Engine Idle Speed

I have this problem, I go to start my car and it will idle fine for like a minute then it will slow down to the point were it could stall , and then it does after another minute. Does anyone know what the problem could be. Thanks

what year is your car? what engine is in it?

have you checked the EGR valve, checked the lines to make sure there isnt a vacuum leak. does the engine sound like its revving up and down, or is it just the gauge?

Mine had the same problem. It was the Idle air control valve. This was on a 98 24 valve Dohc taurus. It sits on top of the intake manifold. Right there on top. Very easy to change. My uncle owns a parts store, and he said that the this thing goes bad a lot on these cars. He was right. That was the problem. You can hit it with a hammer, and it will probably run fine for a while until it sticks again. It was 45 bucks or so from autozone and a little over 100 bucks from the ford dealership. Not saying this is your problem, but it could be. There are lots of other possibilites.

Ok, mine is a 92 does it still apply to what your saying because yours is newer, now the sensor that you are talking about, it it the grey contianer on top, cause I have seen that one.

sjs... that sounds like something I need to keep in mind, as I also have a 98 with the tec in it. thanks for the info.

sjs... that sounds like something I need to keep in mind, as I also have a 98 with the tec in it. thanks for the info.


OK does that mean that is the sensor that you are talking about?

I just want to take a minute to thank sjs92 for hive repley. My mothers car would not idle at all on it's own. She had the problem for about 3 months. I searched the net to see If I could find a hint on how to fix it. To my luck I stumbled upon this thread. I love the net! I took the valve out of the car. Sparyed a little break cleaner in it and hit it on my palm. This freed it up. I put it back on and it run great. Took all of 10 minutes. It takes a 10mm wrench or socket. Very easy to do for any one even if you have never worked on a car. Thanks a lot!!!! :grinno: