Car running rough on cold starts

[78TurboMali]

I recently put my car back together after doing head gaskets , rear main seal and freezplugs and lately its been running really rough on cold starts. When i first start it in the morning it idles up like they all do and then it will drop down to a good steady idle, then it will idle surge very bad it will go down to about 1,000 and shoot back up to about 3,000 and when i put it in gear it really dose not want to stay on. Also when i get it in gear and start driving it feels very rough and seems underpowered untill it gets into some boost. Im getting kind of irritated because i just went through a lot to set the iac and tps sensors and chasing down vacume leaks and it is still not running nice and smooth like i would like it to. Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[trbojo]

unfortunately you just have to start digging in....loose wires, spread terminals, vacuum hoses, make sure you didn't crack a spark plug (ask me how i know!!) you have to check and recheck everything you just moved and then some....i feel your pain...

 

[78TurboMali]

Yeah i figured i'd have to go over every single thing. It's just a bit frustrating because i just went through a lot to find a leaking vacuum hose and set the TPS and IAC and it still running rough. Im gonna replace the IAC see if that helps the idle part of it out. It was very dirty when i pulled it off , however i didnt replace it I just cleaned it. Also when i come to a light it starts running and idleing rough and the SES light will come on and once i take off a few seconds later it will go off. I will also check all my plugs to make sure there not cracked

 

[trbojo]

Yeah i figured i'd have to go over every single thing. It's just a bit frustrating because i just went through a lot to find a leaking vacuum hose and set the TPS and IAC and it still running rough. Im gonna replace the IAC see if that helps the idle part of it out. It was very dirty when i pulled it off , however i didnt replace it I just cleaned it. Also when i come to a light it starts running and idleing rough and the SES light will come on and once i take off a few seconds later it will go off. I will also check all my plugs to make sure there not cracked

well if you're getting an ses light, there's a good place to start...pull the code(s) and go from there...

 

[78TurboMali]

I just swapped out the 02 sensor , maf and computer with the ones out of my malibu and the idle is way better now both in park and in gear. But it dose have the ses light on all the time now. I'll see how it dose tomorrow morning on a cold start which was the worst and i will also pull the codes tomorrow at work.

 

[78TurboMali]

well cold start was still horrible!! It dose not want to rev up on cold starts, i can give it about half throttle and it will not rev up. Not sure if i'll have time to pull codes today though!

 

[mearly65]

What chip are you running? I was using my stock chip up until last week and was having similar cold start problems; idle running up then dropping, car stalling when put in gear. Then l put in a TurboTweak chip and was amazed with the difference. It's like a totally different car now. I should have done that mod when l first bought the car.

 

[78TurboMali]

Im also running the stock chip. i didn't want to order a TT chip until i did my fuel upgrades and power plate. But i also didnt wanna do my fuel and power plate until my car was running smooth stock!! This sucks!

 

[mearly65]

Odds are it will never run smooth with the old chip. I was in the same boat as you. I replaced the MAF, put in a Translator, fpr, adjusted the tps and iac a million times. Everything helped a little but the car never really ran right. I screwed around with it for a year before putting in the TT chip. Now l'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner. I can start my car up first thing in the morning and immediately put it in gear without so much as a stumble. Before it would stall right out. Do yourself a favor and order at a minimum a new chip if not both chip and injectors. It will make you love your car again.

 

[Vince13]

Did you have your cam sensor out or did it move? I had a similar cold start issue that only showed up if the car sat overnight, it would start fine when it was warm. I turned the sensor quarter of an inch counter clockwise and it smoothed right out.

 

[78TurboMali]

Did you have your cam sensor out or did it move? I had a similar cold start issue that only showed up if the car sat overnight, it would start fine when it was warm. I turned the sensor quarter of an inch counter clockwise and it smoothed right out.

I did have the cam sensor out when i primed the motor before starting it. I actulally am waiting on my Kirban order so i can set it correctly with the cam sensor tool i orderd from them. Is it pretty simple to do with that cam sensor tool? Hopefully soon after i set that correctly i can put my hotwire kit on and powerplate and order a tt chip and injectors!

 

[78TurboMali]

My Kirban order arrived today and i replaced all my intercooler hoses and clamps with the heavy duty ones and put on my pass. side valve cover breather by pass and finally went to set my cam sensor with the casper tool and as soon as i hooked it up the led went On! i was hopping it was a bit off so i could set it right and maybe it would help my issue, but that was not the case, i guess it was right on point? I was a bit bummed / irritated and i was checking other things out and i saw that it was pushing a little oil out of the side of the dog house, so i checked all the bolts which ended up being loose and i also found a couple small vacuume leaks. i fixed those couple issues and it seems to idle better! The real test will be tomorrow morning on cold start. Im going to replace all the vaccume hoses this weekend because all of them are pretty brittle.

Another question i had was, is it normal for the cam sensor to have a few places where its happy? i turned it clockwise like the casper insturctions suggested and the light whent off. I then turned it counter clockwise and the LED came back on and would stay on if i kept turning it. I just left it at the point right where the LED came on