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This great video from Ian Tyrell got me thinking: 

What approach do members take? 

The approach I have taken for the past 35 years is to:

- Switch ignition on

- Wait 5-10 seconds until fuel pump has pressurised system (tone changes). This is quicker with a powerful and full charged battery.

- Pull choke out fully

- Touch accelerator pedal a few times to remove any stickiness in the linkage

- Provide a little pressure to the accelerator pedal (1/10 opening max.)

- Turn ignition key until engine catches 

- Push choke in half way, or more, as soon as possible 

- Gradually reduce choke and only provide the bare minimum choke to keep the engine running and push it fully in as soon as the engine will run without it

My car doesn't have a fast idle linkage fitted and so I use the throttle to increase the idle speed for the first 30 seconds or so, usually when manoeuvring in the drive.

However, is there something to be said for turning the engine over for, say, 5 seconds, with no choke to get the oil distributed before trying to start the engine?

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I watched that same video last night found it very interesting, will be very interesting to hear what the people on hear think. Ian Tyrell is a legend with all things Classic.

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we had the same topic in our german forum....

EFI guys may be able to confirm this.

my engine:

No pressure build up during cranking! The 130-190 RPM are too little to generate oil pressure. Don't bother cranking for 20 seconds. To generate oil pressure, you need the engine! Oil pressure is within 0.8s.

Tyrrell mentioned this in his video. cold start cannnot be generalized. each car/modell is different.

TR6 Öldruckaufbau.jpg

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A friend of mine spins the crankshaft (only) the first time after winter with the spark plugs out with the starter until there is oil pressure.

The rest of the years he does nothing, he never has ANY problems or brake down - BUT it’s a German BMW 1802 :lol:

Some engines have 300.000 and more km without much attention, but are driven regularly.

Probably all the story is about is our „good feeling“ and giving an engine a human aspect.

Nothing to quarrel about.

Ciao, Marco 

Edited by Z320
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6TR - I also watched Iain's video with interest. 

Certainly whenever I have reassembled my 1966 Land-Rover sidevalve engine (more than once) and fired it for the first time I have built up the oil pressure beforehand with the spark plugs out to build up the oil pressure on the oil gauge, refitted them and then started it in the usual choke on way - this was on the recommendation of the specialist engine overhauler Cox and Turner...it seems to work well.

One of the key issues that Iain mentions is not to let the engine idle for ages when cold.

Adapting Iain's method I also do not depress the clutch on start up now, as I have read advice that the crank shaft thrust washers wear more with the clutch depressed and you should not have it depressed with the gear engaged waiting for the traffic lights to change.

Hoping that this revised starting method will help what I believe to be the original 1969 engine in its original form (except for a new rocker rail with rockers that I fitted last year to cure an oil supply issue to the top end) last over the 100,000 mile mark and beyond until smoking and low oil pressure...

Mark

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Interesting..

In the end, of course building oil pressure before startup will to some very small degree decrease wear.. but how much will this increase engine longevity? by not very much in the scheme of things I would guess. (I reason I have 25 years of classic driving left.. so long as it out lasts this at 2-3K a year I am happy :-)

My TR will develop full oil pressure on the starter and when she has been laid up for some time I do sometimes turn her over a few times without choke to get the gauge to move.. but most of the time not. 

interestingly when I was on PI (Holley and a supercharger now) this happened naturally as it took a few turns to get her to fire.. Now with the SC set up she will fire imediately. This does mean that one or twice I have heard a single "knock" from the big ends before oil pressure reaches them, but loads at idle are pretty low so don't worry too much.. It is a bit of a habit for these 6s.

Interestingly I had a 2500 saloon up until last year that was on its original engine (70,000 miles). It had fine oil pressure.. started without a knock with the old oil filter. fitted a spin on and it always gave 1 knock on start up afters.. Thought spinons were supposed to prevent this.. go figure

TIm 

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On 7/13/2022 at 1:54 PM, 6TR said:

This great video from Ian Tyrell got me thinking: 

What approach do members take? 

The approach I have taken for the past 35 years is to:

- Switch ignition on

- Wait 5-10 seconds until fuel pump has pressurised system (tone changes). This is quicker with a powerful and full charged battery.

- Pull choke out fully

- Touch accelerator pedal a few times to remove any stickiness in the linkage

- Provide a little pressure to the accelerator pedal (1/10 opening max.)

- Turn ignition key until engine catches 

- Push choke in half way, or more, as soon as possible 

- Gradually reduce choke and only provide the bare minimum choke to keep the engine running and push it fully in as soon as the engine will run without it

My car doesn't have a fast idle linkage fitted and so I use the throttle to increase the idle speed for the first 30 seconds or so, usually when manoeuvring in the drive.

However, is there something to be said for turning the engine over for, say, 5 seconds, with no choke to get the oil distributed before trying to start the engine?

I should add that I do always spin the engine over without spark plugs fitted after changing oil and filter. This can take a fair bit of time and it's nice to know that the bearings are under minimum load during this period. 

 

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Turn ignition on until ful pump note changes indicating pressure has been attained.

Then start - generall takes a few secs before it fires so that's OK.

I don't have the fast idle connected so once started I control on the throttle pedal putting the choke in part way immediately then the rest once I'm far enough down the road so it doesn't bog down.

Ticking over when cold is a cam killer on a new engine and not great therafter.

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