Jay Honeck wrote:
On our flight to Nevada, I was impressed with the smoothness and
car-like predictability of Jim Burns' start-up technique with his
Lycoming IO-540s. Jim had a way to start them that I'd not seen
demonstrated before, which I will describe he

1. Fuel pump on
2. Electric primer on for (a few?) seconds
3. Crack throttle
4. With mixture at full lean, start cranking
5. Gradually enrichen the mixture until the engine fires

(I may have some of this wrong, as the Aztec has nearly every switch
and gauge in bizarre, usually invisible locations...)

By using this method, his engines both started without cranking or
coughing, just like my Subaru.

So, of course, I've been experimenting with this method, which is quite
different than the one described in my POH. (Which basically says
"crank at full-rich"...) It has worked perfectly several times,
especially on hot starts, until yesterday.

.... but your engine is carbureted, is it not?
.... and Jims' are fuel-injected?
.... and Jim's POH specifies this starting procedure?
.... and your POH specifies a different procedure?

I question the wisdom of copying someone else's starting procedure just because
it works well on their engine.

If you have the same engine, well, nevermind.

Dave