starting problem

Hello

Some background. I have a 1997 cavalier 2.2 liter that I have owned since it had 2000 miles on it. I now have 130,000 miles on it. Have not had any major problems. I recently replaced the water pump and alternator and the head gasket has always leaked some but nothing on top of that. I have always gotten my oil changed regulary and otherwise take good care of it. I have never gotten a tune up or anything like that. Recently I have been having starting problems. It seems to happen much worse when its cold out(below 30) or damp. I will try to start it and it starts for a split second and then stops. I then have to either both pump it and hold the pedal to the floor for about 5 seconds and then it starts. It runs rough then for a few seconds but after that it runs perfectly. Shutting it off and restarting is fine unless it sits more than about 6 hours. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? Is there anything I could do on my own? Thanks Bill

Ever changed your fuel filter? If you haven't i betcha that thing is gunked up like crazy, or you can try using some fuel injector cleaner as well. If you never given it a tune up, might want to jump on that as well. New plugs, wires, coils, PCV valve, fuel filter and sea foam your engine too.

I have not done any of that. Can I do any of these things myself? I do not have a background at working on cars however I did replace my own brake pads and alternator recently.

get a haynes manual for your car ,this is all easy stuff to do ,however with it never being done yet , I`m thinking take it to a shop let them do it . watch if you can . ask for the old parts back . pulling the plugs is easy to but because of the age and mileage you run the possibility of stripping the threads out of the head or busting /rounding a plug off,if you do it . at the very least let them do the plugs and fuel filter. you can do the wires /air filter /pcv etc yourself. just my:2cents:

^^ X 2

... Couldn't agree more.

thanks everyone for your help. I guess after reading your answers I will likely just take it in for a tune up. My plug wires go behind my engine and I dont have any great way to get underneath my car. I dont want to mess up anything prying off my fuel filter either. I have also been told to get a cooling system flush since I have never gotten one on this car and it has so many miles. I might be able to do some of this myself but not sure its worth it. Thanks again.

I agree its time to replace the fuel filter. But I have had miserable luck getting the GM 'quick disconnect' fittings to separate from the filters, and would be glad to have a pro do that for me. (Im willing to rebuild engines and transmissions, I just dont like the GM 'quick disconnects'.
Im not sure a cooling system flush will help anything, though it wont hurt either. Certainly it wont help your starting problem.
But with your car being 10 years old, have you replaced the radiator hoses yet? My personal viewpoint is that radiators and the hoses will not live forever. They should eventually be replaced. I replace the radiators and hoses on most of my cars about each ten years. Sometimes I replace the water pump & thermostat too. Then I can have 10 years of peace of mind. (Though I buy them used, I keep my cars longer than most folks do. Decades.)

thanks I will keep that in mind when I take it in.

I recently had a mazda take a dump on me with the exact same problems. You mentioned that the head gasket leaks? If you can, start with a compression check on each cylinder. If compression is fine then look towards the fuel system. Do all this only after you have done the regular maintenence to the vehicle( tune-up......cap,rotor,wires,plugs,pcv,air and fuel filter) and you still have the same problem. Mine ended up being a combination of a poor fuel pump and a cracked head...

P.S. Don't flush the cooling system untill you know the compression is okay. If it is a head problem you can make the situation worse by flushing any scale deposits away from a potential leak