L300 Rich cold start

So I know someone with a 1986 L300 van 2 litre carby and automatic choke. When its cold it runs rich as hell, really rough all over the rpm range and billows black smoke and unburnt fuel smell out the exhaust. Once its reached operating temp it runs pretty good. Where should we be looking here!

I would say that the wax pellet has shrunk in the automatic choke, you would need a new carb kit to get one of these. Meanwhile wire the choke open and try it like that for a while,, consider converting to manual choke. I just done mine, The sometimes run on,, or detonate if your choke is stuck on for too long.

It does run on a lot, usually have to dump the clutch in 5th gear to stop it.

aren't they released by manifold vacuum, so a decent blip of the throttle turns em off!

Rebuild carby, my ole 2.6 used to have the same startup probs, until an elderly oldschool mechanic friend suggested he pull the carby apart and rebuild it with all new gaskets etc. Never had a problem after that. I 'm no mechanic but hope that helps.Cheers RJ

some of them are water temp regulated chokes, maybe the choke has become unset or something, i know that it definatly needs water to operate properly if its the water regulated one, so maybe have a look see and pull the hoses off of it and make sure everything is clear and freely moving!

They have a wee vacuum thing on the side of the carb, it is perished and not sucking any more so it will not set the idle anymore, best to try and fit a manual choke, the wee vacuum thing was not a bit was ever supplied from Mitsubishi as I remember.Best of luck.

Also sometimes removal of the diapragm cover and blow out the vacuum hole can help the choke to come off.

The choke comes on from the cold water from the cooling system doing its thing with the wax pellet. The heat from the cooling system releases the wax pellet and then vacuum assists the opening of the choke.The choke staying on when you are driving is what is casing it to run on and not stop when you turn the key off.It has carbon in the comustion chamber that stays red hot when you turn the ignition off, and this keeps igniting the fuel,, a viscous circle. hard to stop with an automatic. It will clean its elf out after a real good couple of long runs.,, Another thing is the opening of the secondry venturies, they are done with vacuum also and makes it seem like you dont have much power, and this also can carbon the motor up.I ripped all the choke bits off that I possibly could,blocked up a vacuum hole in the side of the carb,manufactured a bracket welded to the choke butterfly shaft and fitted an old bonnett pull cable from a wreck. Choke pull is mounted in the centre console and has a spring to pull it back,(to open the choke) this makes sure that the choke is open or off when you are driving, My fingers getting tired now so the rest is up to you,, you could also use a bit of string to pull the choke for a moment when starting cold.