915 Eurofox Bad First Start of the Day

Just got off the phone with Dean Vogel at Lockwood. The recommendation of a lower start throttle position is not so much to help with cold starts, it's just to prevent the engine from over-revving too quickly before oil pressure comes up. He says it's OK to use the Rotax OM recommended throttle start position, but you need to be poised to quickly retard the throttle once it starts to keep it below 2500 for a few seconds. 

Regarding starter engagement, he said he's not sure how fast the starter can turn before the sprag clutch effectively disengages it from the engine. But it seems a key is keeping the starter engaged long enough to get the engine through that gearbox rattle phase.

Thanks Mike - appreciate you taking the time to discuss with Lockwood. Will try keeping the starter engaged longer to see if that helps !

I could be wrong, but I thought the starter disengages around 850 rpm which happens quickly when it starts to run.

Kept the starter engaged whilst the engine was chugging on start today and it made no difference at all :-(

Oh damn, sorry that didn’t help. Only thing I can suggest is what I do when it gets stuck in that sub-idle: just abandon the start by killing the lanes. Then try a new start. Mine always started cleanly on the second attempt.