Liz - and others

Good advice about pumping the accelerator before starting - for ancient cars and a few early era "economy" cars, but by sometime ca 1985 or before on most US cars there was no mechanical connection between the "accelerator pump" and the "accelerator pedal." While I'm not positive when the changeover became universal in Buicks, I rather suspect that "pumping the pedal" would have no effect on the car in question.

In cars of around the 80s time period, the "pump" was withdrawn by manifold vacuum, sucking fuel into a small cylinder and compressing a spring. When you opened the throttle by "stepping on the gas" the vacuum in the manifold decreased allowing the spring to squirt a bit of extra gas/petrol/fuel down the carbureter throat. If the engine wasn't running, there'd be no vacuum to pull the pump piston up, there's no gas in the pump cylinder, so you could rattle that pedal all you like and it would NOT do a $#@@% thing to help starting.

This change in carbureter construction began appearing, I believe, ca. 1978 - 1980 in US full-size cars, and worked its way down to smaller engines within a very few years. There probably were a few cars on which it was not used, vehicles in other countries subject to different rules and design philosopies may have differed, and aftermarket performance carbs continued being made for some time with the old mechanical pump, but most cars since about 1980 or a few years later do not benefit in any way from "pumping the pedal" before the engine is running.

If you check the drivers' manual that came with the car, for most since about 1980, they usually recommended depressing the pedal once before you start cranking, because there was a mechanical (friction) link that could cause the choke plate to "hang" wherever it was when the engine stopped running, which was usally an open position. Pressing the pedal once allowed the choke to close before you started cranking, but any additional pedal motion just got in the way of the built-in engine/fuel control systems.

It has to be noted that the 80s were very much a "transition period" when auto makers attempted to meet emission regulations with "band-aid" patches to existing parts, so there was a lot of variation from one brand to another, and for different models within a given "name." I won't quibble with anyone who finds an exception to the above.

A few years later, most vehicles went to injection fuel controls which changed the optimum procedures once again, but I don't believe that a 1985 Buick likely had dispensed with the choke plate entirely. Someone who has one might want to check that out for us.

John