My mother bought this car new in June 1989. The car has always been hard starting, especially warm. It actually starts better cold. A lot of the time you have to crank it many times before it will fire, usually followed with blue smoke and rough idle for the first 30 seconds of starting. Runs well once going. It was taken back to the dealer many times in the beginning but eventually just gave up and learned to live with it. The car is in good original shape with 140K, but it's time to give it a bit of an overhaul. Only if I can get it starting and running good first though. I'm going to try and find a good engine specialist (not sure if I should try a GM dealer one more time) here in Calgary and see if someone can finally get this thing fixed.

Has anyone had this problem and found the solution??? Perhaps I can try and spoon feed a mechanic into fixing this thing...

Thanks in advance if any suggestions!

I bought my IROC new as well, within a month, I had blue smoke on start up too, had the dealer replace the valve stem seals...all was good after that. I'd suspect your blue smoke on startup, is the same problem.

But, hard start (assming plugs are not fouled) could be due to a defective Cold start injector or a defective CTS (coolant temp sensor).

PS...I too gave up on the dealer and warranty stuff within a few months of buying my car, figured if it needed to be fixed right, I'd better just do it myself and get it done...intake leaks for oil and antifreeze drove me crazy for a year...

Good luck.

Thanks for the comments Mike. I still haven't figured out where I'm going to take it. Need to find someone here in Calgary that really thinks they can fix it. Also have to pick a day with no snow on the ground. I'll make mention of the issues you noted as something to consider.
Cheers!