My dodge 360 eng recently began loosing idle intermittantly. I changed the PCV and have done a cursory exam for vacumn leaks. It seems to have got a little better but will still die occasionally going down the road.Watching the tach it will just loose rpms when you re coming to a stop, but sometime start to loose but then jump back up to 800 or so. When the weather gets a little better I plan to do a better vacumn leak search but I dont really hear any after my initial look and it seems that the problem would not be intermittant if it had one. Any Help appreciated! 96 Dodge 360 Ram 51000 miles.

 

welcome to DF...

your problem is a common one and it is most likely your IAC motor dying or in need of a good cleaning. I suggest taking off the TB and giving it a good cleaning, yank off the IAC motor on the back of it and clean the valve & the seat. IIRC, there is a small hole in the area that also needs to be cleaned out. while you have it off, take a flashlight & mirror and look at the bottom of the intake. your looking for any oil pooling on the bottom. a film is normal, pooling is not. you will need to look at all 4 corners to be sure. if you have pooling, your plenum gasket is leaking. there is a thread on it linked in the DIY thread at the top of the forum.

 

Thanks for help! I should have figured smog stuff(kind of did, really). My hobby involves 60's Pontiac engines so dont have to worry about smog there too much anyway. Thanks, Ill let you know the out come.

Bill

 

I hate smog stuff... and happy my 5.9 runs on diesel

 

Cleaned the IAC --things worked OK for about----10 minutes. Drove it around like that for several days, then broke down and purchased a new IAC valve. Put the valve on today and everything seems fine. Thanks again for putting me on to the right track.