Q: Will not idle, takes several tries to start

asked by on December 27, 2016

About December 14, I tried to start my van and it would not start- it would turn over but not stay started initially.After about four tries, it finally started and ran fine until for about two days and then did it again- so I took it in to the shop where we take our cars. They sold me a high powered battery and said that would fix it. I drove it about 200 miles- when I stopped and is sat for a day, I had trouble starting it again- but it finally started- drove it 250 miles and now it will not stay on unless you are constantly hitting the gas- I drove it to the shop- they said it might be the throttle body. SO my questions is- could it have been that all long - did I really need the 150.00 battery? Also how much does this throttle body thing cost?

My car has 145000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

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