Patent ID: 8006672

Claim:
A method for starting a spark-ignited internal combustion engine having a piston reciprocally disposed in a combustion cylinder capped by a firing chamber in an engine head; the engine further including an intake air manifold having an entrance throttle valve and being in communication with said firing chamber via an intake valve; the engine further including an exhaust manifold in communication with said firing chamber via an exhaust valve; the engine further including a spark igniter disposed in said firing chamber and a fuel injector disposed in either of said intake manifold or said firing chamber, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of: a) forming a mixture of fuel and air within said firing chamber and cylinder; b) holding said entrance throttle valve closed, and disabling said spark igniter and said fuel injector; c) cranking said engine through at least one complete four-stroke engine cycle to adiabatically heat said mixture of fuel and air; d) re-enabling normal controlled operation of said entrance throttle valve, said spark igniter, and said fuel injector to ignite said adiabatically heated mixture of fuel and air and thereby start said engine.