Morning guys,

Out of the blue, I seem to have lost initial cold start fast idle this morning. I hit the throttle once before start-up as I do every morning, engine started within 3 second as usual, BUT idled immediately at 800 steady instead of the usual 13-1400 it always does when cold.

It crossed my mind to not drive it since it was still dark but I let it idle for 2 min then drove away, perfectly normal the whole 8 mile drive to work. No hesitation, no weird smells or sounds even on the highway.

I had the factory Q-jet rebuilt 2 months ago and after some initial tuning its been solid ever since.

Any initial thoughts before I take a look at it this afternoon?

Thank you everyone.

Try a shot of spray silicone lube on the fast idle linkage all over the carb. Hold the throttle open a bit with one hand and work all the links with the other, see if anything binds.

Not rocket science here, it's just a carb.

Man, you won't believe this but when I got home from work that afternoon and took a look with proper lighting, it's exactly what I did when I saw nothing out of ordinary. As you always propose, lets cut through the clutter to find the simplest explanation

Does the stat have tension?

Yes.

Looks like the lube did the trick.