Howdy dear forum members,
No idea why the hell changing my alternator would cause this, but I swapped a bad one out for a refurbed alternator. Now it takes a good 3-5 seconds for the car to start, and it will start, rev up as normal then idle down to 1500, sputter and die. However, if I start the car a couple times or hold the gas at 2k for like 20 seconds this will "resolve" itself. Could have hit the tps or something, I will be adjusting the tps soon after this post and update it with any changes. Also, the tps was replaced 2 or 3 years ago.
If you have had this happen before or would have any ideas of what to check the help would be greatly appreciated.

Symptoms:
1. On cold starts the car will sputter out and die below 1500 rpms
2. Caused after alternator change, note: power/ground spade connectors didn't look the best
3.Once to operating temp the idle is exactly at 750 rpm

 

On the back of the water pump housing, sort of below the alternator, there is a plug shaped like an injector connector. This is the water temp sensor for the engine.

If you knocked this connector off / damaged the wires, it can cause exactly what you're describing.

I think it's that the engine assumes operating temperature when the connector is disconnected, so it won't idle until it's warmed up since it isn't getting its warmup enrichment.

 

Thanks for quick reply, I will check this out

 

Oh WondrousBread, thank you

The plugged had gotten knocked lose, plugged it back in and the car starts up great now.

 

No problem, glad it worked out