Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Engine hard to start when warm

I live in a warm country and use my Morgan 4 with Ford Kent engine quite regularly. When I go for a drive and then stop for some time it takes several attempts to start the engine again. Battery and starter are fine and also all settings as should be. My friend who owns the same model but with a different engine experience the same symptoms. Sometimes it takes 4 attempts to start and then it runs ok. I read about vapor lock and vaporization and would like to ask whether there is any trick to avoid this situation, more so as it feels quite embarrassing for this to happen especially when you have people around you admiring the beautiful lines and curves of the car, but then fails to start instantly. Your comments are welcome.

Heat vaporisation is my guess, my 2013 Duratec does this occasionally.

Agree with Keith. Try fitting foil heat insulation around the fuel delivery pipe(s) to carburettor in the engine bay. Heat deflector between carb and exhaust if its a pre-crossflow Kent engine may also help.

If in a rush using choke may help in getting it to fire.

Have you got the proper rubber isolating gasket between the carb and the manifold? Some of the replacement fibre ones loose their insulation properties after a while.

Don't discount the possibility of a condenser breaking down though

Heat shielding round the petrol pipes is a good idea, as is routing them as far away from the block as possible!

The Kent engine is a heavy old lump of cast iron and tends to retain its heat

Arwyn

I would check the condenser these rarely get replaced and don't do well in the heat.