Car problems :(

Hi. Earlier in the summer I bought a 1997 Dodge Avenger. It was in excellent shape, only $3900. Only thing is that it has 124,000 miles on it, but it ran beautifully, up until I had this problem. About a week ago this started, where I would start it up and it used to rev up a little bit initially, then return to normal idle. Now it revs up initially to a little bit more than half that, then drop down even lower and sometimes stall. but if i push on the gas it runs fine until i let go and stalls at stop signs. This car has been reliable til this point, I have no idea whats wrong. But I did notice that my alternator was squeaking a bit, could this be the problem? Need help and suggestions please! Thanks.

--Oscar

Sounds like the Idle Air Control Valve is dirty and sticking. Remove the air duct from the throttle body, and, you'll see the dime sized hole that admits air to the IAC valve. While goosing the engine so it doesn't stall, shoot some carb cleaner into this hole. After a few healthy squirts of carb cleaner, the valve should be functional again, and, your stalling problem should go away.

Regards:
Oldengineer

I'll give it a try. thanks