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Cold light on dash on 1963 ?


Guest mtn

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I started my 63 yesterday and it was about 30 degrees. I pumped the gas twice and cranked her over it just cranked so, I pumped her again no luck. I waited a minute or so and held the pedal half way down cranked her still no go. So then I popped the hood to see if the choke closed. Yep choke closed pushed the butterfly open a bit smelled fuel pretty strong but thought I would give it one more shot. Cranked it over again after replacing the air cleaner top in case of backfire she fired right off. I think it had flooded a bit as it acted like it was fuel loaded (rough and stumbling) held the throttle for twenty seconds or so and the idle smoothed out. But a light in the fuel gauge came on that said cold? What is the light telling me? I ask because I have started it before and had it idle up so i know it was choking and I think that light would've come on then too?

Thanks for all the help so far I feel like I'm asking a ton of questions!

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That light is telling you that the engine is cold. It is not connected to the choke in any way.

It comes from the same switch up on the engine that tells you when it is hot. It is a 2 position switch.

I forget what temperature it goes out at. Not too warm. Buick advises you not to accelerate hard until that cold light goes out. See owner's manual.

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Hi Ed, I know it may be to in depth to get into here but if you could, will you explain what you mean. I am not familiar with the Nailhead or Riviera yet and am trying to learn. So please bear with me. Is the sender some type of contact ? This style of cold start is all new to me. I have had a lot of older cars some with electric chokes and some with manual but never one that operated the way this one does. I don't want to look foolish in front of a crowd!!

Thanks

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Thanks Jim any idea why it didn't fire then fired of after I opened the choke ?

It sounds like it was flooded.

Every Riv is a little bit different in how it starts. You have to experiment and then keep doing what works for your car.

In 30 degree weather the automatic choke will be closed pretty tight. It might also have been a bit stuck shut if the car had not been driven for a while.

When you suspect a flooded engine, you need to step down on the gas pedal all the way to the floor and crank. Holding it half way will not push the "choke unloader" open.

Read through the cold starting procedure in the Owner's Manual.

On my car (your car may be different) I crank the engine for a few seconds to put fuel in the carb, if it has not been run for a week or more. Then I stop cranking and press the gas pedal a couple of times to set the choke and squirt some gas into the carb. Then I crank again and it usually starts right up.

You should check your choke setting and your fast idle speed. That affects how well a cold engine starts. Follow the exact specs in the shop manual for both. (Having said that, I set my choke one notch lean of what the book calls for.)

Hope that helps.

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There's a threaded port on one end of every head. When a head is installed on the passenger's side, this port is toward the back of the engine and there's a plug installed in it. When a head is installed on the driver's side, the port is towards the front of the engine. There's a threaded sending unit that screws into the port and is submerged in the water jacket. The other end has two wires on it . The sending unit senses both cold and hot conditions. One wire (dark green) is for the HOT light, the other wire (light green) is for the COLD light. The sender grounds through the block.

If the entire water jacket is not full of water, the sender could be sitting in an air pocket and not sense any water temperature (no signal.) As the water starts flowing, it will reach the sending unit. If the water is really cold, the sending unit will send 12V to the COLD light. Once the water warms up a bit, the light will go out. If the water get too hot, the same sender will send a signal to the HOT light advising you of a problem.

These early Buicks (in my case a '63 Wildcat, '64 Wildcat, and my Rivieras) are the only cars I've owned that have had a cold light on them. It's just one more "upscale" addition to a Buick.

As Jim says, if the cold light is on, just don't run the engine too hard; wait for the light to go off.

The cold light is NOT an indicator of a problem, it's just a reminder to let the engine warm up before burying your right foot on the go fast pedal.

Ed

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Guest 60electra225

Just count yourself lucky it's not a '60 with the vacuum switch which operates the Cold and Hot lights, and is also routed through the oil pressure switch. Thankfully it was a one year only system, but it does work if you can find a new vacuum switch and/or new diaphragm for it - which fortunately I did. I should add that I had to also change the temperature sender in the block before the Cold light would come on.

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