Since the beginning of the new year with the colder weather, I have had increasing difficulties to start my 240 1986 non turbo engine. Once the engine has started it does usually sputter and quit if the gas pedal is not pressed very gently when accelerating.

Even in neutral the gas pedal has to be pressed v e r y g r a d u a l l y to
reach high rpm s. When the traffic light goes green I cant accelerate normally if I have not driven a mile or if the car has not been running for a good five or ten minutes . In the fall the car would loose power and sputter in similar circumstances but now that the temperatures are below freezing and sometimes below O it quits.

The rotor, the distributor and the spark plug cables are new. the fuel pump relay has less than 20000 miles the pumps obviously work; the electronic unit that sits near the coolant overflow tank has been replaced with one cannibalised from a sister car totaled at 60,000 miles: it makes no difference.

I can drive for hours on the hghway once the car is thoroughly warmed up but I cant really step on the gas for the first ten or fifteen minutes of driving.

Do I have a problem with the idle switch or some cold start mechanism. The car has 230 000 kilometers. I would like to know what would be the likely cause of the problem and its solution.