'01 T&C cold idle bad, warm idle okay

[JeffL.]

I recently purchased a 2001 Town anc Country with 3.8L engine with 37K. The van now has about 40K miles on it. The last 1000 miles or so, the van has been very reluctant to idle smoothly on starting. It spits and sputters after it is started and for the first few miles of driving. Once the van is warmed up, it runs excellent. It acts like it's "cold natured". Since it ran fine when we first bought it we thought it might be bad gas, but I've tried several different gas additives....Heet, Fuel injectors cleaners, etc. but to no avail.

Since it works fine after it warms up, could it be a computer problem/sensor problem or maybe a fuel filter problem? I would think if it were a fuel filter problem, it would occur all the time.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Jeff

[JeffL.]

Well, over the weekend I changed out the fuel filter. It was partially clogged but fuel was getting through. The same problem still exists.

any suggestions anyone?

Jeff

[JeffL.]

Well, I finally broke down and took it to the dealer after two other mechanics fooled with it.

They found the Auto-Idler Sensor was shorted out, so the engine could not make the proper adjustments to the fuel/air mixture when it was cold.

Just thought I'd let everyone know in case they run into it. It cost approx $20 for the part and $80 for the labor.

Jeff