I've got a 99 Mazda Protege (LX I think).  It's a small 4cyl.

About a month ago I had a CEL which turned out to be just a dirty intake which got cleaned and everything was fine after that.  I also got a tune up and new plugs etc at the same time.

Now that the weather has been cool overnight, when I start the car in the morning it doesn't have any idle strength.  It turns over runs for half a second then craps out.  I have to feed it gas for at least a minute or two before it will sustain a very low idle by itself.  After about 5 minutes of driving the low idle gets to what I call normal.  That's anywhere from 750 to 1k.  When it's barely holding itself up, it's running no more than 500.

I took it in this weekend, the guys didn't find anything other than a loose hose but it did the same thing this morning.  I'm looking for suggestions, thanks!

It sounds an lot like a sticking IAC (idle air control) valve on a Ford. I don't know which setup is in your Protege, but sometimes the "intake cleaning" will actually flush the crude right into the idle control passages.  Protege=Escort but I don't think Mazda would have used the Ford engine.

Where in Va. are you? I work in Kernersville NC, may not be that far.

Cartech

Thanks for the reply.

I'm in Stafford, about 2-3 hours from the NC border so that's not an option but thanks.  

The car is back in the shop today.  When the guy calls I can at least mention what you did to see if they've looked into it.

The shop called back.  I have a torn air intake boot.  The tear is after the sensor so the computer was compensating for the wrong air mix.  They taped it all up and got the correct monitor values so a new boot is on order.

I love my car....but damn if I don't hate paying for it.