By way of introduction, I'm new to the 911, and am wondering if I'm doing something wrong when I start up the car in the morning. I'd be grateful for any advice/thoughts on the problem...

I'll attempt to describe the problem below:

1. Car is a 911T 2.2 on Webers.

2. Problem only occurs when car is cold. It's winter here in Australia, and where I live, temperatures are getting down to just above freezing point during the day. When hot, it turns over a few times and invariable starts fine, settling down to a normal idle. No problems there.

3. Problem didn't seem to happen when I first got the car, in summer.

4. When I start the car, I first give the petrol pump a few seconds to get itself together, pull up the handthrottle about halfway, pump the accelerator three times, then depress the accelerator just a little (all as per user manual so far), then engage the startmotor. It always fires up instantly, revving high for a split second before settling down to a rough idle. Playing with the handthrottle or taking my foot off the accelerator altogether can smooth the idle, but the handthrottle makes it idle pretty fast by the time it's smooth - I'm not sure if that's a good thing to do to a cold engine.

It then runs roughly for a while, but gradually starts dying until it stops. It will do this whether the hand throttle has it idling high or I let it settle down with my foot off the accelerator.

When I sense it's losing RPM, I usually try to give it a little more accelerator, but have found that tends to make it idle roughly and provokes it to stall, as if I'm basically drowning the engine. Still, if I just let it run, there's no way it will keep going, it'll die. This confuses me... I figure it's stopping running due to too little petrol, but if I add any, it drowns?

Then I start it up again, needing to pump the accelerator a few times first (if I try to start without that it will churn over for what seems a long time without firing up). That again makes me wonder about what's going on, too much or too little petrol being delivered. It'll again catch instantly, and then slowly lose RPM until it dies after 30 seconds to a minute or so.

Usually I have to restart 3 or 4 times before it settles down to idle and keeps running. Then I let it warm up for a minute or so at least before driving off. At that point I find the hand throttle works very well in terms of keeping the engine running smoothly at lower RPM until it warms up properly.

I've just had the hand throttle repaired (didn't work when I got the car) and had new stainless SSI heat exchangers and a new stainless OEM spec exhaust installed, thinking that particularly the hand throttle working properly would probably cure the starting, but it still behaves the same.

Am I doing something wrong in my starting procedure, is this normal for these cars, or is there a mechanical issue somewhere?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this.

 

I would start driving sooner. The webers have no cold enrichment, so don't expect any civil behavior until it is fully warm. If you drive sooner it will warm up sooner.

Art

 

Forget the hand throttle, it's nothing more than a cable that's connected to the throttle linkage.It has nothing to do with starting and on your car is only there to help you maintain a high idle speed if you want it.The Webers have no choke or cold start system. I have a 2.2 with Webers and never use the hand throttle for starting. Just start it with the gas peddle and don't try to warm it up in the driveway. The factory wants you to warm it up on the road. Just don't push it until it is warm.

 

OK, so the uncivilised behaviour is basically part and parcel of the 2.2/Weber setup - I'll be a little less gentle with it & as you suggested start driving rather than wait for it to warm up first.

I'll see how I go. Just wanted to know if I'm doing anything wrong.

Thanks for the advice,
Pete