I have an 85 2.8 firebird, and every morning when I go to start my car it will turn over and start idle for around 2-3 seconds then die, it will do this anywhere from 6-9 times before it keeps going and sometimes when I put it into reverse it will just die, once i get it on the road and ive been driving it for a bit its fine and it will start and all that fine for the rest of the day I had a similar problem a few months back and it was my engine running to rich, took it in had the plugs wiring cap and rotor replaced also had my belts tightened and throttle body cleaned, im not sure if its a temperature issue im on the west coast in canada so its warm in the days and around 0 in the morning but no matter what it does this, i opened up my hood this morning and it started running fine, maybe its an air issue i dunno, any input helps

 

It could be a bad mass air flow sensor, my car was running pig rich due to a bad MAF it would run great after it warmed up but would run real rich and sometimes backfire.

 

Clean out your injectors by putting fuel injector cleaner down the carb throat.

 

its fuel injected

 

Hi means throttle body- check the fuel injectors. That is the problem with mine. Replacing all the injectors...

 

Seafoam it too, it might help. It cant ruin your engine.

 

What he's describing is typical of a bad MAF. I had 2 MAF sensors fail on me the same way. Let me guess, as soon as the temp gauge shows some reading, the engine is fine? If it's that way, yes, it's the MAF. Especially since you've already said that the engine was running rich before (and probably still is just you haven't noticed).

I hate to break the bad news, but the MAF is $80 for a cheapo and over $200 for GM. Don't get a cheapo. They aren't built the same as GM MAF sensors. Hence why they're cheap.

:edit: Funny thing is that I have an almost new-in-box Firebird GM MAF I bought from Canada for cheap that I can't use anymore. If you want it...

 

dont have a temp gauge my dash has speedo and fuel, my province is expensive for auto parts only one semi affordable parts store and thats mopac which is close to my house its just hard to get there without a car, which my lock cylinder is busted and i have to go to mopac to get a few tools to replace it, well if you got one i can set up a paypal or something and pay for the shipping only place i can get an MAF from for sure is my local gm dealership which is a good parts store and not terribley priced and everytime I go in i get to gawk over the zr1 they have in there and there is only a few on the streets in southern bc, but i have to replace all of my front ball joints and my tie rod ends and my idler arms so im pressed for cash

 

I know you're short... Read that in your other post. I'm looking to get $40 shipped for it, half of what I paid before I used it for 3 months (nothing wrong with it, just can't use it anymore). Still in the GM package with the clamp that goes with it.

 

your building a hybrid arent you dan?

 

As soon as I get my money from Uncle Sam and get the engine out... I have just about everything except the hoist and stand... But that's for another post. As for the MAF, oh, I'll still be using one. Just not that one (not compatible with the MegaSquirt).