Help Please!

[divad82]

My car was sitting for about 1 a week and a half because my starter went bad. I finally changed the starter and it turned on with no problems and then quickly shut off. It takes about 2 to 3 times to get the car going. When the car finally starts it shoots out a cloud of blue smoke and then stays on. When im driving and come to a stop I notice the rpm is lower then usually and sometimes jumps up and down. People say my timing is off but dont know how that can be possible or is it. Remember all I did was change the starter. Any one know why my car would be acting up after I put a new starter. Any advice would be great. Thanks!

 

[RacerX1307]

No issues before this? You mentioned that it sat for a week – that shouldn’t be an issue unless you do that often – the gas might have gone bad. Not staying running and a inconsistent idle sounds like a timing / fuel type issue or bad plugs. I’m not smart enough to give you a root cause. Bring it back or have another shop hook it up to the computer and see whats going on.

 

[ski]

If you disconnected the battery before replacing the starter(not doing so is having a death wish), then the computer's KAM(keep alive memory) was wiped out, and it may take 20 or so miles of driving for everything to re-stabilize.
There's also a procedure in the Battery Maintenance section of the owner's manual that may help to speed up the re-stabilization process.

 

[Rob72]

I kept my battery unhooked for a week while I found time to install headers and ran into no problems afterward. I also have been driving my car only once or twice a month since March '07 and nothing like that has happened to me.