I have seen this problem discussed several times on this board and referenced here many times for the fix.

I have a 2000 Eddie Bauer with the V6. When started on occasion it would not idle at all. It would die as soon as it was started. I would have to give it gas to idle and brake and gas to drive down the road. I tried fuel injector cleaner and many other things. I took it to the dealer today and they replaced the Idle Air Control and the problem seems to be fixed. I was worried that I was going to have to spend big $$ to have it fixed. I put up with it for a couple of months for fear of a big fix. It was $150 with labor to get fixed. I have read here that a little carb cleaner and some time can fix this, but it is my wife's car and she can't fix it if it happens again.

I hope this helps others with time and money.

 

It amazes me to see the torment and hardship some people live with for fear of the big bill. Often it is not nearly what people imagine and often they spend more guessing in thier driveway and at local shops that havent a clue.

Even the simple stuff for Petes' sake, like a shifter **** on a 5 speed. I get them in all the time wanting something else looked at and the shift **** falls off in my hand and its a pain to use. This is something that can be fixed with a brand new part for about 15.00 for crying out loud... LOL

Glad your troubles are over and you can drive in confidence again.

 

I can relate to all of you out there that put up with your broken fords. I put up with my broken explorer in the driveway for a couple of months while I cleaned and replaced sensors and measured voltages in hopes of saving a few dollars. Unfortunately, after exhausting all possibilities I had to throw in the towel and have it towed to the dealer. A day later I was told that my PCM was bad and for $700 I could be back on the road again. In this case and I'm sure like many others contrary to Homerwinslow this big bill was much more than I could have imagined. So, this ones for all the shadetree mechanics.

 

Dont get me wrong, I applaud anyone who can fix thier own vehicle and save money. I build my own computers to save money. People who can should do thier own maintenance on thier vehicles.

But to give you just one example of why SOME shade tree mechanics should leave it alone..

I had a customer who had her F150 towed in. Her boyfriend had been working on it for her. When I recieved it there was a stack of parts in the floorboard and the steering columb was in partial disassembly.
Her initial problem was that they had let the steering lock get so bad in condition that it would no longer turn and the headlamps were inoperative. The boyfriend whom I am sure was just trying to save her money had broken the clockspring, the PATS transciever, and chopped the columb tilt mechanism up beyond repair. He had chipped up pieces of aluminum stuck in the lower columb tube jamming the shifter lockout block that required disassembly of columb to get the pieces out. In addition he had replaced the headlamp bulbs with those high powered blue bulbs, melted the socket openings in the headlamp assembly so bad you couldnt seat the bulbs and the wiring was broken, and power sockets melted. All in all about 1000.00 worth of damage. So the point here is that some people create more problems fixing stuff themselves than if they had a professional look at it to begin with.

I have nothing at all against a shade tree mechanic. While many may take away my opportunity to do thier repair work, there are also many who bring me more than they would have to begin with. More power to those who are able to save money doing it themselves, I know I would and do.