89 Accord cold weather - starts fine, but won't start again

Hi everybody!

1989 Honda Accord LX - 4 cyl, Auto, carb.

Summertime performance, no problem.

On cold mornings, I can start the car with a few revolutions and taps
of the gas pedal. The RPMs will usually be about 2000 or 2500. It'll
take maybe 10 mins or so until it kicks itself down to normal (1000).

The problem comes with short trips. If I started the car, gave it 2
mins to warm up, went somewhere 5 mins away, turned the car off, it
will stumble and stall when trying to shut off. (Excess of fuel due
to the high RPMs?)

Secondly, if I try and start it up again, it won't start. It will
turn and turn, but no amount of time turning and/or gas pedaling will
coax it to start. Waiting 10 mins or 15 mins helps, and I'll be able
to start the car.

Any ideas what's happening here with the high idle, the stumbling when
turning off, and the reason for not being able to restart in cold?

Thanks!

 

I used to have a problem like that several cars back. In my case, the car
wouldn't start up after a short trip when the temperature was around 0 C, or
slightly below, and the air was humid.
The problem was the lack of air. the choke woulnd't open enough while
starting the car if the engine was not completely warmed up.
As it was a carburator with the air filter dish on top of it, I would remove
the air filter cover and open the choke manually and stick something in to
keep it open (a screwdriver, a pen etc).
The problem eventually went away after several choke adjustments.