Why do I have two manual chokes?

[supplyguy]

On both sides of the steering wheel, under the dash, there lies a pull choke. Each works, although I sense some loss of resistance under the gas pedal when I pull on the one on the right. Could be in my head. 1971 124 with original car (I think).

[azruss]

one is a choke, the other one is a poor man's cruise control......a manual throttle.

[maytag]

one is a choke, the other one is a poor man's cruise control......a manual throttle.

and that one, typically, you should be able to turn clockwise to "lock" the throttle in place.

[supplyguy]

Ahhh...the stuff I have to learn. PO described another "button" hanging under the left side of the dash as a poor man's cruise control. Turns out it resets the odometer. Thanks.

[bradartigue]

71 was the last year they allowed the deadly throttle lock I think. Bad idea item, stock from the factory!

[courtenay]

Nope - I had one in my '72.

[dmwhiteoak]

I have one on my 78. Maybe put there by a PO ?

[bradartigue]

Nope - I had one in my '72.

Oh well. Somewhere in the 70's they got tired of people's engines running at full steam after an accident, or the "it kept going" excuse. Hand throttles are a bad idea. I really thought 71 was it, but now I'm seeing pics of a 74 with it. Who knows?

[WYSpider]

Hand throttles are a bad idea.

Lawn mower technology.

[RRoller123]

Funny how they are standard today on BMW motorcycles. I loved that feature, (on my 71/5, 77/7, and 82 RS) saved my arthritic wrists a lot of pain. I guess they figure once they go over, they don't go forward, so ok on a bike?

[sptcoupe]

It was never intended to be used as a cruise control. On REALLY cold mornings (like in Minn or Wisc in January/Feb), just pulling out the chole wasn't good enough, as the engine needed more rpms with the choke pulled to warm up enough to keep it idling. It was a great feature, as, unlike most cars of the era, you could pull the choke out, crank it up, then set the throttle to make it idle at about 1500 rpms, lock it in, and go back in the house for a few minutes until the car was warmed up - both the engine and the cabin. Those who live in the frozen north will agree, that was WAY better than sitting in the car nursing the idle with your frozen right foot!

It also works especially well on cold starts with dual IDFs in really cold climes, and remember that most coupes sold in Europe came with dual IDFs on the 1608/1592 motors.

[courtenay]

Who knows indeed, Brad. Doesn't really matter when they stopped putting the thing in the cars - as you have so rightly point out, it was a very bad idea. Having said that, I sure used mine a lot when I drove my '72 from Vancouver to Winnipeg and back in '72. Those prairie roads are very straight and very long. I think there's only one curve in the Trans Canada Highway between Calgary and Regina.

[DUCeditor]

I love having a manual throttle with a lock. I've never thought of using it as a cruise control -- that'd be having a death wish -- but have used it many times over the years for other purposes.

One is when I spray in carb cleaner. I open and close the throttle right at the carb but with a a high idle set as the base via the manual throttle I can avoid the stalling that otherwise always occurs because of my having only two hands.

Cold starts on really cold mornings? Yup, that too.

And once, when on a trip, the tuning went flooie and the high idle prevented repeated stalling in everything from in-town traffic to every time I had to stop and pay a toll on the highway.

Useful? Yes. For idiots? No.



-don

[mdrburchette]

Dang, I didn't know it locked. I'm going to try it out right now!

[Redline]

I like the controls in Fiats. You need to be rated on multi-throttle airplanes to properly work the heating controls, and you need to intimately understand the mechanical function of the engine's intake to work out the pictogram for the manual throttle:



The choke is even better. Fiat was brutally honest by producing a pictogram which says "this knob controls how much flame will explode back out the top of your engine". It really has nothing to do with making the car easier to start, it's just about pyrotechnics. I quite like how the knob in mine is also slightly singed for good effect.