very hesitant start and rough idle

[e30 fiend]

My '90 325is has a really hesitant start. It takes about at least 5 full seconds of cranking before it will start catching on its own, then i still have to intro throttle so it won't die. after the engine turns on, it idles kind of roughly, but doesn't sputter or miss when its pretty well into the power band or just in normal driving even. i was thinking along the lines of a coolant temp sensor out of wack over a gummed injector?

Also, it runs pretty cold. temp gauge shows the needle to be a hair's width out of the blue area at typical warmed up operating speed. I'm worried that i'm operating it at too cold of a temp for the engine. Do i just have a thermo for really warm weather and need to swap it out for something a little more midranged??

i need some insight on these subjects, i'm going nuts.

[Stephen]

ANOTHER e30 fiend?

[jlevie]

The cold running is a bad or missing thermostat. The cold starting problem could be any of a number of things, but and intake leak or bad DME temp sensor are likely suspects. Find and fix the intake leaks first.

[e30 fiend]

the car has the same issues starting when its warm too, does that change anything i should suspect it to be? I'm looking into getting a thermostat, and there are three temps offered. 71 degree, 75, and 80 degree.

[SeanS]

I just posted this on another thread but I thought I'd share my experience.
I just got my car back from my mechanic's shop after a whole week... car kept cranking and cranking (15-30 seconds) and didn't start most of the time, but it did randomly regardless if it was cold or warm. It ended up being the crank shaft sensor. I was told the new one puts out about 500 ohms where the old (original) was putting out 1100 ohms.