General Help! From before start till the ride ends! Old Uno Mia 1.1 carb

[New2This]

Hi there...

I need any Uno owners help please! I just got given an old (not sure how old but has 170000 plus kms on it) Uno Mia 1.1 to drive while my car is in for a lengthy service. Ive never driven a car like this before and am struggling daily so would like advice.

Here goes: It has an immobilizer and manual choke. I also dont drive very far, so please keep that in mind. I am a girl... so yeah... my knowledge of cars is minimal!

1. Do i insert the "token thingy" into the immobilizer before or after turning the key in the ignition? I dont mean attempting to start the car, i mean simply turning the key so that the lights etc come on.

2. The choke: (my biggest nightmare!)
It is now winter by me... do i pull it all the way out before starting? Do i use the choke every single time i start the car? How do i know when to push it in and how much etc... do i need to let the car idle for a while before driving it? I really dont understand this choke thing.

3. The car struggles to pull away in 1st gear? Does this have anything to do with the choke? Do i not keep it out for long enough? Do i need to pull it out again when i need to pull off? A friend mentioned i should do this.

4. The car has died on me due to not pulling off in first gear. Then i cant get it to start again. I ran the baattery down and probably flooded the engine trying to start it. I did pull out the choke a bit as like i said, a friend suggested i should, butbit still died! I literally sat at a busy intersection with a dead car today! I cant have this happen regularly.... (This happened after driving about 15kms and choke was back in. Was in approx 20 degree sunshine so not cold)

Desperately seeking help!

 

[portland_bill]

Ah, the good old days of manual chokes and carburettors. Isn't electronic fuel injection wonderful. Crumbs, long time since I've been near a choke too.

Firstly the immobiliser. It'll be an aftermarket add-on. I'd expect to insert the 'token' before turning the key. Shouldn't be able to go wrong then.

Choke.
A little theory.
When an engine is cold, the fuel does not vaporise efficiently, tending to condense in the inlet manifold, before it gets into the engine. The choke, when pulled out, causes extra fuel to be drawn in to compensate.
So a cold engine, first thing in the morning, will need choke to start. A hot engine needs none. That's the easy bit. A cool or warm engine, may need some choke, but only experience with a particular engine will determine how much.

So a cold engine, first thing in the morning.
Pull choke all the way out.
Do not touch the accelerator.
Turn key to start.
As soon as engine starts, the juggling begins. The choke needs to be pushed in as soon as possible, but not too soon. So as soon as it starts, push it in a small amount, a couple of mm or so. Listen and feel the engine response. Too much choke and it will slow and cough. Too little, similar symptoms. With the engine running and the car in a safe place, experiment with the choke, pulling out and pushing in by small amounts to hear and feel the effect. Be ready to push the accelerator to clear it is it tries to stall. You'll soon get a feel for how it reacts.
As it warms, continue to push the choke in a little at a time, to maintain a smooth idle or drive. If moving, and can continue, the choke can go in sooner. If you are stopping, be ready to pull it out again if the engine tries to die, but just enough to keep it running, not all the way. When pulling away, you may need to feel the engine response, and be ready to pull the choke out a little more to get going, then push it in again.

If the choke is used when not necessary, too much fuel goes in, which effectively drowns the spark. If you have done this, push the choke fully in, push the accelerator fully down and try to start the engine. This allows more air in, to dilute the excess fuel. As the engine fires, be ready to release the accelerator immediately, to avoid screaming the engine, but you may need to juggle the accelerator and choke until it clears and runs smoothly.

During your hot days, if the engine has not been run for more than 4 hours (guessing here, but you'll get the hang of it), pull choke out fully, turn key, as soon as it fires, push choke half-way in and see if it is happy. Adjust by small amounts as after a cold start.
If not sure how warm engine is, try to start without choke, gradually pulling it out with the engine cranking until it fires. that way you are unlikely to flood it.
If engine is warm/hot, so has run within the last hour, it will probably need no choke, so try without. If it fails to start, pull choke a little at a time as above.

Once you get the hang of it, the uno will be very enjoyable.

 

[New2This]

Thank you so much for the reply!

So if I am to understand what you are saying correctly: chances are, when i pulled out the choke because I was scared of not being able to pull away, I actually did so unneccesarily and killed the spark. Then i couldnt get it to start again as I had no idea about the putting foot flat on accelerator thing and drained the battery by trying to start it over and over again.

I think I'll stick to driving minimal distances and avoid as much traffic as I can until I have the hang of it!

 

[core]

I drove an 1100 mia with manual choke in JHB for many years ...You only need to use the choke when the engine is cold (like when you first start her in the morning or if the car has been sitting outside all day while you were at work)...after 3-5 mins of driving you can push it back in. When you slow down approaching a stop street or traffic light you'll notice the car revving high...this is a sure sign it is time to push the choke back in.

Loads of Uno's were sold from Nissan in South Africa with those immobilisers installed. Put the token in first, this will usually turn off the flashing red light then pull out choke (if engine is cold) then start the car.

Hope you come right...

 

[Didge3]

The fun of learning to use a choke
I had my first carb'd car when I was 18 and for the first month or so I was completely rubbish at it

From my experience every car is slightly different so you'll have to learn your car a bit, for example my Panda didn't ever want much choke or it'd flood easily. It can make life a lot easier if your Uno has a rev counter although I'm going to assume it doesn't, if you're going to keep the car a while its relatively simple to fit one and it can come in handy but not needed.

Starting protocol for me in the winter involved, pulling the choke out half way, give the accelerator 2 pumps (push it to the floor and release it twice) then try to start the car, it would usually catch pretty quickly and start running, then with the aid of a rev counter you can adjust the choke and see exactly what you're aiming for (around a 1200rpm idle at cold temps), so I'd slowly push the choke in until I achieved this. Once you set off you can generally reduce the amount of choke relative to the engines temperature (if you have a engine temp gauge) as the temperature starts to rise you can push the choke in, during cold temps you can usually push the choke all the way in when the engine is up to about 60-70C.

If you've been driving the car for a short time (even as little as 2-3mins) and then stopped or the engine has stalled I would always find turning the key without the choke or pushed almost all the way in (maybe have it a tiny amount out) and feather the throttle and it'd start, once its running you can then readjust it to a suitable idle speed. It all depends on the car unfortunately so there is no single method that works but you'll get the hang on it