why does my friends car die when cold? (not a mustang)

[87_GT]

my friend has a 1986 suzuki samurai, and when it is cold out and the car not warmed up it will just die when stopped. as soon as it gets warmed up for about 5 min. it wont do it. is there anyting i can check out to try and fix it?
thanks,
Steve

 

[HISSIN50]

Steve, I thought I recalled the Samurai being one of the last cars to get EFI (I could well be wrong but I have to wonder if it has a carb). Please let us know.

As a blanket statement, it's likely an enrichment issue (the choke on a carb or the IAC and/or related sensors like the ECT, on an EFI vehicle).

Good luck.

 

[wytstang]

Bad MAF sensor would be my guess (if EFI).

 

[87_GT]

it has a 2 barrel carb on it. so you think it has to do with the choke on it? would this year car have like an automatic choke on it or something? please forgive my supidness on the subject, but i have never owned (until about 1 month ago) or worked on anything with a carb. what would i do to the choke?
thanks a lot.

 

[HISSIN50]

I wouldnt have a clue as to what kind of choke it has (electric is likely, though a bimetallic spring and stepped cams are possible too). When the air cleaner is off, are the butterflies closed (when the truck is cold)?

With a bimetallic (mechanical) choke, you can cheat the system if the spring is weak by over-rotating the housing (preloading the spring, in essense). An E-choke leaves fewer 'rigging' options.

If you can, press the throttle linkage (gas pedal) and see if you can manually close the butterflies (you would close the butterflies with your fingers). Try to start it without touching the gas. It should go into fast idle. If this works, that confirms the choke was likely the issue.

I'm sorry to not know much about those trucks. If you can post any info on the type of choke, that can help the smart folks on here to try to assist.

Good luck.

 

[87_GT]

thanks hissin for the info. i guess i was a little misinformed on the whole problem. the problem is that the car dies out when it is cold and when the brakes are applied. if it is just cold, and he just clutches in, and rolls to a stop, without touching the brakes, it will idle fine. as soon as the brakes are touched it wants to die out. do you think maybe some sort of short or something? although i dont know why it would not happen when the car is warm.
thanks for any input you may have,
Steve

 

[HISSIN50]

Steve, two thoughts come to mind (I'm trying to put my carb thinking-cap on - it's been awhile other than motorcycles).

Do you happen to know how his idle is if he stops but doesn't use the brakes? If the idle is pretty low (verge of stalling), it simply could be an E- load issue (turning on the headlights or any other big accessory would cause a 100-200 RPM bog that would cause stalling too. It just happens to be the brakes he notices). I hate to say it but for one closed course test (parking lot, no cars, etc) he could disable the stop lights and see if it stalls when he hits the brakes. Just remember to enable the brake lights after the 5 minute test.

One other thought is an issue with the brake booster and a leak. This is pretty unlikely but something to consider if nothing else makes sense.

For now, can he raise the idle adjustment up to compensate for the stalling? I've had to bandaid a few cars this way when they had slightly wrong jetting for cold weather, or the carbs were a little varnished (which can hamper the dashpotting).

I like your idea with the short, but if it was something serious, it should blow the stop-light fuse. Anything less than that should not really hinder alternator/charging system performance enough to cause stalling (the battery acts as a damper and fills the voids).

Sorry to not be much help again but it'll at least bump ya again.
Good luck Steve - it's nice of ya to help him out.