First off I have to say Hello im new to the forum. I have a 1989 f150 with the inline 6 cylinder. The question is when I start it up no matter if it is cold or hot it wont idle it dies unless I hit the gas pedal a couple times and it idles fine until I cut it off and start it again what the heck is wrong with my truck?

 

Hello and welcome to FTE..

The frst thing I would check is the IAC, just take it off (pick up a new gasket first) and use some carb cleaner to knock the carbon out of the two small holes on the mounting flange, and of course brush out the hols on the TB if needed.

 

I hate to sound stupid but here it goes what is a TB

 

TB=throttle body. There is one connector with three wires and two bolts. After removal, put an ohmeter (on ohms) on two terminals and rotate the thingy to see if the ohmeter moves smoothly or if it jumps around. You need to try a couple diferent terminal combinations, I forget which ones are which. If it jumps around, the pot is bad and the IAC needs to be replaced. If it is OK, then clean the passages with O2 safe carb cleaner. Leave it sit off the engine for 10 minutes or so. Make sure the plunger is not sticking. What I do is after reassembly, is leave the IAC connector off and set the idle adjustment on a hot engine (A/C off) to the base idle. Plug the IAC back in then start up and see if the problem went away. FWIW, this is good to do even if you don't have idle problems.