When starting up the car from cold, I notice that the revs go up and down from 500rpm to about 800rpm and then settles at 500. Is it normal for the revs to go up and down?
Is there anything that can be cleaned out?
3.2 2.6 and i think the 2.2 are all drive by wire. So no throttle cable and no icv on the 3.2. and 2.6( not sure about the 2.2 so ill leave that out its not relevant anyway) All the throttle work including tick over is handled by the throttle body afaik. My 3.2 can be a tiny bit erratic at times and have put it down to the electronics sorting itself out from cold when i put the lights on heated windows and heaters/ac or what ever. If your car has always done this i would not worry. If its a new development then whats the cause? Dont know for certain, but you could try cleaneing the throttle body, as you would an icv, but if mine is anything to in by it wont be that dirty.
Air leak in the induction system, but that would happen all the time not just from cold. The ac can affect the tick over as it clicks in and out, but i am bloody sure youd know if the ac was busted liveing out there. Has the car always done this?
Ps do you remember a post a while back about the 3.2 cranking but not starting? We put it down to hot weather, iirc, thing is mine did it again yesterday, it was raining and cold. Only thing of note was the fuel light was on. Bloody Gremlins live in there i tell you...
I also wonder about crank sensor issues with these things, but no relevant codes in my car. You could try the pedal trick as listed under paperclip test, its bottom of page 1 in maintenance section, and see if you any fault codes stored. Constant flashing means no codes.