hot start not cool!

[Elanconvert]

hi guys
my dellorto/big valve is running great [all hesitation gone], and starts fine from cold.....
however, when starting from hot, it can be a pig! typically, say after stopping for fuel, and in front of a few [hopefully admiring] watchers, it takes more than half a dozen attempts
I have tried; no throttle, a little, a lot and some pumps as from cold, but haven;t found the secret yet.....
any tips? [no choke fitted]
thanks in advance!
fred

[Spyder fan]

Fred,
Stand by for lots of replies, as there are all sorts or reasons your car is difficult to restart when hot.
Fuel vaporisation
Coil hot ( try moving it)
Float level in carbs
Timing
Wrong jets ( it starts easy is it running too rich, look at the plugs?)

I always found on my car when it was running carburettors that foot to the floor on the throttle was a good way to restart, that's the normal cure for a flooded engine, but also works under other circumstances.

Enjoy your car, hope you get it working as expected.

PS; people enjoy the drama of an old sports car struggling to start, all part of the fun!

[ken ob]

Yes, foot to the floor always works for me as well.
Although i always find cold starts and hot starts no problem - it is somewhere in between where i have just occasionally needed to use the foot to the floor technique.

Ken

[Chancer]

If as I suspect its a foot to floor job to restart it then its imperative that you depress the pedal very slowly to do so, if not the pump jets will just add more fuel to counter your attempts.

That is usually the reason an engine wont start for about 20 seconds, being flooded, it could be that you have a fuel level problem or just that your engine wont cope with any extra fuelling than the residual mixture, it would start quickly on a wide open throttle (no fuelling at cranking revs) but take a long time if the throttle is not depressed slowly.

This applies equally to webers but with Strombergs there is no problem.

[Elanconvert]

thanks guys....
I haven't tried the foot to the floor [slowly] technique, but definitely will next time!!!
fred

[rgh0]

I also crank with the foot off the throttle when hot and if it does not start instantly then slowly depress the throttle while continuing to crank. It usually starts in a few seconds before the throttle reaches the floor.

If it does not start in 10 seconds and with the throttle now to the floor you probaby have some other problem that needs attention but repeating the process will eventually get it to start normally

cheers
Rohan

[Pastapesto]

I found that the best thing to do (for me anyway) was when I pull up for fuel, I open the bonnet (hood) and leave it open whilst I'm filling up with fuel (engine obviously turned off) this lets most of the under-bonnet heat escape and I think stops the heat soak/fuel evaporation. After I return after paying for the fuel, I close the bonnet & start the car (with foot on floor), it stumbles a little but always starts every time.

Before I started doing this I really struggled with restarting when hot and spent minutes sometimes cranking the engine in short spurts while onlookers often laughed, probably thinking to themselves how crap & unreliable old Lotus cars could be.

I think for me anyway, the problem is under bonnet heat and incorrect float levels but as it is only a problem when filling up for fuel (or stopping car for very short periods) and the method above works every time, I'm a bit loathe to start messing with the Dellortos as apart from the starting whilst hot problem, they work extremely well and are trouble free (now I have said that, they are probably going to play up! Dohh!)

This works for me - perhaps it will help others.

Good luck

Adam