190 (carb) dies when cold

[neilr]

My 1988 (auto) carb (pieburg) has taken to dying when its cold, not all the time but more often than not, it starts fine but you get a bout 1-2 miles down the road and the engine just dies. It will fire again but then, almost immediattly dies, theres nothing I can do to prevent it either, more throttle etc doesnt help. If you leave it a about 15mins you can get it going again and there no more issues. It actually reminds me of trying to idle or drive my old MG with the choke in when it shouldnt be. Is the choke a good place to start? If so, what checks can i do to ensure its working properly?

Many thanks,

Neil

 

[Ian B Walker]

This has happened to my Red Shed. The trouble is with the needle in the carb sticking. A sharp rap on the top of the carb with something like a hammer handle frees it off as a temporary measure. Long term strip it down, replace the needle and re tune. Makes a hell of a difference.

 

[jaymanek]

It couls also be the choke. Mine is fine when cold or hot, but not that great anywhere in between as the notches on the autochoke have worn away so it weakens the mixture too early.

jay

 

[nickmann]

Sounds like carb-icing to me. I used to get this a lot on my Ducati .

When the airtemp is approx 4 centigrade and the humidity is right the jets get blocked with ice. It starts again after 10 mins because the heat from the engine melts the ice.

Some manufacturers solved this by routing a water pipe near (and sometimes through) the float chamber, I'm afraid I don't know about your 190. If it is a recent 'feature' then I suggest there is a fix in place which needs attention, perhaps a blocked water pipe (it would be a small pipe). Your 'stat could be stuck open which would make it a lot worse 'cos of the longer warm-up time.

There is only one fix (other than 10 min wait) which is to pee on the carb (I was a biker OK!!).

Good luck