IAC Valve assistance..please

[dreamr]

All this time I have been chasing idle problems with the thought of the IAC in the back of my head.
After a foghorn sound started to develop I decided to clean the IAC.

When y'all call it a howl I never imagined how loud it really could be.

Anyway, it was cleaned and allowed to dry for ny on 24 hour.
When I left for work today it was ok, but as the day progressed so did the howl. I took the black cap off, and it is gone.

I figure I may as well just get a new IAC to cure it for good.
My questions are this where can I easily order an inexpensive one?
And in the interim is it ok to leave the cap off. Seattle is a wet place.

Sorry for the newbie like question, but I would love a bit of input

 

[sncwfo99]

I would imagine you could get a new IAC at a local auto parts store. As far as leaving the cap off I have no idea.

 

[EBInterceptor]

I think I read on hear that Rockauto.com has the best price. About $56 plus shipping or something like that.

 

[Robert]

The black cap you removed contains the filter that prevents dirt from getting sucked in to the IAC. If you plan on replacing it anyways, no harm will come from leaving the cap off other than possibly accelerating the time that you'll have to replace it.

 

[Albino 94LTD]

So was that the little black cap I showed you at the trail head?

I was thinking of changing the filter material to something like a Scotch-Bright pad, but my whine hasn't gotten that anoying yet.

 

[dreamr]

EBInterceptor, that's the price I was looking for The local parts store wanted 115 bucks.

Robert, thanks for the reassurance

Albino, I really haven't figured out what that larger cap below the IAC is. This one is the little cap that covers the nipple on the IAC itself.

 

[Opera House]

Under the cap there is a litle felt pellet that is easy enough to pop out and clean. Clean air flowing through the back part of the valve assembly balances the pressure and keeps the valve drom oscillating. Getting a new IAC is like getting a new engine because the air filter needs to be changed. There is a metal nipple under the bottom half of the plastic filter assembly. You could attach a rubber tube to it and conect it to one of those cheap see thru gas filters for lawn mower engines. I have found large sand particles in mine so I don't recommend running without some sort of filter. Foam, wad of cotton, paper towel, almost anything would work.

 

[dogfriend]

When y'all call it a howl I never imagined how loud it really could be.

I made a video of this so everyone could hear it:


The IAC goes woooooo!

 

[dreamr]

Opera House, I did remove that felt pellet and try to get it clean.Sadly the sound is still there. I was wondering if I couldn't take a knife to a fish filter and make a new one, I guess anythin is better than nothing right

 

[dogfriend]

Youre probably going to laugh at this, but...

You could replace the black filter with one like this:

http://www.mcmaster.com/asp/enter.asp?pagenum=299

The only problem is that they are furnished w/ male pipe threads, but you could use a fitting with a female pipe thread to male hose barb, then use a short hose to connect the filter to the port on the IAC.

BTW, cleaning the felt thing inside the black plastic piece fixed the noise that mine was making. It has been about 9 mos since I made the video. I noticed that mine was more likely to make noise when it was hot (> 95 degF), so I will see if the fix was permanent or not in a couple of months.

 

[96 black beauty]

shop around and replace the IAC.I had the same problem, the only thing is it does not come with a gasket so I made one out of the very same box that it comes in.Its great not hearing that horrible hoooooowl.

 

[dreamr]

Thanks Black Beauty, I replaced the Iac with a motorcraft part and had the gasket cut there. No more howl, though there is this whistling from the area, possibly that black cap Albino metioned above.

 

[eXplorerbubb]

awesome video dogfriend! that really helped me out! i'm thinking of replacing that black cap and filter all together with one of those little tiny "ricer" filters, or maybe even rigging up a filter out a foam ear plug.

btw, i used air intake/injection cleaner on the iac. it didn't seem to clean it at all. is there any other type of cleaner i should use? pb blaster? thanks for everyone's help! - carlos

 

[eXplorerbubb]

well, i did the little cheapo filter thing and it didn't work. i did clean the little filter that's on the iac, and sure enough, i have no more humming noise. thanks!