Cold weather makes Florida truck mad! Rawwrrr

[dukebravo@gmail.com]

Hello everyone! I drive a 1992 B2200, 236,000 miles. She is completely faithful and starts and runs very acceptably for her age, but when it gets cold down here, she's not happy. She lopes and bucks and shudders liked a Harley. Also smells very bad/rich during this time. Once she gets warmed up - about 15 minutes, then she smoothes right out.

The only thing I know for certain that has been disconnected is the distributor vacuum advance hose. Any ideas fr what I can address to help Ol' Bessie?

Thanks!

[Tyranitar]

Replace the ECT sensor. This tells the computer how hot the engine is, if it reads wrong the computer will use the wrong cold startup strategy and will run badly till it warms up.

Disconnecting the distributor advance is a very bad thing.

[dukebravo@gmail.com]

Well, the engine is starting cold. It runs poorly from the get-go, and then gets better after warm. So if the sensor is working, it's reading that the engine is warming up. I was hoping for some advice on what position I should observe the carb butterfly being in when cold, how the choke should operate, etc.

[Tyranitar]

That logic doesn't fly. If the ECT tells the system that you are warm when you are not, it will not run right till it warms up. At which point you are actually warm and the sensor reads correctly.

Carberator problems are very likely, part of the reason I will never own a carbed vehicle. To many parts that have to be just so. FI is so much better.