I have a 2002 with about 25k miles.

New Platinum plugs about 7k ago
New stock air filter about 2k ago
Sea Foam run thru about 2k ago

On the road the engine runs strong, sounds normal, but starting up cold I have to give a bit of throttle to get it to start. Once started it idles fine but doesn't idle up like it used to for that brief "warm-up" wax unit period. Instead it idles at the 1100 or so, but easily stays running.

Once warm, the idle still is at the 1100 rpm. And to crank it warm she just jumps to life like she should. No problems.

I can't think of anything that's changed. Has my wax unit gotten gummed up? (I did change to Engine Ice about 7k ago) I look thru the service manual and it talks about inspecting the wax unit and replacing the internals but I'm not sure I'd know by looking if it was OK or not. There's the starter valves but I wouldn't think they would have come unadjusted.

I just don't know where to start, and it's not that big of a problem any way, at least not during this warm weather

Any suggestions?

After I've had my 02 dyno'd, I had a bit of a rough starting, where it would also not idle up. This sorted itself out.. I don't know why or how.

Also noticed that the wax unit now takes longer to come into play since I've changed the oil to Castrol Magnetec semi synthetic oil.

It's asif the oil takes longer to heat up. The oil temp on the bike is now also a little bit higher than normal, but cools down much faster.

You may want to check the adjustment of your Throttle Position Sensor. On my Suzuki TL, the TPS adjustment is critical for cold engine starts and warmup.

My '97 did that. After I cleaned the air filter the problem went away. Just an idea.

THe later FI models actually have a wax deal where when the wax is solid, it opens up the throttle a little bit for a fast idle, but when the wax melts, the throttle goes back to normal... Carb'd units don't have this...

Mike

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.

I'll check my TPS, RodeRash, good, hadn't thought about that at all.

I wonder if I can see the plunger on the wax unit move as the coolant heats up.

It is a wax element that is responsible for that.Try to snap the throttle couple of times before starting the bike. Sometimes it will "unstick" offending part.Also you could try to lubricate area where wax element pushes on some sort of cam lobe.

Thanks tomek and eliXXir.

I tried snapping the throttle a time or two. The engine started without throttle this time, but still didn't idle up.

I'm going to check the TPS and the wax unit next.