My engine will go thru a series of Revs, On a cold start it'll be about 1700-1800 for about 8-10 seconds, then it'll drop lower to about 1500, and doesn't go down till you tap it. Letting the car idle for any extended time (15 min + ) isn't good for the motor. Going to 5w-30 for 45f temps? Isn't it supposed to be colder then that in CT?

Some logic behind this is
a) Get oil pressure up
b) Keep from stalling due to sludgy oil
c) Get into operating temperature range quicker

I had 10w-30 in till monday, when i did my oil change, the 10w-30 was getting pretty black recently (good, that means it'* cleaning) I don't know if it was from our long time below 0 or what though. It does start much better on 5w-30 Synthetic then 10w-30 syn, or 5w-30 Dino.

Lifter clatter might mean you don't get oil to the top quick, when i switched to Mobil1, mine basically went away. I do get it still since the oil drains down more when shut off, but it also gets up top better too.

Tried tweaking my TPS voltage about a month ago and nothing.
Vital I'll try that hvac suggestion.
Do yours have climate contol like mine?
Still hard to beleive theres not a fix for this.
Maybe I should spend some time at the dealer looking up TSB'*.

The lifter clatter is very, very minimal. That'* only thing on the engine to make any sounds after 98,000 so I'm not too concerned. Plus, it can only be heard on the very cold days when the engine was started after sitting over a cold night and stuck at 1500 RPMS.

As for oil, I stick with the manufacturer'* recommendation...10W30. Castrol.

Overall, I can't imagine that what our cars is doing is normal. I wish someone who says this is normal can actually witness it. It'* definitely odd and something that I've only seen in the L36s.

Its about minus 2 deg. in CT and a blizzard coming.
Started the car it races around 1600 then comes down to 1500 and Stays There until I tap the pedal.
Tried the HVAC thing and it does not work.

Weird. :? The HVAC thing worked for me.

Vital, it sounds like yours has manual heater controls as I cannot put my climate control on before starting the car.
I guess you cannot have a remote starter with these babies as the car would continue to race until you got in and tapped the pedal.

Yes, I do have manual controls.....**** type.

I do have a remote starter on the car. To prevent the engine from free racing indefinitely I just put the HVAC controls on floor and defrost. That stops it from happening.

Very strange that a manual HVAC on solves your problem?
could it be an intake vacume change?????

Either that or the a/c compressor is kicking the RPMs down.

My issue reoccured today. Even with the floor/defrost position selected on a cold start the car sat pegged at 1500 RPMs for about 12 minutes.

I don't have the answer....