1993 DX. I start my car up and the RPM goes up to anywhere from 1500-2000. The engine will be idle and is in neutral. Then RPM will drop up and down 300-500 RPM. If you turn on the AC it will stop sometimes. Other times it will continue for about a minute then drop down to or barely below 1000 and idle normally.

Second discrepancy. I drove from the panhandle down to Orlando yesterday and I was refueling/letting my dog out and just popped the hood out of curiosity. Light smoke was coming from behind the engine from the intake manifold, headers, and looked like it was mainly coming from the fuel injection area. The car had been driving down I-10 and I-75 for about 5 hours at 3500 RPM. I let the car cool down and drove it another 40 minutes to my destination, popped the hood again, and no smoke this time.

Could someone please help me that has had/known similar experiences to point me in a direction to fix this.

 

Check your coolant level. The smoke could have been a coolant leak dripping onto the hot exhaust. I belive there is a coolant line that runs along the back of the motor there. The coolant level being low could also cause you jumping idle problem. Please check this out.

 

Problem #1:

Search archives/FAQ for "Idle Surge"