VolvoPenta 570A hard cold starting

"HI, I have a 1991 Volvo Penta

"HI, I have a 1991 Volvo Penta (chev 350)570A with a carburator that runs great when it is warm, starts fine when it is warm, but is really hard to start when cold.

I don't follow the manufacturers directions on cold starting, because I would wear out my batteries. So, I have to pump the throttle twice and maybe leave it a bit forward while starting when cold. It sometimes takes a few tries but it usually always fires.

Problem is, it should start up right away after a few seconds. It takes me about a minute to get it fired up. I checked the choke and the butterfly valve is shut when cold.

I am a fuel injection guy and mostly a diesel guy, so I don't recall exactly what could cause this or what I need to replace in the tune up area.

Your suggestions are greatly appreciated."

"I have virtually your same en

"I have virtually your same engine and carb (Chev 350 ex- AQ311 with Holley dual-pumper) and mine starts like a charm. Mind you, it was rebuilt less than 30 running hours ago.

For starters (no pun intended ), you may want to check the compression and the condition and gap of the spark plugs. Afterwards, you may want to set the idle speed and idle fuel/air mixture.

I don't know which plugs you are using, but I found the NGK YR5 (5334) work really well on this application.

Also, your carb is supposed to come with electric choke, which is to be totally closed when cold."

"I cleaned the contact points

"I cleaned the contact points in the cap and rotor. It seemed to help. Fired up pretty fast. I will check those spark plugs though and pick up some NGK YR5 plugs.

Yes, my choke works fine. Have you ever had any problem with your tach reading incorrectly at anything but idle? Seems when I am up and running, I notice my tach lowers as I give more throttle. I checked the connections, they're okay. Perhaps just a bad gage.

Thanks again."

"Check the tach wire connectio

"Check the tach wire connection to the coil. The tach works measuring the coil pulses, so it could be vibration related or a loose/dirty connection."

"Hey, C, you got a dry carb--t

"Hey, C, you got a dry carb--that's your problem. The gas evaporates after it sits for a while in the heat.

Now, if you have an electric fuel pump, the oil pressure has to come up before the electric fuel pump will operate.

If you have a mechanical pump, it's pumps very slowly at cranking speeds. (If one ran out of gas in an old car, you had to dump gas down the carb to get it started or crank it forever. Sound familiar?)

The electric pump setup can be agumented with a momentary push button that bypasses the oil pressure switch, to allow you to fill the carb BEFORE cranking her over. That works slick.

The mechanical fuel pump setup requires patience and LOTS of pumping the throttle.

Jeff"

"I also have a '91 4.3 Vol

"I also have a '91 4.3 Volvo and it does the same as yours, even after a fresh rebuild of the carb,
but it's not a biggy for me to pump the throttle
2-3 times before it cranks, Like fast jeff said
thats just Old school stuff, got to live with it would be nice to have EFI engine, but then think of what else issue's could go wrong!"