My 97 F150 4.6 was running rough. Took it in to an independent to have it looked at and was told that I needed a tune up. Asked about the price and was told $300. Had the work done. Does that price sound fair? Truck starting losing power and dying just days after the tune up. Took it back and was told that the IAC "might" need replacing. But tech tapped on it with a wrench and said it was working for now. If started acting up again to come back in and they would replace at a cost of $150. I appreciated the fact that his first suggestion was to see if the tapping would work and not just suggest a replacement. But $150? Wow. And from reading other posts (esp in FAQ section) it appears replacing IAC is easy cheesy and only cost me the $60 for the new part. Not sure if I actually need to replace it or not. Guess I will see if it starts acting up again. Got beginning of an oil leak last year. Asked tech about that as well as it is a nuisance. He said thought it was right side valve cover gasket. Could be fixed for $180. When looking at what all has to come out in order to replace that gasket I would say "Have at it". I love getting tips from you veterans on how to do jobs myself but there comes a point when it may make sense to have the work done. Am I too quick to cop out on this one? One more thing. Believe it or not the check engine light came on again (first time was regarding the tune up mentioned above, then the IAC related issue). I unplugged the battery cable to reset it thinking it was just the IAC issue. Since the truck seemed to be running fine I wanted the check engine light off and began thinking about replacing the IAC according to the "how to" listed in this site. When the check engine light came on again I took it in for a diagnostic at a local parts house and they indicated it had something to do with the catalytic converted not performing optimally. Is this really the IAC issue from before or do you think it is a whole new issue regarding the cat? Thanks for any feedback. Love my truck it's just hitting me all at one time. Maybe can get it out of the way now and get another 130K out of it. Haven't mentioned the whine in the rear end yet. Guess that isn't bothering me so much as I have learned to tune it out.

 

have you changed your spark plugs since you got truck?

 

Changed the spark plugs with the tune up that was recently performed.

 

check your COPS and wiring....

 

dang on.......

 

With the IAC I would try taking it off and cleaning the pintle, it could just be some carbon clogging it. As for the cat not performing optimally that probably means the cat is on its way out.

-Kenneth