DangerIsland

Problem: When I start the car in the morning, after not driving it all night, it starts up ok, and idles correctly around 90RPM. If stutters a little bit, and if I give it any gas, it starts stuttering more and sounds like it's not firing on all cylinders. It will give a tiny bit of smoke while it's doing it, and won't really speed up about 1k RPM if I give it gas. This continues for about 15-25 seconds, and eventually I can give it more gas, and it picks up smoothly, and without any problems. I can drive all day without any issues.

I was going to pay the $200 for nice new wires, plugs, cap, and rotors as that seems to be a common thing to replace as a first attempt at fixing issues like this. Anyone else have some thoughts? Thanks.

FormulaOne10

This may be a longshot, but if you are using a very thick oil and starting the car close to zero degrees this could be happening. Then again, I'm no expert.

DangerIsland

The temperature really isn't all that cold, it's been right around freezing lately. It might be more of a "sat for 12 hours, cooled down" problem, instead of a temperature problem.

Wachuko

[quote]Originally posted by DangerIsland:
<strong>...I was going to pay the $200 for nice new wires, plugs, cap, and rotors as that seems to be a common thing to replace as a first attempt at fixing issues like this. Anyone else have some thoughts? Thanks.</strong><hr></blockquote>

First check for vacuum leaks. The vacuum lines get brittle with time, the rubber T’s that join the lines crack, so that would be my first investment.

Then, I would agree with your list, but also add the throttle switch to it.

adrial

Danger Island...when did you try to rev it? Right after start up or 30 seconds or whatever later?

My car does seem to idle quite rough on cold starts...(car shakes a little)...but once warm is smooth. Very SLIGHT vibration in the wheel once warm...which goes away when I rev it above 1000rpm (motor mounts starting to collapse?).

I never rev it until 30 seconds after I started it...and then it drives fine. Is there anything wrong with my car or is it normal behavior?

The mech has started the car when cold and has never mentioned any problems to me.

thanks,
Adrial

DangerIsland

[quote]Originally posted by adrial:
<strong>Danger Island...when did you try to rev it? Right after start up or 30 seconds or whatever later?

My car does seem to idle quite rough on cold starts...(car shakes a little)...but once warm is smooth. Very SLIGHT vibration in the wheel once warm...which goes away when I rev it above 1000rpm (motor mounts starting to collapse?).

I never rev it until 30 seconds after I started it...and then it drives fine. Is there anything wrong with my car or is it normal behavior?

The mech has started the car when cold and has never mentioned any problems to me.

thanks,
Adrial</strong><hr></blockquote>

I'm trying to give it a little gas pretty much right away. If I do wait 30 seconds, everything is fine, like you said. I would be interested to hear what other people's experiences are like too, your car sounds essentially like mine.

Interestingly, the manual says not to let it warm up at idle, but rather to slowly give it more gas. I don't know if that's applicable anymore.

I know my motor mounts also needs to get done soon, there's a little bit of wheel vibration. That's on the 1-3 month timeframe repair list.

Dennis Butcher

Throttle switch is my best guess. I adjusted the throttle cables once, just a fraction tighter but it was enought to prevent the throttle switch closing at zero throttle. Gave exactly the same symptoms as yours.

art

My car ('86) does this. It has had all of your list replaced as well as new mototr mounts.

My experience with tuning aftermarket injection systems leads me to believe that is is just running rich during the warmup phase with no load on the engine. As soon as I put a load on it by pulling away it is fine. I don't know how to lean it during warmup, but I mostly decided not to worry about it. The more annoying thing is how the engine jumps when it catches during a cold start

The other thing that I can't fgure out is why it surges during acceleration.

Art

adrial

Dennis, my TPS functions fine...well if I push on the throttle a tiny bit..it clicks...and clicks again coming back to idle.

art...hmm maybe my injectors needed be cleaned/balanced...they're stock...only mods listed below.