1993 940 Difficulty Starting: Need to raise rpm immediately after starting or else it stalls, but otherwise drives fine

[xlewis0]

1993 940 Wagon (non-turbo, Bosch injection system). 175,000 miles.


For a couple of months now I've had a problem where occasionally when trying to start my car it will crank a couple of times then stop, and when I try to start it again the 2nd time it starts and runs just fine. I was a little concerned but the problem was intermittent and it didn't seem like a big enough issue, so I was going to ignore the issue until it got worse. I'm a college student and don't have a lot of time or money to throw at non-major issues. Beginning yesterday, the issue seems to have worsened where now the car will start fine, but after a few seconds it will stall out. I've found that if I hold it around 1000 rpm for 5-10 seconds after starting, it goes back to running normally. No other issues with stalling, driving feels normal and idle rpm is steady around 600.


I'm by no means an expert here, just hoping to be pointed in the right direction. I'm suspecting it might be a fuel pump issue. Fuel pump, fuel filter, and fuel pump relay were replaced in 2017, about 20,000 miles ago and before I was the owner. During the last service in December 2023, fuel pressure was tested to be 34 PSI at idle, 43 under load, and the MAF sensor was also cleaned. Sometimes on the problematic starts it'll misfire for a couple seconds before self-correcting. Sometimes right before it starts there's a brief metallic scraping sound before starting normally... I've tried getting video of these incidents but they're rare enough that I haven't caught it yet.


I would be grateful for any tips on what to check first or if anyone has experienced a similar issue.