Q: My car is having trouble idling.

asked by on November 30, 2016

This will be the 3rd time that this same problem has happened. When starting my car it will start up fine but then die unless I give it gas, it just will not idle. I can start it up and hit the gas and try and keep it running for awhile and usually it will temporary fix the problem. Sometimes it will idle really low and the car will kinda stutter or shake. The first time this happened I ended up replaceing the Cam Sensor and it fixed the problem for about a year or so. 2nd time I tried cleaning the air intake valve, fixed it for about another year or so. Now it has come back. Sometimes it will start up just fine, other times it won't. It's a manual so I can kinda keep giving it gas and get places that way but if it is out of gear and I'm not giving it gas it will die. If it is in gear and I'm going down the highway it won't die but soon as I take it out of gear and put it in neutral it will die. Please help.

My car has 150000 miles.
My car has a manual transmission.

Idle Control Valve Replacement $162.54 - $1028.01 Get a Quote

You may have a dirty or failing idle air control valve. The idle air control valve reads the air intake as it is mixed with fuel prior to being injected into the engine at low speeds and at idle. Since this valve is controlled by the vehicle’s computer, it will adjust idle speed based upon other measurements such as engine temperature, intake air temperature and electrical system load or voltage. When you accelerate, the engine RPM increases, and as you let off the gas, the RPM slowly returns to the normal idling speed with the help of the idle air control valve. When the engine RPM drops below the normal range of about ~800 RPM, this often times will cause the engine to stall indicating a dirty or faulty idle air control valve. I would recommend having an expert from YourMechanic come to your location to diagnose and repair your idle air control valve.

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