Alfa Romeo Repair: alfa milano 2.5 cold start problem, alfa milano, milano 2

Question
hello I have an 87 milano .we just did the whole timing belt water pump valve
adjust and new seal job along with a new wire set ,,plugs ,and cap/coil. the
car always had some trouble starting cold it would take 2 or three attempts at
starting but then it started and ran great . now it takes 9or 10 and most of
the first 4-5 attempts there is no ignition noted ,then a few turn the key and
get nothing but humming followed by a starter kick in and a few isolated
cylinders hitting . after a while it has more ignition events and will start to
idle very poorly  and stall ,it will then start and idle poor hunting up and
down a bit and then just shoot up to 1000rpm and idle like new . after that it
runs like an alfa should . we have a new battery and checked the cold start
injector it does as it should . we did have a bad relay in the firewall which we
replaced after it caused a no start ,all connections have been traced and
cleaned and a new temp switch installed with the water pump . any help
appreciated we are totally stumped and our manual is very confusing as it is
translated italian . regards jeff angelli

Answer
There are two temp sensors, one for the gauge and one for the ECM. The ECM sensor has 2 wires with a Bosch connector. If that was the one you changed then it is probably the ignition switch that is at fault.  The sputtering is caused by too much fuel in the system before the ignition lead at the switch is activated.