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Hey guys, I have an 89 colt with 95k miles on it. Whenever I cold start the car it fires right up when I turn the key, but after 3 seconds the idle goes crazy, keeps sounding like its about to shut off, I have no tach so I dont know how bad the rpms bounce. After a few seconds the rpms jump up for a few seconds and then settle down to normal idle rpms. I dont know what it could be, I changed the spark plugs about a week or two ago. Theres also white smoke that comes out of the exhaust but it goes away. Anyone know what I could be? Thanks

It could be that you have a leaky head gasket(the white smoke), and that also could be causing your idling problems. before doing anything else...check your radiator fluid to see if it looks brown, and check your oil to check if its like coffee with creamer. things that mess up idle:
1.)dirty filter
2.)bad fuel filter
3.)bad ecu
4.)leaky or incorrectly setup vacuum hoses.
5.)bad o2 sensor or wire has come unpluged or is grounding out.
6.)if its cold it could be your throttle body coolant lines
7.)your air idle control may be bad(the little actuator near where you adjust your idle on yout throttlebody.
8.)your maf may be bad
9.)a bad batch of gas
10.)distributer needs to be cleaned(carb choke cleaner works the best, just don't start it for an hour or so afterwords)

Thats alot of things but thats all the things i can think of that will screw up your idle.

Thanks for your help, I remember before I cleaned the engine bay there was black spots (oil or w/e) around the head. Im gonna go get a new head gasket tomorrow. The coolant and oil are fine, filter is good, my brother gave me a full tank of premium gas and distributer is fine, ill check out th eother things. Thanks again!

Definitely sounds like some kind of an idle air control problem if it starts and idles high and then drops before the car is warm enough to run on a lower idle.