Hi All,

I've been having strange idling problems on my 2001 V6. The RPMs will fluctuate a lot. When I'm driving and let me foot off of the gas, the RPMs (lets say 2500rpm) will just stay constant for quite some time (5-10 seconds) and then significantly drop. Anyways, as of late the RPMs have been bouncing up and down sporadically and will go as low as 200rpm and I even stalled once.

I'm not great at describing these symptoms so I took a video. Notice at the very end how the tachometer drops when I am at a complete idle. Link: http://youtu.be/FBfbl6k1fHM

I've searched the forum and having found anything that directly matched my symptoms. I'm also posting this here since I'm sure it is applicable to both V6 and V8 'stangs.

From my search, most people mentioned the IAC. I removed the IAC and cleaned it up real good. However, after reattaching the IAC, I now have an awful loud whining noise and I seem to have exasperated the problem. I did not replace the gasket, because I could not find a shop that would sell only the gasket without the whole new IAC.

Any advice would be very much appreciated!

 

IAC was a good start. I'd also clean the Mass air sensor, and check all vacuum lines, as they might could cause this as well. I had something that started similar to your issue in my 2000 v6 ( it got noticeably worse later). It ended up being a frayed wiring harness going to the crank positioning sensor.

 

Alright. I definitely worsened the problem when I cleaned it. I think I might've goofed re-installing the gasket because it was so old and brittle. I have this high pitched, awful-sounding whine now. Do you think I can somehow repair or reinforce the gasket or whatever is causing this? Should I let the car run and see if it goes away? Right now, I'm not comfortable driving it whatsoever.

Do I need to buy the special MAF cleaner or is there something else I could use?

Sorry, I am kinda a dummy when it comes to most mechanical stuff.

 

My cobra did this for a while and it also would stay revd after letting off the gas around 2,000 rpms. I'm not too sure what I did to fix it but I'll try looking for some papers to see how I did it.

 

I may sound like a broken record on this forum, but any attempt at diagnosing a driveability concern starts with scanning the PCM for Diagnostic Trouble Codes, Without a scan at best we can make an educated guess... Things like Vacuum leaks, dirty/faulty mass air sensor, idle air control , even possible transmission ( lockup converter causing stalling) So you can see where I'm going... Get the PCM scanned and get some information for us to further assist you. Good Luck!

 

Sorry about that and even if you are being a broken record record, I understand where you're coming from- it's impossible to give me a diagnosis & resolution without specific data. I'm a n00b when it comes to pretty much all things cars. Guess it's just something my father never taught me.

Anyways, I read up on scanning the PCM, and I should have the interface tomorrow. I hope you all can help me interpreting the data.

Peace