wisconsin 4 banger

New guy here.....I actually have an old fork lift with the wisconsin motor. Apparently I am a connoisseur of old things....my boat is 55, my jeep is 49, my house is 110 and haven't checked the year on lift but its surely old. Hope I am in the right section. Just got this lift, an old gas Hyster with the wisconsin. It is hard to get it started and even harder to get it restarted after its warm. It doesn't turn over real fast, is that normal. It has new plugs and cap. Should it be an easy starter or hard like it is? Thanks much from Southwest Idaho.

As I remember Wisconsin engines on combines, they were not too bad to start when cold, but hot were almost impossible to start.This was due to the gas boiling out of the carburetor bowl due to the location too close to the block and heads.

Years ago I was at an auction standing beside a haybaler that had a Wisconson on it and the conversation was (as always) about no start when hot. Guy walked up and listened for a few seconds and said add some 2 cycle oil to the fuel and they will start the same cold or hot. Flash ahead 30 years and I purchased a wood chipper that has a V4 on it and guess what? It wouldn't start when hot. Remembered what that guy said and dumped some outboard oil in the fuel. Guess what? He was right! It now starts the same hot or cold.

(quoted from post at 06:42:26 03/27/17) Years ago I was at an auction standing beside a haybaler that had a Wisconson on it and the conversation was (as always) about no start when hot. Guy walked up and listened for a few seconds and said add some 2 cycle oil to the fuel and they will start the same cold or hot. Flash ahead 30 years and I purchased a wood chipper that has a V4 on it and guess what? It wouldn't start when hot. Remembered what that guy said and dumped some outboard oil in the fuel. Guess what? He was right! It now starts the same hot or cold.

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Just a few drops or actually mix it 20-1 or something? Thats blizzard

My VF4 starts hot or cold with battery ign.
I throw in some marvel Mystery oil in the petrol.
I would guess 100 to one or so.
Not sure it helps the starting or not but worth a try.

I got a 2-cyl started once by pouring my cold water on the manifold.

I am not very scientific about it, probably around 100 to one? I use outboard oil in the quart bottles and dump some in every time I add gasoline.

Wisconsins are notorious for hard starting when warm--I had one on a small skidder and it was the same way, and made even worse because it was hand-crank only, which gave you a real workout when starting it warm! Similar to the suggestion of 2-stroke oil, I believe Wisconsin themselves recommended adding Marvel Mystery Oil to the gas to improve starting and running. Cheap enough to try, and I know it made a considerable difference with mine. Ratio is on the bottle, but I think it's something on the order of 4 oz to 10 gallons.

(quoted from post at 07:48:09 03/31/17) Wisconsins are notorious for hard starting when warm--I had one on a small skidder and it was the same way, and made even worse because it was hand-crank only, which gave you a real workout when starting it warm! Similar to the suggestion of 2-stroke oil, I believe Wisconsin themselves recommended adding Marvel Mystery Oil to the gas to improve starting and running. Cheap enough to try, and I know it made a considerable difference with mine. Ratio is on the bottle, but I think it's something on the order of 4 oz to 10 gallons.

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well I added about a half gallon of chainsaw gas I had to a couple gallons of straight gas. Call me crazy, but I think it starts quicker and runs better when cold also.

Some of the poor starting when hot is that the engine is actually too hot like a water cooled engine boiling. Have you taken the covering off the engine and cleaned the fins on block and head of all dirt? The cooling fins on the flywheel are suposed to pull cold air across the engine for cooling but it also pulls any dirt in the air in andeventually plug the fins and the complete space under the cover so there is no air circulation at all, like having the radiator completely covered on a water coold engine, it cannot get the cooling it needs. That is normal part of maintaince, if working in a fiend with a lot of dirt in air you might have to do it every week or more. My experince was with the 2 cylinder model on hay baler.