this happened all of a sudden so something must be wrong somewhere. Is my new Holley Street Avenger carb junk? I feel it is definitely in the carb where the problem lies but have not ruled out ignition completely. I would say jumped timing chain if I didn't have a timing gear setup installed. Arggg!

[VileZambonie]

Gewt your timing ballparked and address that carb. Make sure you have no vacuum leaks, good fuel volume, choke is properly adjusted, proper float level... Now you say new carb, is this a new out of the box carb? Rebuilt? What did you have on there before?

[Russ130]

No it is new out of the box. I put it on last year and it has run perfect up until a couple weeks ago. I never dialed in the engine because I just didn't have the time but got it so it ran good with no issues. I know I can dial in my accelerator pump timing and shot along with the timing curve and shift points by messing with the govenor. But like I said I just didn't have time to do all that.

[VileZambonie]

Are you running a fuel filter?