Doesn,t want to start without holding the

Hello. It seems your PT Cruiser might have low fuel pump pressure. This will cause a backfire/misfire condition upon 'mild' acceleration. 'Gentle' acceleration, your car will run 'decent'. Good luck and keep me informed; if you want to.

TRY A LOCAL MECHANIC

Start by checking for codes. Even if no check engine light still may have code. Sounds like app code

the first thing I would start with is looking for vaccume leaks. be sure to check your EGR valve, then move to your MAP sensor. The next thing that it could be is a stopped up catylic converter

Have it checked with a computer diagnostics. It sounds like it could be a bad sensor, quite possibly your oxygen sensor. A bad sensor could cause the computer to think your engine needs more fuel.

From what you posted,it may be a few different problems.BUT.The 1st thing I would look at is the cat/converter may be blocked.Hey.It may not be.But look at that before you spend any money on other stuff.I just thought.How is your air filter.Take it out and take the car for a short run and see how it goes.This may show what is wrong.Hope this helps

Okay, your freind may be right, that part is called the accelerator pump, it is used for starting the truck, when you pump the gas to start it this pumps a few squirts of gas into the carb. what concerns me is that you hold the gas pedal to the floor to start it, most of the time an internal leaking carb floods the engine and holding the pedal down will let it start, a quick test would be to use a carb cleaner spray and before trying to start the truck hit the gas pedal and see if inside from the top of the carb look and see if you see a squirt of gas spray out, you will need some one to push the gas pedal or you can do it at the carb, if it squirts gas then the accelerator pump may be good and carb may be leaking and need rebuilding but if it doesnt squirt then its bad and then i want you to spray the carb cleaner into the carb and try to start the truck and if its due to the accel pump then after you spray into carb the truck should fire up and run without having to hold the pedal to the floor, if thats the case then replace accel pump if it still doesnt fire until you hold gas down then crab needs rebuilding . good day. hope this is helpful.

Turn the key to the on position. Not the start. And press the gas pedal all the way to the floor 3 times.

you may have flooded the motor jusy wait half hour and retry if it doesnt start try holding to the floor and cranking untill it trys to run then by holdig it down it clear the flood only crank 15 to 20 seconds and dont take foot off pedal when you stop cranking just wait 30 to 45 seconds to crank agian and never let up until it runs. hope this helps Thunderboltz

You need to replace your distributor. There has been many problems with these. I had the same problem with my 1993 villager and had tried many different things and none worked. I went to a junk yard and got a used distributor and now it runs fine. I would try this before anything alse.