Bad iac??
 

I have a 2004 Ford Mistake!! Last week my check engine light came on. I brought it to a friend at ford and he hooked the computer up to it. Said it was something to do with a bad iac. i didnt have any other issues. car was running a lil rough but not bad and didnt have any stalling. Yesterday i was backing out of my parking spot and it stalled. I went to restart it and it was running a lil rough. I gave it some gas and it stalled again. Finally it restarted. I also noticed each time its been stalling my air conditioner was on. If i turn it off it will still run rough at first but not stall. Ive noticed the stearing has been a little tight. Didnt know if it was because of the warm weather. Today the same thing happened where it was running rough and stalled. And now i noticed when i turn it makes a weird sound. Sounds like its coming from under the middle of the car. Kind of sounds like a boxspring to a bed when it gets old. I also had a vacuum hose replaced a few months ago bc my car would not start. Anyone have any ideas if this does sound like a bad iac or something else?

If it's only running rough when it's cold, that is the first few minutes it's running, or when the AC is on, it's probably the IAC (Idle air control valve) It's pretty common to have one go out in the lifetime of the vehicle. It's super easy to replace, but just looking at your post, I don't think you do any work yourself. You don't need to get the part from Ford, any auto parts store carries or can get for you, much cheaper than the dealership. If you have any friend that can change the oil on their car, they could replace it for you, it's just to small bolts, and a electrical connector, the part is right on the top of the engine. If it's doing it all the time, that could be a different problem.

Your steering problem just sounds like it's either low on fluid, or the rack and pinion unit has gone bad. The power steering fluid level is something you can look at and fill yourself. If your looking at your engine standing in front of the car, the power steering reservoir is on the left side front (that is it's on the passengers side of the Escape) It will have yellow cap, don't confuse it with the windshield washer reservoir which will have a black cap. The reservoir is a white-ist plastic with a sight window that has a high and low marking, you can see the level of the fluid through it. Check it and if it looks lower than the bottom low marking, go up to Walmart or any automotive place and pick up a bottle of power steering fluid, just fill it until it's just below the top marking on the power steering reservoir. If you don't want to mess with it, and there is a certain oil change place you use, take it up there ask them if they will check the power steering fluid level for you? If it's not the power steering fluid level, come back to the forum.

How many miles are on your Escape? This is important for those of us on here to get an idea of problems that can happen when the mileage gets higher.

Take Care,

Scott

The A/C and the power steering noise may be related to a low idle when cold. Both use the engine to operate, and the IAC is supposed to compensate for the load by increasing engine speed, and also supposed to raise the idle when the engine is cold to avoid stalling.
You can clean the IAC by removing it and flushing it with spray cleaner.
If you plan on adding power steering fluid, the lower line on the reservoir is 'COLD' or room temperature. The upper line is the expected maximum level to be reached when the power steering fluid has reached operating temperature. Do not overfill it when it is cold, or you will have PS fluid dripping down the side of the reservoir.
tom

Okay..replaced the iac today. Made it worse. Now my check engine ligh is back on. And is idling way too high. Car goes to jump when I go to stop. And when I put car in park the rpm shoot up to 3. Any ideas with that info?

Looking at your first post, when the check engine light came on, there usually isn't a code for a bad IAC valve, or at least my experience on this forum is no one got a trouble code for that particular part. What would help is to know what the code was, or what the code is now. There are a many codes but it will start with "PO---". Example would be "PO305". You don't need to know what it means, There are those on here that can look it up. Sometimes a code leads right to the answer, sometimes it's a symptom of something else wrong.

At this point I guess I would do this if it were me.

1. Disconnect the car battery at the negative for 15 minutes, this resets the computer to the factory settings. See if that makes a difference.

2. If you had someone put the part on for you, make sure it's the right part. This happened to me on another part. the box showed it to be the right part, but the part inside the box had a different part number and made my Escape run really strange.

3. If you are sure it was the right part, and you still have the old part, put the old part back on, and see what happens. If it goes back to running like it did before, it's possible it's not a bad IAC, or the one you replace it with is bad (not common but it does happen).

4. If it's drivable find out what the check engine light code is. You may have to do that first, when you disconnect the battery it may erase that code. But if it's idling at 3000 rpms, that's not a safe driving condition.


Sorry, I know this is frustrating, some times it's easy to diagnose a problem, because it's a common problem, other times it may not be possible on a forum, with limited information.

I would suspect one of two things: Either you were given the wrong IAC, or the internal spool valve was jammed out of place when it was installed or you have an air leak.
I would remove the IAC and look inside. There is a shaft that moves back and forth to vary the amount of air allowed to flow. The shaft has a disk on it that blocks or opens by moving within the IAC. If it were to be stuck, it could not close and you would have the high idle you reported. Try checking to see that the valve gizzards can move.
tom

It is quite possible to get a bad replacement part, particularly those that are non-factory. I went through three aftermarket alternators before getting one that actually worked. And you know where they were made.

Tom, your idea sounds easier. I am going to try that. The iac I received does look different. It does fit, however where the plastic part clips in, it comes out of the back on the new one. Where the old one it comes out from the side area. I'm also going to try putting my old iac on and seeing if it will go back to running rough and low idle.

I'm not sure what the code was that came up. The fit told me it and of course I don't remember. I just tried taking the new one off and putting the old one on. Ran the way it used to. Rough and low idle wanting to stall. I put the new one on and it was fine. I let it run for a lil and it made the sound where it was running rough and gonna stall. Could the throttle body might have to be cleaned?

Take it to Autozone and let them scan it and tell you what code is on.As said before IAC usally don't throw a code just mess with the idle.Sounds like it could be a bad coil on plug or spark plug.How many miles are on it?

It has about 93500 miles. I tried cleaning the throttle body. Seems to be running about the same with the new iac on. Rpms don't shoot up as high anymore. Check engine light still on. Think ill take it to a friends shop n see what they say. I can't figure it out

Yep, get a genuine Motorcraft IAC - the correct one for your car. And be sure to replace the gasket.
The one I got from RockAuto for my 2.0L I-4 was made in Japan.

I dropped the car off at my mechanic today. He is looking at it on he morning. I told him what its been doing and he said sounds like a vacuum hose leak(I had one a few months ago and my car wouldn't start at all). Hopefully its just that. Fingers crossed!

A vacuum leak will cause the symptoms you describe.

That's exactly what it was. A vacuum leak. Also turns out had nothing to do with my iac. And the new iac I bought didn't even work. my old one works fine!