Hard starting Hot

Willie in Houston

Willie in Houston

Senior Member
Unlike one of the other post, my 1912 touring is hard to start when it is hot. It is a hand crank model with an engine rebuilt about 500 miles ago.
When it is cold in the garage, several pulls on the crank with the choke out and the ignition off has it primed. Turn on ignition to a 12 volt battery and one or two pulls gets it going. (almost every time).
As long as the car is moving, the radiator stays at normal temperature. I can turn it off and one or two pulls starts it again.
If I let it idle for about ten minutes the radiator starts to overheat and pushes some water out of the overflow. Now it does not want to start unless I resort to spinning the crank which I do not like to do.
Anyone know of any secret to starting it when it is in this slightly overheated condition????
The engine does not feel any tighter when it is hot as compared to cold cranking. About the same pull required.
Any magic suggestions from anyone?????
 
Over heating at idle could be any number of things but three off the top of my head are; not enough advance of the spark, running too lean, radiator problems. Try advancing the spark some, open the spray needle a bit more, you know the drill on the radiator. You can have too hot a burn by running to lean. The raw un-burnt gas helps cool the engine plus running too lean can burn valves for the same reason.
Starting hot, don't use the choke as much or not at all. Let it cool down a little or keep it from getting hot, see above.
 
With the way the coils are sheltered from the heat of the engine on the other side of the firewall, this doesn't seem like it could be ignition related. Could it be that your carb float is sticking shut when the heat of the engine causes parts in the carb to expand, causing a low fuel situation when the heat boils off gas in the carb bowl? Try giving the carb a few nice sharp (but not too sharp!) shots with a rubber mallet before trying to restart it next time it's hot.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I normally do not have an overheating problem for normal driving, just a long idle will cause a little water to start pushing out of the radiator and a little steam. If I stop the engine after that, it will not start, choking does not help. I think it is fuel related.
Thanks again for the suggestions.
I know, avoid that long idle and I am OK????
 
Hs it done this since it was rebuilt? Sometimes if the valves are set too close they will not seat properly when hot, causing starting problems. If you can not hear them cold they likely have too little clearance.
 
If the valves were tight you'd see a noticeable power drop when it heated up and they stopped seating properly. Choking doesn't help, (I wouldn't choke when hot any way), but if you don't see fuel leaking out of the carb air inlet after a hot choke there may not be fuel there to drip. How's the fuel line routing near the exhaust pipe? If it's close and your overheating that may be enough to cause vapor lock. Especially at a stand still idle with no air flowing by to cool it. I'm with a fuel problem
 
Also: valves that un-seat when hot will cause lower compression and it would be easier to crank because of it. You state it's the same hot or cold.
 
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