Funky prints with PLA vs ABS

I am fairly new to 3D printing, and I have been printing with ABS (despite not having a heated bed) with great success (aside from some problems with bed adhesion). I have now started to experiment with printing PLA, and am having a terrible time. The filament extrudes very inconsistently. It always takes a couple of laps during the brim to start flowing. When drawing small inner perimeters, it barely lays down even half the circle. I have tried slowing down inner perimeters in Slic3r, but it doesn't seem to slow them down - it almost seems like it prints them faster than outer perimeters. When you look at several layers, there are occasional gaps. When I printed in ABS, the plastic always flowed very smoothly - no gaps regardless of speed. The temp I used for ABS is 225, and I have cranked the PLA temp up as high as 230 with little difference in behavior from 215. Below 215, it just emits beads from the extruder. BTW, I am using Slic3r with RepetierHost.

Any ideas, suggestions?

More details about your setup would help.
Printing PLA and ABS are two very different world, for about a year I was exclusively PLA, only recently adding ABS, ABS/PA alloy, and Nylon according to customer needs. I had to relearn how to print things, and I'm probably only half way there with getting effective adhesion. They print clean, clean, clean. I love how clean ABS prints, especially from 3DXTech. PLA is easier to print with when it comes to adhesion and warping. You need a fan blowing where the plastic comes out of the nozzle; it needs to cool as quickly as possible else it will curl upwards/expand due to extended heating/gob. Lower bed temps as well. I print PLA at 42C bed with blue painter's tape and a fan blowing under the nozzle. I can't say for sure, but I think 220C on your extruder would be optimal, you never want to go too high with PLA, it degrades/crystallizes it. That bad starting is due to oozing, PLA oozes a lot more than ABS. Every print I do, while it's homing I push down the filament by hand and pull it away from the nozzle for clean starts. PLA needs needs needs good retraction, depending on your extruder/hotend you may need anywhere from 0.8mm to 4.2mm. The biggest known improvement for PLA quality [besides getting it to extrude properly] is adding a fan. Some have the proper fan mount on the extruder, others make due with a giant fan off to the side.

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