So my '02 TL-P is at 108,xxx miles and I planned to have the timing belt/water pump done either this coming week or the next depending on my schedule. It's been parked for about 3 days until this morning I went out to start it up and move it out from in front of the garage door. When it started up, initially was normal then sounded somewhat strange, repetitive whirring while revving, pretty strange, I tapped the accelerator (barely - enough to rev to maybe 1,000 or 1,500 revs) and put it in drive to see if that did anything, but just made it sound worse, so I turned it off. Upon exiting the car, I noticed a strange smell, similar to unburnt fuel/rich running. I came back out about 3-4 minutes later and started it up again and it sounded a bit better but still not "right" and there was still a bit of a whirring up-down sound to the idle, so I'm not sure what that was, AND there was some white/grey "smoke" from the exhaust, but not much, so I turned it back off. Now, the last couple of times the car was started, it was for about 20 seconds max, start up-move to other side of driveway-shut down. Is it likely that it's simply gotten flooded from that and my starting it up was burning off old fuel that's been sitting in there for 3 days? Or is it likely that the timing belt is broken or is breaking?

Now, I have to go to work in a few minutes so I need to get it out of the way of the garage, but I think I can just put it in neutral and roll it out of the way, but I'll be checking back here this evening for suggestions/ideas. Thanks!

 

You are one paranoid guy. Its probably from sitting without being started in 3 days. Also the "whirring" could be a sign of the IAC going bad.

 

its not your timing belt. It most likely from sitting. Take the car for a drive, dont just let it sit there!

 

Sitting for 3 days = one cold ass engine = PCM dumping fuel = fuel smell = lotsa smoke = perfectly normal

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, you're clear for take-off.

 

you shouldnt cold start your car like that

if its been sitting for three days, start up and let it run for at least 10 minutes or untill the engine warms up. turning it on and off real quickly puts uneeded stress on it

 

Mine's been sitting for a week without being started so far. It doesn't do any of that when I start it after sitting for days.

 

Yeah, and mine has been known to sit for 3 weeks without driving and started fine afterwards - except for the transmission blowing out on a trip to Florida, it's been a flawless car thus far without anything weird going on. Well, actually, the "BRAKE" parking brake indicator likes to be lit on cold mornings for a while, but otherwise it's been good. I should note that I did end up starting it again yesterday morning and it seemed much better, almost normal, but I didn't have time to drive it, I just had to get it out of the way so I could drive the other car to work in case this one's belt was actually about to break. I'm going to try to figure out how to find time/$$$ to get the belt changed immediately rather than waiting 'til next week, but thanks for all your comments, they really made me feel better about it!

 

Y are you worried about the timing belt? Its not teh cause of the rough idle.

 

Well, a stretching or otherwise damaged timing belt could skip a tooth or so, which would make the timing incorrect and cause both a bad idle and rich running, such as were present here. I didn't want to leave it running like that until the belt finally broke, if that was the actual cause.

 

The belt has a tensioner on it so if it streches it remains tight. Take teh car out and drive it. starting it up just to back it up isnt good for it. Id be willing to bet there is nothing wrong with the belt nor has it skipped a tooth. The idle could be alot of things like the most common IAC valve which alot of TL's have issues with. I bet it will clear up if you just go for a nice drive with it.

 

Slightly rough idle on cold starts (especially when it has been days) is due to emissions control equipment on the TL anyway. Nothing wrong with your car.

 

I agree that IAC is most like cause of your problem. I only use my TLS once a while and most the time it sits in the garage. It never have the problen that you described. On other hand, my other car had the IAC valve problem it acted as you said.