TE cortina start issues

[Ben territory]

I have a TE with a XE falcon motor slightly worked i.e head port/ polish, crow cam, balanced, etc which does not like to cold start, getting worse over the years. Hot start is not an issue. Had two mechanic look at it, said carb is tuned and electronic choke is working well. Both charged over $150 just to look at. I pump throttle twice with ignition on, then flutter accelerator when turning over. I find it usually fires when after stop winning motor after 30 secs. It also back fires in carbie and smoke comes through air vent. Mechanics said I am starting it wrong, but I have owned this car for 20 years, so I think I know how to start it. Wondering if anybody had any ideas.

[dirty hands]

just guesses

is this one a points and condensor dissy

maybe needs a hotter spark at start ... are different plugs available or better coil

any chance of carbon on the valves

or a vacume problem

[Ben territory]

It has electronic ignition, so could be that playing up. Fuel is not an issue as replaced filter and filter is alway full, when I have checked and fuel can been seen squirting in carby when winding over

[Timbo_021]

Does it run alright after its started? Or is it still a bit rough till it warms up a little.. I'm pretty crappy with carbies but they are pretty basic so it cant be anything too hard..

[Ben territory]

Runs really well when it eventually starts. But leave it longer than six hours and it is really hard to start.

[dirty hands]

bugger
six hours later

I think it is then a spark problem -- ign to module - dissy to spark plug

[39ClevoUte]

I'd go manual choke. Maybe 1 pump of the throttle and crank at about 1/4 throttle opening. I'd also be concerned that you may have a resistive wire or resistor in your ignition system.

[gassa]

Adjust the auto choke undo the 3 screws holding the auto choke spring, using a pencil insert between choke butterfly and carby slowly turn the auto choke spring so the butterfly just touches the pencil, tighten 3 screw.

gassa

[Ben territory]

The auto choke has always worked really well, I think it is electrical, could be coil or distributor. I am not sure how you can check for a resistive wire, or resistor in the ignition ?

[foxtrot3]

Hi. Grab a volt meter and see if you have power at the coil when cranking the car, should be close to battery voltage. Cheers MD

[Ben territory]

Tried the volt meter 13.8 at battery and .48 at coil when cranking the car. Interesting car won't start with voltage meter on coil.

[foxtrot3]

Hi. Thats what I thought you would find (bugger all) from the description of the way it starts. Have a look at the starter solenoid and see if it has 2 thin wires going to it. If the wiring colors are the same as a falcon one of the wires will be red/blue, this is the one from the key. The other one might be black/red and it should go to battery voltage when cranking, this wire should be going to the + side of the coil to supply power to the coil when cranking. May need a new solenoid or run a relay triggered by the start wire to feed power to the + side of the coil. If coil has been rewired to bypass the ignition resistor you may find it is connected to ACC or an ignition feed that disappears when cranking. Cheers MD

[Ben territory]

Unbelievable looked at starter solenoid and one of the wires were broken off the red blue wire. The car has header on it and the headers are very close to starter motor so guess the heat weakened it. Thanks for the information, nice and easy fix. Shame I spend over $300 on two mechanics, who did not work out the problem.

[foxtrot3]

Hi. If I ever get to Tassie you owe me a cascade, free advice isn't always free. Cheers MD

[Ben territory]

A cascade or boags and fresh Tasmania seafood lol

[39ClevoUte]

Before you get excited... The wire from the solenoid is there to bypass the resistor or resistive wire. eg: in the some Cars the coil is actually 6-9v and the resistor takes up the difference, then when starting a "full" 12v is put straight to the coil to give it a kick in the guts, in reality it's propably getting it's original 6-9V, but without it it would probably get 3-6v.
If you have an electronic ignition then you should have it connected to 12V whenever the ign is on. You obviously must have a resistor or resitive wire or the broken wire would not have caused a problem. The solenoid wire should be obsolete.
Take the positive wire and any other wires on the + side of the coil off, hot wire the coil. Now try to start the car. It should start fine. This will prove if you have the resistor.

[39ClevoUte]

Correction: if there is a + wire from the coil to the dizzy, leave it connected.

[Ben territory]

The cortina is starting like a dream now, so I think I will just leave as it.

[39ClevoUte]

Point is: the fact that your car wouldn't start without the wire from the solenoid would indicate it has a resistor.
This being the case: your electronic ignition would not be performing to its full potential during normal operation.

[foxtrot3]

Hi. Ford put the "bypass" wire into cars that at first glance "didn't need it" (XD & XE with electronic ignition and NO balast resistor) because the ignition feed from the switch drops away when you turn the key to crank. Cheers MD

[39ClevoUte]

I'd still do the test.

[Ben territory]

Just want more clarification 37 clevo with the + wires I take off coil do I join them together. What do you mean by hot wire coil. Put a wire from positive to negative on coil? Since I repaired the broken wire on starter solenoid the car keeps missing down low to the point where it is hard to quickly take off at an intersection, like driving a kangaroo.

[davidkid01]

hi, my te corty been gettin worse for ages BUT NOW FIXED.....very hard to cold start , but fine once warmed up...te has a resistor wire, i put a 12 volt coil on a couple of years ago,, over time the 12 volt coil heated the resistor wire to within an inch of its life...so i ran another wire with a resistance block on coil end , now its all good. the extra wire is just plugged into a switched outlet on fuse box. unwrapping the original resistance wire showed its insulation looked like chewy-gum melted round the other wires

[39ClevoUte]

Hot wire means run a 12v wire straight to the coil, but first disconnect any other wires on the + terminal other than one that goes to the dizzy. Once you do this the engine should be ready to run. Now see if it will start. NOTE you will have to remove the hot wire to stop the engine.
If it starts ok then it either has a resistor wire or resistor or as foxtrot said above the circuit from the key could also be very poor.
So if it does start ok what next? You need to ensure that when you have the ignition on you need to have a clean 12v on the coil and you won't need the wire from the solenoid.