Electric vs Manual Choke

[firebane]

Now this isn't about your everyday which is better than the other but more of a I need a honest opinion on what I'm thinking.

With where I live in the winter time it can be a balmy -15* Celsius and other days it can be a tropical +13* in the middle of winter.

Now I know with the way a electric choke works is that you set it then the timer slowly opens up the choke plate to allow the truck to warm up so it won't flood or choke itself off. Now here is my dilemma.

Say I set the electric choke to run perfectly when its -5* Celsius but the next week its going to be +12* Celsius. I know that between spring and winter most people will adjust their choke to lean or richen the mixture when its cold. But when I have such wild temp changes would it better for me to go manual choke?

Or when I have it set for really cold temperatures will it behave ok for those days when it warms up to +13* Celsius? My other thought is that with a manual choke the only thing that I would have to adjust if anything at all is the fast idle.

Thoughts?

 

[Georgeb]

The manual choke option is viable but in my experience when it's really cold and you want to warm the truck up before you drive it you will need to go out and adjust it at least once. I would start mine and set the choke so it would stay running then watch out the window for it to be blowing black due to being rich from the choke. Then I would go out and open the choke more. there was a learning curve to it. I currently run a bi-metal coils spring type choke that mounts on the manifold of my 350. This choke works very, very well. I have had no trouble with it from -20F on up to summer heat. It took a while to get it set right but I haven't touched it in over 10 years! I get what you say about the electric and I know there is a way to sense the engine temperature and speed up or slow down it's operation accordingly so it should be a set it and forget it thing. Honestly I haven't messed with too many of them since I have only had one vehicle with automatic choke all the rest were manual choke of fuel injected.

 

[Green79Scottsdale]

Here are my .02

My truck has only ever had a manual choke. My dad NEVER messed with the choke, and he bought the truck new in 1979. We have NEVER had problems with it starting, in ANY weather conditions. (Well... that's no quite true. I had problems with it this year, but hey, considering nothing had ever been done with the carb, period, that's a good track record.)

In the late 80's/early 90's, my dad had the truck snowmobiling. He was the only one in his group that had a carb'd truck, all the others were newer EFI trucks. The morning they were leaving they woke up to -40*F air. His truck was the ONLY one that would start! The EFI (GM TBI trucks at that...) trucks would NOT start! Couple this with all the years of summer vacations and starting the truck in 80* air, and never adjusting the choke, I would say the manual choke is very reliable, in any condition.

I have no real experience with an electric choke, so I can not say one is better than the other. My 85 SS has a CCC Q'jet, so I don't really count that.

 

[bucket]

Here are my .02

My truck has only ever had a manual choke. My dad NEVER messed with the choke, and he bought the truck new in 1979. We have NEVER had problems with it starting, in ANY weather conditions. (Well... that's no quite true. I had problems with it this year, but hey, considering nothing had ever been done with the carb, period, that's a good track record.)

In the late 80's/early 90's, my dad had the truck snowmobiling. He was the only one in his group that had a carb'd truck, all the others were newer EFI trucks. The morning they were leaving they woke up to -40*F air. His truck was the ONLY one that would start! The EFI (GM TBI trucks at that...) trucks would NOT start! Couple this with all the years of summer vacations and starting the truck in 80* air, and never adjusting the choke, I would say the manual choke is very reliable, in any condition.

I have no real experience with an electric choke, so I can not say one is better than the other. My 85 SS has a CCC Q'jet, so I don't really count that.

By manual choke, do you mean a choke actuated by a heat stove? Or an actual manual choke with a cable that runs into the cab that you pull on?

 

[Green79Scottsdale]

By manual choke, do you mean a choke actuated by a heat stove? Or an actual manual choke with a cable that runs into the cab that you pull on?

Heat stove type. Probably should have used the term hot air choke now that I think about it. Did square bodies come with a pull cable type?

 

[Georgeb]

I don't think squares ever came with a pull cable choke. The heat stive choke on my 78 always works flawlessly. I did make a DIY pull style chike for a Qjet from some old linkage that worked well but I prefer the automatic heat stove choke. I would think a properly set up electric choke would work fine too. Just need the sensor and to wire it through an oil pressure switch so it doesn't come on when not needed.

 

[Don5]

Like I said earlier the heat stove choke is the only one I have used on the truck since 1985. I never have had any trouble with it. It has sat outside in -10 degree F all night and started up fine. I only sat in the truck long enough to kick the fast idle off and then I locked the door and went back inside. I would come out about 10 minutes later and the cab was nice and warm and I would drive it home. I never had to adjust the choke either.

 

[rich weyand]

I currently have the Edelbrock 1406 with the electric choke. I adjusted it last five years ago. Temperature range since then has been -10 to +100 F. We can get bitterly cold and unseasonably warm days seemingly at random all winter. No problems, ever.

The electric choke automatically accounts for the outside temperature because 1) the choke element starts at a lower temp and needs more heating to open when it is colder, and 2) it heats more slowly when it is colder because of higher heat loss during heating. So it seems to accommodate just fine if you get it adjusted right.

As for the spring chokes on the manifold, I had one on a 361 Chrysler back in the day. First start of the day, no problem, ever. If it was cold out (below +20 F), and you parked it for up to haf an hour, no problem. If you parked it for more than an hour and a half, no problem. But if you parked it for 45 minutes or an hour, there was no way not to flood it. The manifold spring had gotten cold, applying full choke, while the block was still warm. And a flooded Chrysler will not start, period, nada.

The solution I had for it was to keep a bulldog clothespin clipped to the battery cable. I noted the time when I parked it. If it was between 1/2 hour and 1-1/2 hour later when I got back, I removed the air cleaner, put the bulldog clothespin on the choke plate to hold it open, and started the car. Wait five minutes for the manifold spring to warm up. Remove clothespin and clip it back on the battery cable. Put the air cleaner back on.

All in all, I prefer the electric choke.