Hello,


I have a 72 cutlass that hesitates to start up cold or hot. I have to turn the key off and on about eight times and pump the gas pedal to fire up. Sometimes it will fire right up. It did this before i hade the motor rebuilt as well.
OK the motor and carburetor have been rebuilt.
New pos and neg cables, new battery,new starter,new wires,new plugs and new hei distributor.
I don't think its the timing because it runs like a champ with no hesitatation when i stomp on the gas and idles fine.
350 motor with 4bbl HELP me out guys

 

Your issue could be caused by a number of things. Do you know if the choke is adjusted properly?

 

Welcome to the site. I would not assume its not caused by your current state of tune. Is the engine stock, what are your timing settings, is the carb idle air/fuel setting correct, is the choke set right, is the fuel pressure good, etc....

 

I had blazer that I replaced about every thing it turned out to be the stud the negative cable was on. You know the kind of bolt that has a stud on it I cleaned the stud but the problem was the bolt that the stud was on it was corroded down in the block. Don't just clean the stud re move the whole thing. One day my son was starting it and I was under the hood I just happen to notice the ground strap to body was very hot that's when I knew it was a ground problem.
Railguy

 

I would say fuel filter. I had trouble with warm starts and cold starts but after replacing my fuel filter my car runs like a champ. But, you've rebuilt the carb and motor so it might not be the case (unless if you know the fuel filter hasnt been replaced). Hot starting may be an issue because of vapor lock (happens to me). If that's the case there really isnt anything you can do, unless you really want to move your fuel line away from the engine. Also, quadrajets can run real nice if adjusted correctly or can give you a heap of trouble; therefore, I would suggest making sure the choke is adjusted correctly. And like @oldscutlass said make sure your idle/air mixture is correct.

There are two screws at the base of the carb, those are the idle/air screws. Plug in a vacuum gauge into the manifold vacuum. You should be at maximum vacuum at idle (could be 16 pounds or 18 pounds depends). How you would adjust this is backing out the screws a little at a time until you see the gauge just fall from the maximum. The point that you want to be at is the point when the vacuum is just about to fall or in other words the maximum.

 

I think Kenneth and Eric are on the rite track with choke issue, did you put a new fuel pump on this engine after rebuild? How do the fuel lines look have they been checked or replaced?

 

Thank you guys for the help I will adjust the choke first then the air/fuel setting. The motor is stock and new fuel pump was put on but the fuel lines are the original. My first thing to check was the fuel filter but I found out the fuel filter is in the carb which I would hope was replaced when he did the rebuild. First carburetor car I will learn more about it when the time comes. I will rebuild it next time.