How quickly we forget

Several older customers of mine, in recent months, have bought a much older vehicle with a carburetor because they miss the "old" machine and it's looks.

I have had basically the same report from each of them, "This engine doesn't start very well in the morning."

I have reminded them they are not driving a fuel injected vehicle.  "Remember to pump the foot feed while cranking the engine.  Then stay with the car for about 5 minutes and nurse it until it stays running on it's own."

In the "old days", if the engine was in good shape, and the carburetor was tuned properly, you would pump the gas pedal once all the way to the floor, let it up, then push it halfway to the floor and crank the engine.  The engine should then start and run and you could let up on the pedal.  It would run at a higher speed for about 5 minutes and then you could pump the gas again and let it up, and the engine would idle down to the right speed.

We have all forgotten warming up that cold engine on some January morning.  Now we pick up our remote starter on our key chain by the coffee maker, point it out the window at the car, and push the button.  Our car starts and we think nothing about it but keep eating breakfast.