Starting

[guest]

My 2001 Continental would not start. It cranked good. I put the pedal to the floor, it started and smoked for a few seconds. After the smoked cleared, it idled good and ran good. I drove it locally and at highway speeds. It ran fine. I drove it daily with no problems. Should I be concerned?

[carriedi]

holding the gas pedal to the floor tells the computer to withhold fuel. (clear flood) since it started after that tells me that the engine might have been flooded. A cold engine tells the computer to run a little rich to get things started. If you haven't had a tune up in a long time, the spark plugs may be worn. The spark plug gap gets larger as the electrodes burn away. Do you know how long your plugs have been in your engine?

You might also look at your throttle body for coking. If the airway gets closed up from debris it will reduce the air to the engine. reduced air will also make the engine run rich when you first start up. The computer will richen the fuel mixture to start a cold engine. It cannot know if the air coming into the engine is reduced by coking until after the engine starts and the computer can see how the O2 sensor works. So, before it can see the O2 sensor the computer will richen the fuel mixture as if the throttle body is clean and clear as if were new. Only after it starts will the computer make the mixture match running conditions.

If you have had a tune up for a while I would change the spark plugs (properly gapped) Clean the throttle body or at least check it.

It doesn't sound like a serious problem since you got it to start with a clear flood procedure. You could wait and see if it happens again. It may be fine for a while