brickers:

So I went out today to take my 1985 745t (205k miles) to town and the starting performance was a little different than normal.

When I turned the key the car started IMMEDIATELY... it was instanataneous, not a single crank of wait time, etc., which is odd for this car (it normally turns over at least once before starting). The tach then shot up to around 2000rpms or so (this is normal), and began to settle down to idle. However, it settled down VERY slowly, and eventually stopped at about 1100 rpms, settling to 1000rpms slowly after about 15 seconds or so. I gave it a quick gas to see if something was stuck open, etc., but it kept up the high idle.

I left the car running for about 3-4 minutes, then turned it off and checked the oil (not that it would be relevant, I just have a habit of checking fluids when anything odd crops up). The dipstick was around 1/3... should be fine.

So, I take the car to town (8-10 miles at highway speeds) and pull into a gas station. Check the dipstick and the oil is now full...? Is this much of a volume difference (0.5+ quarts) between cold and hot normal?

I'm in VT and it's cold here (about 15f now) and I figure that might have been part of the issue with the wierd tach performance. I'm not SUPER concerned, but I would like to know if anyone has an idea why this might have happaned and if it is indicative of anything more. In case it matters, in the last 5 months I have replaced the fpr, pre-pump, cleaned the injectors, replaced the tranny (m46), replaced the cat, cleaned the throttle body, flushed the coolant, changed the oil twice, and repaired all the wiring in the engine compartment.

Thanks in advance for any help.

-Rick