This electric choke crap is starting to get on my nerves. Anyone have any special tricks on how to properly adjust it? After driving the car for 5 minutes or so, everything clears up. During start up (even after it's been warmed up) is when my car dies, misses, etc.
You want the choke to close about half way on a warm morning with the engine/choke cold. Watch the temp gauge and the choke should be fully off when the engine temp is about half or a bit more up to normal operating temps. The choke should also open more when cold and under acceleration. Prevents running real rich that way.
Some cars will start good with no choke at all. You can adjust it so it just closes ever so little and see if that works better.
It is all in how much the choke butterfly closes when cold vs hot. A warn to hot engine should need no choke.
You timing and carb setup can also effect the initial startup results.
I will, make sure all of the associated linkage is clean and without any binding. Also, you do know the fast idle cam comes into play on initial cold start.
As a refresher, on a typical cold start, when you set the accelerator, the choke closes leaving a slight opening of about an 1/8". At the same time, the choke arm steps a cam on the idle adjustment side, that, bumps the idle to about 1200-1500 RPMs. As you warm the engine the the electric choke is retracting (2-3 minutes) the choke plate, at the same time, it's backing off the "fast idle" cam lowering your idle. During normal operation that choke plate should be in verticle position, but then, I think this was mentioned, as well.
When reviewing this issue, it's a good time to set your carb'ss idle mix using a vac gauge, check your engine's idle vac, and verify the timing is within your engine's specs.
Happy Motoring!