'98 SC1 Starts Cold, Won't Start Warm

[inkboy]

My '98 Saturn SC1 will start cold, but after a trip to the store, it wouldn't start unless I held the throttle to the floor, then jinked the throttle a bunch to keep it from dying, until it finally settled down and idled - though it idled at about 1,200 RPM. But it's gotten worse. Now, when warm, it'll start briefly, but dies. No amount of throttle pumping helps. After some research, I'm looking at replacing the Throttle Position Sensor (TPS) and the coolant sensor (my temp gauge never rises above the peg anyway, and I get a low-coolant signal from the reservoir sensor when coolant boils off). Guess I'll take off the throttle body and clean out any carbon buildup. Am I missing something? Thanks.

[inkboy]

I can answer my own question now. I fixed it with a new $14 Engine Coolant Sensor. Took about 5 minutes. The old one had a plastic tip that was cracked. New one has brass tip. Now my car purrs again, and no starting problems, and the temp gauge works. I guess the on-board computer thought the engine was always cold, so it flooded on warm start. I guess the radiator fan never came on, either, and the temp gauge never showed any temp fluctuations. Now that's all fixed. Just in case, I also installed a new Throttle Position Sensor and cleaned out all the carbon gunk from inside the throttle body. Anyway, it runs great again.