I have been having off and on problems with my 98 4.6L not wanting to idle. After reading many posts, I think I have a dirty or bad IAC valve. Does anyone have any pics of this part? I would like to clean or replace it, but I need to know what to look for. Thanks for your help.

 

Never mind, I see it.... does anyone have instructions on what part of it sticks and can be cleaned though?

 

Well,

I had this problem on my 91 Supercoupe, but the one on the F-150's look similar, You need to take it off.. and soak the inside.. not the whole valve.. just the inner springs and stuff in Carb Cleaner... I cleaned mine.. and it worked for about 30 minutes.. then it messed up again. So i just went to ford and bought a new one. Was 85 bucks, For the SC. It will probably be cheaper for the trucks though ... What symtoms are you having.. usually when the IAC fails.. it fails and your RPM's will remain somewheres around 2500-3000 RPM.

But when i did to attempt clean mine.. i used Carb Cleaner and pipe cleaners.. cotton qtip's to get in there..

The IAC is located directly behind.. and on top of the throttle body under the dust cover.


Scott

 

You not supposed to use any type of chemicals inside of the IAC as it can damage the valve seat...from the Ford Manual.

 

You're also not supposed to use vice grips on bolts, but it works.
If i remember correctly, and i may not. The IAC valve is all metal. The seat and all. So carb cleaner shouldnt hurt it. I don't know what ford is talking about, but if you believe it will screw it up, then ford doesnt make 85 bucks on a 25 dollar item.
Plus, its already not working right, clean the hell out of it.

 

Ditto Dodge. I just cleaned my IAC and TB with carb cleaner and believe it or not my truck still runs....in fact, even better than before the cleaning.

Ford also says not to clean the TB. But if you don't the engine CAN run like crap. So what do you do? Buy a new TB from Ford for God knows how much. I don't think so.

 

Probably becuase ford wants you to go buy a new one from them hehehe. However, when my IAC went bad in my T-bird, I called ford, and asked them about the IAC, and the Tech Rep from ford told me to use carb cleaner as well.. and the SuperCoupe IAC has plastic vanes... Like i said before, it worked for about 30 minutes, and i ended up buying a new one anyways..

My 2 cents.

Scott

 

carb cleaner eats plastic... your intake is plastic, true the valve isn't but once you spray carb cleaner into the valve, and reinstall the valve, WHERE DO YOU THINK THE CARB CLEANER GOES...

THAT'S RIGHT FOLKS... RIGHT DOWN YOUR INTAKE... FORD SAYS DON'T USE CHEMICALS NOT BECAUSE IT'S HARMFUL TO THE VALVE... BUT TO THE PLASTIC INTAKE MANAFOLD.. so ask yourself this question... do i buy a new valve,,, or a new intake and a new valve after i burn a hole in my factory intake...

 

Generally Speaking.

I'd hope you would let all the carb cleaner evaporate, after you have cleaned the valve before you decided to re-install it.

Scott