🚀 go-pugleaf

> I have
> found that if I depress the gas pedal (when the car is
> cold, i.e. left outside over night) the car will start
> rough idling - it will start but after 10-15 seconds will
> start to shake. The shaking lasts 1-3 minutes. At the end
> of this period the idle speed shoots up. 

I have an '83 Escort with the same symptoms.  Only recently did I notice
that the idle speed shot up after some minutes of rough idling.  It
sounds to me like the fast idle is somehow not kicking in until the car
moderately warm.  Is this likely?  If so, is it easy to fix?

> I brought the
> car in (again) and this time they found the idle was not
> properly set and the spark plugs were fouled. They set the
> idle speed and replaced the spark plugs, but... it still
> goes through its routine after a cold night.  

This makes me want to laugh or cry ... I too took my car in and got charged
$24 for some twit to apply some lubricant to the carb, and put gas-line
dryer in the gas!  When I complained that this didn't fix the problem
at all, the 'mechanic' came out and started up the car.  "See it works
fine" he said, whereupon the car started dieing.  "No problem, I'll
just adjust the idle a bit" ... much fiddling later the car had no choice 
but to be happy ... until it was warmed up, then it sounded like a jet
engine every time it rolled to a stop.  Needless to say, adjusting the
idle didn't fix the problem thereafter either. 


-- 
                             Phil Trubey

...!utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!xios!phil