98 Sport Manual Stalls Out on Start

[YouHadTo]

Hey All,

So I've got a 1998 Explorer Sport 5 speed manual 106k miles. It's got an X in the vin so I believe it's the OHV v6.

I purchased it at 104k and its ran fine since then. Recently it has started stalling out on start. It'll rev high and then drop to a stall. If I wait a few seconds and start it again it'll still rev high and drop low, but usually won't stall. Recently it's becoming more and more frequently stalling on first start and taking more and more starts to get running properly.

In addition in neutral while idling, it bounces around between 500 and 1500 rpm sometimes even dropping below 500 rpm and stalling out again. This has happened in traffic before and is obviously a bit of a problem. Once again it'll usually start back up again after trying to start it, but its clearly got a problem I'd like to solve.

If I see it starting to dip below 500 rpm I can sometime give it a little gas on the throttle and catch it from stalling out. Doesnt always work though.

Has anyone had any problems like this before?
It's due for an oil/filter change, but I can't see this being the cause.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[lil'mounty]

idle air control valve. Clean it with carb cleaner. Try not to tear the gasket. I've had good luck cleaning them but I have had to replace them. Its located near the throttle body. It actually bypasses the throttle body when actuating.

 

[YouHadTo]

idle air control valve. Clean it with carb cleaner. Try not to tear the gasket. I've had good luck cleaning them but I have had to replace them. Its located near the throttle body. It actually bypasses the throttle body when actuating.

Ok, thanks for the advice! I wasn't sure if it was that or maybe the throttle position sensor. I'll give that a try.
Thanks!

 

[Redmanss]

After you're done with that, take a hard look at replacing your spark plugs if they're still the OEM from the factory. I have the '97 version of your truck with similar mileage, after replacing the very worn stock plugs my idle smoothed out to a stable purr and I regained about 10% of my fuel mileage as well.