High idle on cold start

[Ronaldinho55]

I have a 1997 Pontiac Grand Am 3.1 V6 with 100K miles and recently I’ve been having high idle problems. On a cold start the idle is around 2000 rpm. Once it warms up (about 2-3 min) the idle drops down to 750 and everything is fine. Sometimes, when I’m in a hurry, I’ll drive for a mile or two then pull over and restart the car and the idle will be fine then. The temperature sensor was replaced in ’03, other than that everything else is original. The engine light is not on so I have no codes. This did not happen during the summer, only since the weather got colder, and I live outside of Cleveland so please HELP!

Thanks in advance!

[xeroinfinity]

Welcome to AF.

this one should be an easy fix.
Your Idle air control(IAC) is probly not working correctly.

It is located on the right side of the TB.
You can remove it and clean it off with some TB cleaner,
and clean the port that it sets in.
Just dont push or twist the tip of the IAC that will throw it out of adjustment.

If that doesnt help then you could have emission problems, EGR, IAC, O2 sensors, and an assortment of other sensors.

Here is a picture of where the TB and IAC are located.


Also your car should idle at about 1200 rpms on cold starts.

Hope that helps!

[Ronaldinho55]

I removed and cleaned the IAC as you suggested. There was a LOT of carbon buildup that I cleaned out (100k miles worth!). Buried under 2 feet of snow, she started right up and idled at about 1100 rpm. YYYYIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!  Thanks again for your help!