Help, my 99 318 automatic had a weird problem this morning. When I go to start it (cold start @ 5:00am), it will crank and start but would immediately die. Crank it again and it will fire up but then die quickly. If I crank it and give it gas and it will stay running, but once I let off the gas, it shuts off. No CEL.

So I two feet drive it (brake and gas) to get her going. About 10 Km of this until I get to the highway and I gun it there. Drives fine, no CEL. After my 50 Km journey, exit from highway, stop at lights and she idles just fine.

Leave it parked for the day at work, start her up going home, and everything is fine.

What happened here? How come it wouldn't idle in the morning without me holding the gas pedal?

Thanks anyone.

 

Thats a battery issue. Your battery isn't putting out enough juice to make the IAC sensor work correctly. Try cleaning the battery terminals, that's what fixed my truck. Or maybe you just need to get a new battery/altenator, but I would try just cleaning it first.

If it happens again just put it in neutral and keep it at 2500rpm until it will idle on it's own when you let off the gas. Good luck.

 

This happens everytime i let my truck sit for a week or two and the battery dies. the maf or asd (which ever these have) clears itself if the battery dies, then it has to reset itself. When i put my pacesetters on my truck it did this too

 

CSXfan is right on. Clean the terminals, check all the ground wires. If that does not work, try trickle charging the battery all nite and see how it acts in the morning. If it's fine, take the battery and alternator to AZ or where ever and have them checked. Just make sure the battery is fully charged before you bring it in. If those things check out, the voltage regulator may be the problem. Which is a bummer because it is an integral part of the PCM.

 

One person told me it could be the temperature sensor, saying that the "choke" is stuck.

Another person told me it could be the idle air controller.

Don't know, everything is running fine now...

 

You can remove the TB and clean it and all the sensors connected to it. Look in the FAQ section for DIY's.

 

i think everyone needs a spare IAS and TPS. when the sob won't idle i just change them both to see if it fixes the problem or not.