Help! Engine keeps cutting out.

That's the drag with those warranties; yeah, they'll give you a new one, but.. I had problems with MFS's around '05, I ended up buying 2, and just keeping a new one in the car. (No brake lights sux!) I finally disassembled my original one, cleaned and refilled it with dielectric grease, and it's working almost 20 years later. Needless to say, when the other cars had problems, I'd yank it and fix it on my lunch break. One of the older Scientists, a Belgian guy, was fascinated, watching me take it apart, sand the copper parts, coat them with grease, and put it back together. I think I still have 2 of the az ones in my garage, lol.

I ran across this iac cleaning thread, and something Jumped out at me:


What!!!!! You didn't take off the plastic cap

The outside black plastic cap that easily spins will pop off and snap back on without damage. Inside there is a felt filter pellet. Cleaning just the valve without removing this often cloggs this filter up worse. This source of back air flow balances the valve and provides clean air to prevent buildup on valve. Often just cleaning this will get rd of the moose calls. Add pictures of this and you have something.


We had a thread on the moose call problem, and I've never seen this. I have an old one in the garage, And the one in Lazarus was doing it last time I started it.
This makes a lot of sense to me, and I'd bet this sensor is a pressure regulator, and when it gets dirty it oscillates, and the moose call results. That explain why popping the throttle will stop it sometimes, it moves the clog around.
 
@Grog6
I actually took my multi function switch apart a while back because it's very clunky. I realized that it was an aftermarket part and the clunkiness seemed by design. Since it functions, I just left it alone.

Regarding the valve, that black plastic cap they're showing doesn't exist on our cars with the V6. I mean I guess I could try to clean it...but I'll just keep the new one I think. Other than the drive back from the supermarket, I haven't driven it yet, so I can't comment conclusively on the idle. I never heard any noises coming from it, except for a somewhat weird high pitch sound yesterday when I started the car before my drive to the supermarket; I didn't think anything of it then.

I'll go on a proper test drive tomorrow. Meanwhile the new part is right at home:

20231228_124602.jpg
 
Pleasant side effect of the new IAC valve: very quick startups.

Meanwhile, I watched a few interesting videos on the subject:


 
Just connected the old IAC valve directly to 12V, and it does click open.

:unsure:

Well, now the new one is in. I guess I'll keep the old one as a backup. Or should I put the old back in? It's probably just a matter of time for it to get sticky again...
 
The IAC is PWM controlled, so simulating actual conditions of it operating while installed is difficult. Even when starting the IAC duty cycle isn't 100%, so it rarely (if ever) sees full voltage.
 

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