1991 Plymouth Colt Logo
Posted on Jun 29, 2008
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1991 dodge colt won't idle when engine is cold.

Just bought a 1991 Dodge Colt 1.5. type (A) (1468)Engine I.D. 4G15(A)
Only when the engine is cold,takes a few times to start,but it does start easy enough.It won't idle.I need to play with the gas pedal to keep it running,and it runs fairly rough while doing this.As the engine warms up,the car runs better and better. After 3-4 minutes,I can see that the engine temp gage shows fairly warm engine,and the idle is good on it's own.Engine smooths out and it runs very well.It will idle and drive and runs like it should.If I shut it off and restart it starts good,runs good only when engine is warm.I took it for a smog test,passed everything but the idle,to many hydro carbines.They said it's running to lean.So I replaced the O2 sensor,The Two wire coolant sensor,looked at whatever vacuum hoses I could see.Changed the fuel filter and spark plugs,changed oil and filter.It only runs bad when engine is cold.Once warm it runs good???????Any help at all would be great.Thanks.Mike.

  • 1 more comment 
  • eagle727 Jul 15, 2008

    Donny12.I read your suggestion,and thought Ya,right like the oil is going to matter.I spent countless hours trying to fix it,and throwing parts at it.Got so fed up,I finally took it to a mechanics garage.They told me today that there is in fact a (service bulletin) ,customers complaints are just like mine.They changed the oil and filter and will start it cold tomorrow for the big test.So I'm really hoping thats the fix.I had just put in 20/50 oil,and some motor honey...VERY,VERY THICK stuff.Thinking that it has 130,00 on it and the thicker the better.And then read your response to my problem.If the oil change works.I'm looking at around,$50.00-$115.00,depending on how much time it took them Thats money I could have saved if followed your advice from the get go.How ever not in a million years would I ever have thought it to be so simply just the oil.I should have listen.I'll keep tou posted.Thanks,eagle727

  • eagle727 Jul 27, 2008

    the oil being to thick is only for cars with hydraulic valves,mine are mechanical.So it made no difference.The actual problem was the valves some how got to tight.So there wasn't good compression when cold,when it was hot the valves expanded,and it idled just fine.A valve adjustment and it runs just fine cold,and hot.

  • Anonymous Mar 16, 2014

    van starts to idle and run rough when i turn ac on but runs smooth when off. seems like ac clutch keeps changing

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  • Posted on Jun 29, 2008
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Joined: May 14, 2008
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Probably oil, it may be too thick when it's cold but once it warms up it liquefies and your engine runs smoothly. you could try changing oil, I'm guessing if you have a high performance oil the chances this is the problem may be greater since high performance things are usually geared towards working well when everything is hot

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Anonymous

  • Posted on Jul 20, 2008

SOURCE: My 1991 Colt 1.5 won't idle,when engine is cold??? HELP.

you might wanna use a thinner lighter oil

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RALilja

Richard Lilja

  • 401 Answers
  • Posted on Nov 30, 2008

SOURCE: colt idle problem.

Most likely you have a bad Idle motor which is a small motor mounted on the intake manifold. If the motor can run better with your foot on the gas but dies if removed then it is probably this. This motor is controlled by the OBDII computer which gets it's control signal from the temp sensor which is located either on the radiator or engine block (which could also be bad), if the electric fan (if equipped) turns on then this is not the problem part, but the idle motor is. Another possibility is that you have some bad /cracked vacuum hoses which should be checked for first, before replacing the idle motor.

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Most likely you have a bad Idle motor which is a small motor mounted on the intake manifold. If the motor can run better with your foot on the gas but dies if removed then it is probably this. This motor is controlled by the OBDII computer which gets it's control signal from the temp sensor which is located either on the radiator or engine block (which could also be bad), if the electric fan (if equipped) turns on then this is not the problem part, but the idle motor is. Another possibility is that you have some bad /cracked vacuum hoses which should be checked for first, before replacing the idle motor.
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