Slowwwwww To Start

Granted my Jeep has some really old gas in it at the moment but its always required a lot of cranking to get her started. Once its started its quick to start the rest of the day. Engine has good tune up parts, HEI, and stock carburetor. I put a new carter fuel pump in it and a new fuel filter. It seems like the carb loses its prime and I could install a fuel line check valve but that isn't the fix...I know the dauntless should start easily. Engine runs wonderful when its on so no issue with compression or anything. Would you think a carb rebuild would help/fix the issue? I've never had the carb off and I was thinking it could be time to get some new parts to clean it up?

 

Hows the starter? I cant speak to this engine specifically but I put a new Toyota starter on my fhead when I get them. Spins way faster

 

Now that you mention it the starter is kinda slow. It looks to be and is likely either original or close to it. I have a new replacement sitting in my basement and I could try that. Thanks for the reminder.

 

I’d guess something is allowing the fuel to leave the bowl of he carb. Fix that, and you’ll fix the problem.

As a test, next time it would normally start hard, give it a shot of gas down the throat of the carb from a squirt bottle and see if it fires right up.

 

If I give it a swig of gas through the carb it will fire right up and I can try it tomorrow to verify. When you first start cranking there is no gas smell or anything...seems like the carb is dry. So what would cause the bowl to go empty or siphon back?

 

Depends on the carb design. Could be a gasket, jet, power valve, etc.

If it’s draining into your engine, I’d fix it ASAP, because it’s diluting your oil.

 

2g? Not an uncommon problem. My OF231 is fussy like that if it sits a few days. I wouldn't worry about it if everything else checks out .

 

For mine if it sits for a bit, I crank it over a few turns without the choke to fill that carb, pull the choke, pump the gas pedal a few times, and it usually starts right up. It seems like it never goes well if I try the choke and pumping the pedal before the carb has gas in it.

 

I had a similar sounding issue with my 198 and Rochester 2G. Main issue was that the choke wasn’t closing enough. I adjusted the choke butterfly so that it completely closes when I pull the knob (manual choke) and now even when completely cold it fires up faster than any vehicle I own, including my wife’s brand new Toyota.

 

Re-reading your post, sounds more like a fuel issue than a starter issue. I'd start elsewhere than my original suggestion

 

Yes the carb is a factory 2G. Usually it only takes a day to go back to slow/slower starting. A couple days and then I am cranking for a minute before I can get any sign of life. I'll look at the choke flap. Regarding oil dilution: I do not believe the gas is getting into the engine and going into the crankcase. I haven't noticed any rise in the oil after a recent oil change. So here's a question if it turns out that this behavior is normal for a 2G...would a motorcraft fire up quicker?

 

Some dislike this idea, but I prefer an electric “chatterbox” fuel pump plumbed in between the tank and the factory pump hooked to a momentary switch to use as a primer.

If everything else is working great, you might not want to tear the carb apart and start replacing old parts with new, possibly inferior, parts.


JEGS 15928: Universal Electric Fuel Pump [4-7 psi] | JEGS

Edit: not all of these are “flow-through” designs. You might have to run a bypass line in parallel with the electric pump and put a check valve on the bypass line.

 

The weak accelerator pump came to mind. I do believe my timing is correct as I have one of those timing guns with the tach built in reading off cylinder 1 plug wire (unless somehow that doesn't work with an oddfire). Like I said everything works wonderfully just that if you leave it for a day it will need so much cranking. I guess its time to check all the little things. I'd put a tbi on it if I could run a stock computer found in the junkyard but I'm not too keen on spending big bucks on efi right now.

 

If it runs fine now just put fresh gaskets on it and check everything is in good shape. Then look at the fuel pump to see if it drains backwards past the check valves.

I agree this isn't a strong case for a TBI swap.
I am doing the tbi swap mostly due to the 85 specific distributor and carb being computer controlled and there not being a good starting point to tune a typical Carburetor then the cam and compression changes put the cost and effort in favor of TBI with tech support.

 

I have an electric pump in mine mounted on the frame directly below the gas tank and feeding straight up to the carb with no mechanical pump. It was installed by the PO, so I’m not sure if there was a specific reason why they did it, but I’ve been happy with it.

 

This topic comes up a lot, and seems odd to me.

I'm am totally used to cranking my F-heads for half a minute to get a cold start after an idle spell. They've always been that way in my 50 years of using them. If perfectly tuned and used daily they will start quicker, but cranking an early CJ5 for a few extra turns has never seemed like a problem to worry about.

So it makes me wonder if all the questions here come from people who grew up accustomed to new vehicles with computers and fuel injection, which start at a snap.