Cold starting at 2C - brrr

[interalian]

Today was the day to pull the boat off the lake as they're going to lower the lake levels on Monday. (Chestermere Lake is an irrigation reservoir and they lower it in the winter to reduce the amount of ice to melt in the spring.) Weather forecast wasn't looking promising for the rest of the week, and since I have plans for the weekend it had to be today.

Ambient temperature was 2 Celcius (that's about 35F for you guys south of the border), and it was about 0 overnight, so she was COOOLLLD. She cranked fine but kept spitting the bendix down - I'm assuming each time the bendix kicked, it was trying to start and overcame the starter's speed. Took tons of cranking and holding the primer down the whole time and it finaly lit, sneezed and stopped. Repeated the crank and sneeze a couple of times and it finally got going but I had to keep holding the primer for about 20 seconds with the idle at max.

I've never started my OB at temperatures this low. Any other tips or thoughts about why it was such a bugger to get going today?

Oh, and wading barefoot in the lake at the launch was no picnic - sitting in front of the fireplace and thawing my feet.

 

[Scott Danforth]

dad and I used to go out with a merc 50 when there still was ice on the water. we would need to run it with fast idle lever up and be hitting the choke to keep the motor running until it was warm. somewhat normal for a 2-stroke to be cold blooded to start when its below 40F (5C)

 

[interalian]

There's cold blooded, and there's 'bloody minded'. This was more the latter. However, it did start and I didn't end up stranded on the East side of the lake with my wife back home on the West side with my car...

On a more positive note, I saw an indicated 48mph on the speedo on the way back across the lake to the boat ramp. Cold air is good for HP once she's running. Never saw the needle that close to buried in all the years running this rig. w00t!

 

[Scott Danforth]

thats because the motor was screaming......dang its cold....lets go

 

[jakedaawg]

Yep, dense cold airncarries more fuel. You may be able to do some jetting andnget it that good when its 70F

 

[interalian]

thats because the motor was screaming......dang its cold....lets go

She was screamin' and I was flyin'.

 

[interalian]

Yep, dense cold airncarries more fuel. You may be able to do some jetting andnget it that good when its 70F

Leaner? or richer?

 

[jakedaawg]

Leaner. I know it sounds backwords. Also you risk burning the sucker up.

Air isnless.dense at 79 than at 30*. There fore to get the proper air fuel mix (~15:1 for naturally aspirated) you run leaner when its warmer.

 

[interalian]

I would have guessed leaner. I suspect these motors were optimized to run at much higher ambients that I typically see here in the GWN, where 80F is a HOT day, no?

 

[jimmbo]

Well unless you are going to use the boat for ice fishing I doubt you are going to be running it again, except to fog it, till next year. Chokes work better than the primer system but you did manage to keep it going. You probably have summer gas in it, That stuff doesn't vapourize as well near freezing as it did at 20 - 25 degrees. The cold air will be denser and thus have more oxygen, so it will run faster. You are what, 1100 meter above sea level? Your carbs are already quite rich for that altitude, so I doubt you are in any danger of running lean. Also the denser air also provides a stronger signal in the carb venturi and more fuel is discharged

 

[interalian]

Lol - no ice fishing from a boat on this lake. The ice freezes about 2 feet thick, and that would be pretty rough on the prop I'm thinking. And yes, it's run its last mile this season unless the weather smartens up next week and I take it to Ghost with my ingrate brother.

As for starting and the primer not being as good as a choke, would you say maybe moving the primer to "Manual", giving the bulb a couple of squeezes to push some fuel in, then moving primer back to "Run", then cranking with the primer on (key in) would work better? I don't think it was flooding, if anything it was too lean (sneezes when it caught).

 

[boobie]

If you want to run it in cold weather make sure your fuel is fresh.

 

[interalian]

If you want to run it in cold weather make sure your fuel is fresh.

The way this pig runs through fuel, that's never an issue.

 

[daselbee]

Yeah, Ok.....well....it is about 87 here right now. Partly sunny, slight breeze out of the northwest.

BUT....I just got the hurricane shutters up, it is a cat 4 right now, 140 mph, and my house is in the bullseye for the eye.

Wish me luck. My zip is 32754 in case anyone doubts me. It is gonna be rough.

 

[interalian]

Yeah, Ok.....well....it is about 87 here right now. Partly sunny, slight breeze out of the northwest.

BUT....I just got the hurricane shutters up, it is a cat 4 right now, 140 mph, and my house is in the bullseye for the eye.

Wish me luck. My zip is 32754 in case anyone doubts me. It is gonna be rough.

I do hope you get through with minimal problems. I've been watching Matthew track through the Carribean for a few days, along with the forecast of damage. We have some friends in Myrtle Beach who are also expecting the deluge.

About the worst we ever get up here is medium to large hail due to summer thunderstorms. And 5 months of -20C.

 

[Fed]

[h=3]Sydney[/h] Now16.3?
W 15km/h
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif]15? 29? 84 Degrees F[/FONT]
Mostly sunny.
0.0mm rain since 9am in Sydney

B-B-Q & BEER weather.

 

[interalian]

Then:



Now:

 

[racerone]

Around here guys used to drag their boats across ice to get to some of that water that does not freeze all winter.----January and February too.----Not a joke , just a fact.---No trouble starting motors in January.------A thoriough understanding of cold weather operation is all it takes.

 

[interalian]

Around here guys used to drag their boats across ice to get to some of that water that does not freeze all winter.----January and February too.----Not a joke , just a fact.---No trouble starting motors in January.------A thoriough understanding of cold weather operation is all it takes.

Now this might be going somewhere. Care to elaborate on the requirements for cold weather operation or how I might have lit it up quicker for future reference? More fuel? Less fuel? More throttle?

 

[racerone]

More throttle and more electric primer.