96 grand am starting problems

Hi,
I have a 1996 grand am that is acting up. sometimes when started the engine slowly idles on its own for 3~5 seconds with no instumentation on the dash, then it either stalls or jumps up to full idle speed.
when this low rpm idle is happening the speed is probably around the speed of a advanced timing "deiseling" of a gasoline engine after the power to the ignition is removed.
If anyone has had a similiar problem or has some ideas I would be happy to hear them.

engine size would help!

oops,
Its a 2.4l dohc.

Sounds like you could have a dirty idle air control motor, its bolted to the top of the thoratle body with 2 screws/bolts. Remove and clean with carb cleaner (but do not twist the end or you will buy a new one like I did). Clean the idle air control motor & cavity in the thoratle body. Other things it could be are dirty fuel injectors, or a bad fuel pressure regulator. Try the cheap things first, cleaning the idle air control motor, putting some injector cleaner in the tank.

you'll need to remove both battery cables and make sure they are clean, just
because it corroded against battery, seen many problems with negative cable
being a little loose causing this problem - if it the cables are good clean the
throttle body and iac motor with a can of throttle body cleaner, if problem still occures will have to carry to dealer to get iac relearned - note after a
certain amount of driving it will relearn on its on - 12 years gm tech

When you say not instumentation are you refering to no lights on the dash at all or just no rpm gauge response. If you are referring to a dead dash at the same time at the running issue then look for a bad ground either under the dash or the ground between the engine and chassis. It sounds like your computer is getting dirty power (Low Voltage). Also check the voltage at the battery before you start it and after... You may just have a weak battery that is not putting out enough voltage to run the field in the alternator so you entire electrical system is trying to run on low voltage (11 or less). You should get about 12v before you start and between 13.5 and 15 when it is running. If the voltage looks good go for battery terminal connection and then the chassis-engine grounding .