So, I am an ***, came home late one night, left dome and cargo light on all night. Came out the next morning and truck obviously wouldn't start. I hooked one of my other cars to it and let it "charge up" a little, and every since then whether it is hooked up to another car or not, I have to keep the giving it gas to keep it going. It is really weird since, it will start itself no problem, but will not keep running even after an hour drive, if you stop and don't give it throttle at the same time it dies. Or you stop to put it in reverse, I have to keep one foot on the gas and the other on the brake. What gives, if it were the battery wouldn't it just not hold a charge?

 

It takes a while after the battery has been replaced or has gone dead for the PCM to reset itself. Give it some more time. But I have to say that it sounds like the IAC is questionable.

 

IAC is probably on it's way out.
If you feather the throttle and keep the RPM around 500 you will force a quicker relearn of the IAC.
Mine does this too if the batt goes dead.

 

there is a simpler answer: bench test the battery
When i put the sound system in my truck, I didnt realize how much juice was being pulled to. Ran the batt down pretty quick. charged the batt back and the truck did the same thing. bought a new battery for it and never did it again

 

Well, from the sounds of these responses as well as the responses to my idle rpm speed question I am not too worried, however, I don't know what an IAC is, I am guessing the computer? If so what do those run?

 

This happened to me a few weeks ago. After you "charge" the battery lay on the gas and slowly let off, do this a few times until you feel it is able to hold a charge. Unfortunately i couldn't get mine to hold a charge so i had to go buy a new battery and put it in in my driveway. Also, after you put in the new battery you need to lay on the gas and slowly let off it again so that the computer can re-learn itself. It should only take about 10-20 miles of driving for the computer to re-learn everything.

 

a lot of questions come up like this where "my battery went dead and now it won't run right". i don't know why, but it seems like if the battery voltage is the least bit low, something about the IAC and the computer interaction is just messed up. the strange part is that if the battery goes dead, that should simply reset the PCM back to its default values, which should run very normal. maybe not optimized, but normal.

if you've got a battery charge, try charging it up and see if it helps.

 

the IAC is a good possibility, but the bttery not being charged shoudl and does not have anything to do with the vehicle running, the battey is only there to first turn the starter, in any vehicle, you can start it up, and disconnect the battery terminals, and the vehicle should run perfectly fine. if the alternator is working correctly. you may not have radio or ciggeratte lighters but it will still run. but yea, about 10 to 20 miles and it shoudl be fully charged. if not, check your belt and pullies, and then you alternator. mine was doing something like this about 4 days ago and it was my idler pully went, so the belt as not tight enough, wouldnt charge the battery

 

Idle Air Control (IAC) is a sensor/valve on the back of the throttle body. It is not the computer, although it does talk to the computer occasionally.

They usually run about $50 or so if I recall correctly from previous threads. Make sure you get a good one, from the dealer maybe, as there are several junk brands out there that seem to last only a short time (sometimes only a few days) before they go bad again.

 

I will check all this today, hopefully I will be good with out a trip to the parts store, but we will see. Ya'll take care!