Cars don't have 'chokes' anymore do they?
- Thread starter moomoo
- Start date
moomoo said:
A choke increases the amount of petrol in the petrol/air mix from the carburettor(s) for cold starting. (Its alternative name was the strangler becuase it cut down the air supply). Most modern cars have fuel injection plus computerised monitoring and adjustment of the petrol air mix, so they do not need a choke.
hippogriff
Imposter
They made the mixture richer by obstructing (choking) the flow of air through the carburettor. i.e the fuel/air mixture has more fuel and less air, possibly also squirting a bit of extra fuel in at the same time.
You don't get them on modern fuel-injected cars because there is no carburettor and the mixture is made richer when by modern electronic computer-controlled jiggery-pokery.
You don't get them on modern fuel-injected cars because there is no carburettor and the mixture is made richer when by modern electronic computer-controlled jiggery-pokery.
geminisnake
a complex mass of conflicting ideas
They allowed more petrol to flow iirc so it was easier to start the engine when it was cold and I think modern technology has advanced sufficiently for chokes to be incorporated into the engine design.
See, having a VW you don't really have to do repairs so you forget stuff you once knew. Having said that it's ace knowing your car is going to start day after day
Hurray I did remember right
Hiya hippogriff!!
Our motorbike still has a choke if you feel nostalgic moomoo.
See, having a VW you don't really have to do repairs so you forget stuff you once knew. Having said that it's ace knowing your car is going to start day after day
Hurray I did remember right
Hiya hippogriff!!
Our motorbike still has a choke if you feel nostalgic moomoo.
hippogriff
Imposter
hello Gemini
my landrover's got a choke too
my landrover's got a choke too
My last BMW - an '87 E30 316 with the M10 1.8 carbueretted engine - was new enough to be of the non-injected auto choke variety.
However, someone had retrofitted a manual choke to it. Very poorly, as it goes. It was almost fucking impossible to start, with its stretchy long cable...
So I got an auto choke from the scrappers and put it back to normal.
IME of working on cars, there are people out there driving around who cannot comtemplate how a car can possibly start without having to yank a choke-cable halfway out of their dashboard before starting the ignition.
but
However, someone had retrofitted a manual choke to it. Very poorly, as it goes. It was almost fucking impossible to start, with its stretchy long cable...
So I got an auto choke from the scrappers and put it back to normal.IME of working on cars, there are people out there driving around who cannot comtemplate how a car can possibly start without having to yank a choke-cable halfway out of their dashboard before starting the ignition.
but hippogriff
Imposter
The Land Rover's a 1967 Series 2A
cybertect
It's grim up north (London)
My previous 1990 Mk2 Scirocco GTII had a Pierburg 2e2 carb with an automatic choke (the same one is found on non-injection Vauxhalls of 80s vintage) so it didn't have a lever on the dashboard, though there is a slot for one covered over with plastic trim.
[furrows brow trying to remember if early carbed Mk2s didn't use the Pierburg]
Similar arrangement on carburettor-engined Golfs of the period.
There's a Weber after-market replacement (the 32/34 DMTL) with a manual choke.
[furrows brow trying to remember if early carbed Mk2s didn't use the Pierburg]
Similar arrangement on carburettor-engined Golfs of the period.
There's a Weber after-market replacement (the 32/34 DMTL) with a manual choke.
pogofish
Testicle Hairstyle
Auto-chokes more or less replaced the manual plunger some time back & more modern fuel-injected cars don't need them.
Maybe we should go back to the days of individual levers for mixture & timing advance, as well as clutch, brake & throttle - Might make driving more interesting & get some skill & pride back on the road?
Maybe we should go back to the days of individual levers for mixture & timing advance, as well as clutch, brake & throttle - Might make driving more interesting & get some skill & pride back on the road?
pogofish said:Maybe we should go back to the days of individual levers for mixture & timing advance,
I am extremely jealous of a local 72 year old man who has had a Velocette Thruxton motorcycle from new and can still start it first kick.
(Basically I suspect the bike is thief proof unless three or four people pick it up and load it into a van.)
Cold mornings, I still reach for the choke.
Then remind myself it's a bloody deisel.
I wish they wouldn't get rid of stuff.
I mean if you were a pilot on an A380 airbus, went to climb to flight level 35 because Everest was in the way do you really want "Page not found"?
No you want a bloody great lever that works the sodding elevators.
Then remind myself it's a bloody deisel.
I wish they wouldn't get rid of stuff.
I mean if you were a pilot on an A380 airbus, went to climb to flight level 35 because Everest was in the way do you really want "Page not found"?
No you want a bloody great lever that works the sodding elevators.
kalidarkone
Bringing YOU round.....
moomoo said:
My car has a choke
-Fiesta Firefly F reg
alef
Needs to take more photos
I remember chokes well. Still throws me when cars have centralised locking, just a deep habit of always locking my own car door as a passenger.
My father used to drive an old Russian car which actually had one of those hand cranks you shoved in and turned from the outside when the starter wasn't working.
My father used to drive an old Russian car which actually had one of those hand cranks you shoved in and turned from the outside when the starter wasn't working.
That is another thing that pisses me off.
Now when the bugger won't start it's an AA job.
(To be fair I have never owned a car that wouldn't start in 32 years, but it's the principal goddammit
)
Now when the bugger won't start it's an AA job.
(To be fair I have never owned a car that wouldn't start in 32 years, but it's the principal goddammit
)
I had a good old banger, which I was driving to the South of France once, it was during a heatwave, 56° on the road, the radio kept giving warnings to stop, park in shade etc.
Of course I didn't.
The engine cut out.
I had the carb stripped and cleaned.
It cut out. Again and again. The mechanics could not understand it.
I drove at night- fine. G/F suggested "I think the petrol may be vapourising in the fuel feed" -bloody women.
Eventually I read the owners manual.
"If driven in ambient temperatures of over 38° this vehicle requires a tropicalisation kit British Leyland part no xxxxxxx. Otherwise the petrol will vapourise in the carburetor fuel feed"
That was when we were really English
Of course I didn't.
The engine cut out.
I had the carb stripped and cleaned.
It cut out. Again and again. The mechanics could not understand it.
I drove at night- fine. G/F suggested "I think the petrol may be vapourising in the fuel feed" -bloody women.
Eventually I read the owners manual.
"If driven in ambient temperatures of over 38° this vehicle requires a tropicalisation kit British Leyland part no xxxxxxx. Otherwise the petrol will vapourise in the carburetor fuel feed"
That was when we were really English
My 1961 Triumph Herald has a choke, and so does my Landrover "Airportable" which was made in 1984.
And the reason why some people retro-fitted carbs. with manual chokes on cars originally fitted with carburettors with automatic chokes was that automatic chokes often did not work properly, making the car hard to start in cold weather. At least with a manual choke you could decide that it was cold enough to need it, and operate it yourself.
Fuel injection and engine management have made it all irrelevant now anyway.
Having a "winter / summer" setting for the air intake just slightly helped rapid warming up and therefore fuel economy. Like blocking off part of the radiator grille in cold weather.
Giles..
And the reason why some people retro-fitted carbs. with manual chokes on cars originally fitted with carburettors with automatic chokes was that automatic chokes often did not work properly, making the car hard to start in cold weather. At least with a manual choke you could decide that it was cold enough to need it, and operate it yourself.
Fuel injection and engine management have made it all irrelevant now anyway.
Having a "winter / summer" setting for the air intake just slightly helped rapid warming up and therefore fuel economy. Like blocking off part of the radiator grille in cold weather.
Giles..
ddraig said:my lime green vauxhall chevette had a choke
Proto chav! proto chav!
Sorry. Backstage pass to Prod
