Best way to start a flooded carb engine?

Thyratron

Active Member
As many of us realize, it sometimes doesn't take much to flood a carbureted engine. What's the best/quickest way to get one started that's been flooded through excessive cranking?
 
If it's your car's engine, hold the gas pedal to the floor for about 10-15 seconds, then give it a crank after letting up off the pedal.
 
You need to be cranking while the throttle is wide open as Dark said. This opens the butterfly in the carb as well as the choke (providing it's not manual) and lets the most amount of air in.
 
Depending on how badly you flooded it and how cold it is you might have to pull the plugs to clean them and dry them off. You can always try giving it a small shot of ether down the carb throat. Hold the pedal to the floor and then crank it over so you get as much air as possible into the engine.
 
What Brent said...remove the aircleaner top, get a screw driver, open the choke butterfly with it, and have some one else crank the engine over while holding the choke open with the screwdriver. Use a squirt of ether if it doesn't fire up the first time. The screwdriver gets your hand away from the carb in case of backfire.
 
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