Need help with idle issue

Ms. Denmark

Ms. Denmark

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!
Hey gang.

I think, or actually Mr. Man thinks I may have an IAC issue(whatever that is) with my '04 SB. The car needed a jump as it sat a bit to long since the last time I had it running. Car started right up and settled into it's usual idle. While Mr Man was coiling the jumper cables back up the car suddenly jumped up in idle speed to around 12-1300 rpm. I pushed on the gas pedal and it revved up, but took its sweet time coming back to the 12-1300 rpm speed. We let the car warm up a bit thinking it may be the computer doing its thing though I don't recall it ever doing that before.

We took it for a short drive thinking perhaps something just needed to work itself out, but alas that didn't work either.

Mr. Man popped the hood and removed the plastic thingy that covers the throttle cable and said the cable is sitting against its stop and it revved freely by hand but would not return to proper idle.

He then pulled the cable thingy off the chrome fuel filter looking thingy and the car surged slightly then dropped idle and took a gasp and revved itself back up to a high idle. He put the connector back on and we are back to the high idle. He says the IAC and or the throttle body maybe dirty or going bad. Is that chrome thing the IAC? How hard is this repair/service to do? I worry about his back leaning over the car. He is stubborn and will try to fix it himself if its not a complicated job. Need advice if it sounds like we are on the right track as far as the problem is concerned and if we should try to fix the problem ourselves or take it to Ford.

Thanks for any information.

Ms.D :)
 
Ms. Denmark said:
Hey gang.

I think, or actually Mr. Man thinks I may have an IAC issue(whatever that is) with my '04 SB. The car needed a jump as it sat a bit to long since the last time I had it running. Car started right up and settled into it's usual idle. While Mr Man was coiling the jumper cables back up the car suddenly jumped up in idle speed to around 12-1300 rpm. I pushed on the gas pedal and it revved up, but took its sweet time coming back to the 12-1300 rpm speed. We let the car warm up a bit thinking it may be the computer doing its thing though I don't recall it ever doing that before.

We took it for a short drive thinking perhaps something just needed to work itself out, but alas that didn't work either.

Mr. Man popped the hood and removed the plastic thingy that covers the throttle cable and said the cable is sitting against its stop and it revved freely by hand but would not return to proper idle.

He then pulled the cable thingy off the chrome fuel filter looking thingy and the car surged slightly then dropped idle and took a gasp and revved itself back up to a high idle. He put the connector back on and we are back to the high idle. He says the IAC and or the throttle body maybe dirty or going bad. Is that chrome thing the IAC? How hard is this repair/service to do? I worry about his back leaning over the car. He is stubborn and will try to fix it himself if its not a complicated job. Need advice if it sounds like we are on the right track as far as the problem is concerned and if we should try to fix the problem ourselves or take it to Ford.

Thanks for any information.

Ms.D :)
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The chrome "thingy" is the IAC (Idle Air Control). I'd take it and the throttle body off and clean them. If you can change spark plugs or change the oil and filter, this is easier to do.

Just get the correct cleaners.
 
your car is most likely ruined. You should sell it to me super cheap and save the aggravation and potential trouble to your husbands health. Or try replacing the gas return thingy cant remember its name but it haunted me for 3 year... sounds alot like what I experienced. EGR THATS it just came back to me! Good luck and hava happy safe summer.
 
fastblackmerc said:
The chrome "thingy" is the IAC (Idle Air Control). I'd take it and the throttle body off and clean them. If you can change spark plugs or change the oil and filter, this is easier to do.

Just get the correct cleaners.
Click to expand...
He has something called MAF cleaner. Will that work or what should I tell he needs?
 
Now I like this kind of help, very informative. Especially, to us old farts from the 60's and 70's that don't know jack about all of the computer systems :dunno:

merc said:
Ford Idle Air Control (IAC) valve test (how to adjust minimum idle speed)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayjhL9jpFH8
Click to expand...

"or this"

jimbok1951 said:
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=68153
Click to expand...

Would like to learn, retiring in about two months so I might go back to school :revenge:
 
Well of course nothing is easy. Good news is now I know how to take the throttle body off. Had to think like a squint for the cable releases but finally figured it out. Easy to do once you figure it out. Other good news is the throttle body wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. There is a layer of carbon laid down but nothing was sticking or interfering with the butterflies. The butterflies have some crude on the back side which I cleaned off as good as I could with a toothbrush and MAF cleaner. Not as easy it sounds as the MAF cleaner flashes off quickly. I had my helper squirt as I brushed and got it relatively clean. I'll get some carb cleaner as that may do a better job of breaking up the carbon.

Bad news is I took off the IAC and sprayed it out and nothing but clear liquid came back out. I'm just going to replace it as it has over a 100K and has never been off the car. I'll chalk it up to parts wear out.

Other bad or more annoying news is when I took the throttle body off the gasket disintegrated. I'll need a new one of those too.

So I stuffed the holes with towels to keep nature at bay and closed it up for the night.
 
Might give the pcv hose on the pass side valve cover a good look, it goes from 5/8 inch down to 1/2 inch

The tend to crack and cause a vacuum leak, causing same type of symptom
 
Turbov6Bryan said:
Might give the pcv hose on the pass side valve cover a good look, it goes from 5/8 inch down to 1/2 inch

The tend to crack and cause a vacuum leak, causing same type of symptom
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I'll take a good look at it when I replace the PVC valve I've had on my bench for a year. Just needed the gasket, but figured 'when in Rome'
 
Mr. Man said:
Well of course nothing is easy. Good news is now I know how to take the throttle body off. Had to think like a squint for the cable releases but finally figured it out. Easy to do once you figure it out. Other good news is the throttle body wasn't as bad as I imagined it would be. There is a layer of carbon laid down but nothing was sticking or interfering with the butterflies. The butterflies have some crude on the back side which I cleaned off as good as I could with a toothbrush and MAF cleaner. Not as easy it sounds as the MAF cleaner flashes off quickly. I had my helper squirt as I brushed and got it relatively clean. I'll get some carb cleaner as that may do a better job of breaking up the carbon.

Bad news is I took off the IAC and sprayed it out and nothing but clear liquid came back out. I'm just going to replace it as it has over a 100K and has never been off the car. I'll chalk it up to parts wear out.

Other bad or more annoying news is when I took the throttle body off the gasket disintegrated. I'll need a new one of those too.

So I stuffed the holes with towels to keep nature at bay and closed it up for the night.
Click to expand...


CRC makes a fantastic throttle body cleaner that requires zero brushing. O'Reilly's has the gasket in stock for $1.49. Also, if the car sat for a long period of time with ethanol in the tank, it most certainly separated causing the computer to over compensate for the condition. Good luck.

P.S Did I mention I despise deathanol?
 
Turbov6Bryan said:
Fix it yet?

Just checking to see if you have it sorted
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Hey, thanks for checking back. Ordered a new IAC and Idle air control valve gasket and a throttle body gasket. Expecting delivery tomorrow and then I'll get my "resident mechanic" aka Mr. Man right on it. Fingers crossed it will be good to go by tomorrow eve. If not you'll all hear from me again. :o
 
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Now that UPS, FED EX etc use the post office for final delivery it adds a day or two more than it used to. PITA if your waiting on parts.

Parts actually came late today so if the weather is decent tomorrow I'll throw it back together and we'll see what happens.
 
Just finished up putting in the new IAC and cleaning up the throttle body. Seems to have fixed the raised idle issue. Took it for a ride on my test loop and it ran well. Also seems to idle better than even before the idle issue. I'd recommend just replacing the IAC if you have the same issue I was having. They aren't to expensive and are easy to replace. Not worth the trouble of trying to clean them out.

Shout out to JustRight who recommended the CRC throttle body cleaner. I picked up a can and it worked like a charm. Advance Auto was having a special, buy a can of MAF cleaner get the TB cleaner FREE, so I did. I used it in conjunction with an old toothbrush and it cleaned the carbon gunk off lickity split. Thanks for the suggestion.
 
Mr. Man said:
Just finished up putting in the new IAC and cleaning up the throttle body. Seems to have fixed the raised idle issue. Took it for a ride on my test loop and it ran well. Also seems to idle better than even before the idle issue. I'd recommend just replacing the IAC if you have the same issue I was having. They aren't to expensive and are easy to replace. Not worth the trouble of trying to clean them out.

Shout out to JustRight who recommended the CRC throttle body cleaner. I picked up a can and it worked like a charm. Advance Auto was having a special, buy a can of MAF cleaner get the TB cleaner FREE, so I did. I used it in conjunction with an old toothbrush and it cleaned the carbon gunk off lickity split. Thanks for the suggestion.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Glad to hear it helped.
 
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