It has all been said by others in this thread, but by way of summary: 1) - Your system bus voltage is dropping below a critical level when cranking the starter. This could be battery related, but in that the starter is turning the motor, more likely that your ignition system is functional when all else is ideal. Given a slight perturbation to the bus voltage (cold oil, greater than normal mechanical cranking resistance), your ignition fails. Hence, first culprit is tired ignition system. Could be CD box, contact resistance at coil (+, B), tired coil, spark plugs, etc., etc. I would go over your ignition system piece by piece, but therein lies the culprit. 2) My choke works as designed by Weber...quite well. It makes cold start easy, as well as allowing for increased idle for a few moments. I agree that it is not absolutely necessary, but after my rebuild, it is a pleasure to have. Jim S.
Thanks. I believe that, notwithstanding what has been said elsewhere in this thread about the choke, the car would have started had I been able to engage it. The motor almost caught a couple of times until I had cranked enough to flood it. Of course, the next day, at a more "normal" ambient temperature, it started up right away. Is your car a US or Euro version?
U.S. Version, without cold start mechanism. I had similar problems as you are experiencing until I replaced my old Permatune with an MSD, new plugs, renewed all contacts to the CD system and coil, etc. Now starts like new. After all, every nut, bolt, washer and wire on the car is new. But that is another story. Jim S.
