BLUDICE

After sitting all night I have to put gas pedal to floor - runs terrible - rich - once it clears out and gets to operating temp runs great. Restarts normal.

Teothe1nonly

Pull the fuel rail and turn the key, might be messy but you will see if it's a plugged injector.

antfarmer2

I would pull the vacuum line off the FPR and smell for fuel might be a bad FPR smell oil for fuel and change before you grenade it.

BLUDICE

Runs too good - after it chokes and pukes, and clears it's throat. Another thing while it's clearing it's throat the temp gauge does all kings of odd readings until it get above 180. Once she gets to normal temp it runs great. And continues until next morning - this has happen the last two mornings - prior - no issues.

antfarmer2

Then check your temp sensor and connections as well on the water pump. And make sure the coolant is full and burped.

Bad connections.

94VenomVette

^^ check that as well as your thermostat, id probably replace it if its really old anyway. I however would suspect a leaking injector (s). How many miles are on the engine btw?

BLUDICE

95,000 miles, last year got dist & water pump - just got this car last month so feeling my way though the issues. Water level is right on - no temp issues. Car starts in the morning like it's choked out / flooded. Once it clears out runs normal. No gas flumes or leaks from engine bay.

kg4fku

Which water temp gage? Each gage comes from a different sensor.

EDIT: If it is your digital gage that is acting strange then you should replace the sensor on the water pump first. This may cure your issues completely as this sensor provides the ECM with engine temp. If the ECM doesn't know what the engine temp is then it cannot accurately meter air/fuel upon startup.

If that doesn't fix the problem then I would move to fuel related areas such as the FPR and fuel pump.

OR... your ECM is heading South.

BLUDICE

Which water temp gage? - the digital gage -
Would this act weird until the thermostat opens?? Does it affect the fuel mixture being too rich at start up??
If this sensor was bad would I receive a code on the dash??
thanks

94VenomVette

You need a thermal gun to check temp, but regardless If your having a tough time starting in the am i suspect a leaking injector over night dripping fuel in the cylinder. I would check the injectors first. with 95K on the clock it ain't a bad thing to check, especially if their the originals.

BLUDICE

Would gas spit out the exhaust if there were injector issues?? Also would it affect performance too?

94VenomVette

It would def affect performance. When the engine warms up the pulse width changes/fuel trim. Although you may have an ecm/wiring issues its tough to pinpoint exactly but I bet you have a leaking injector or two. If you wanna verify it get an oil analysis done

antfarmer2

Have you pulled the vacuum line of the FPR yet.

BLUDICE

Home from work - started car ran a little rough but did not stall out - just let it idle - but strange thing the AC was blowing warm air - once the temp gauge went from "LO" to 140 the AC started blowing cold and the engine idled smooth. So could this be a temp sensor??
Shouldn't a code come up on the dash?

kg4fku

Would this act weird until the thermostat opens??
- It will act up until it doesn't. It has nothing to do with the thermostat, either for opening/closing or any other time.

Does it affect the fuel mixture being too rich at start up??
- If the computer (ECM) doesn't know the internal temperature of the car (motor temp) upon startup, then it cannot set the idle mixture to compensate for a cold/warm start. If this is in fact the issue then we could hypothesize once the car goes into a closed loop condition and/or the temperature gage reaches a nominal accurate reporting temperature then the computer can properly compensate for air/fuel ratios in a known state. At this point the car will run normally. Until that point is achieved, then the ECM is in an unknown state and should/could be providing a check engine light.

If this sensor was bad would I receive a code on the dash??
- Not sure. All I know is what you have provided which is that the digital gage is sporadic upon start up. Which to my knowledge, it should not be as my gage will read ambient temperature (garage temp usually 50ish degrees) in double digits all the way to 230+ with fair accuracy. I know this because I keep an eagle eye on it constantly.

BLUDICE

Well this is BS - she started right up last night and runs fine - AC - temp - everything. I did one thing I disconnected the coolant temp sensor plug and then plugged it back in - maybe some corrosion or now the stars are all lined up. Thoughts please

94VenomVette

replace the sensor, see what happens. Coolant sensor prolly driving the ecm crazy for fueling. Just bothers me that early in the am you have starting issues, seems to me like an injector that won't stay shut. Replace the sensor, make sure the plug is clean, and see what happens. I would also for the sake of it change the oil

antfarmer2