I just got done cleaning the IAC valve and was wondering should there be some movement in the plunger? Mine would not move at all.

No, not really. It is somewhat adjustable though as the shaft is threaded.

it moves.. just is fairly hard to move by hand.. I have found mine will move only with a lot of pressure..


-justin

We swapped one of these out at our MN meet here the other day. One had a little play in it and the other had almost none. They should be fairly stiff but slight movement wouldn't concern me.

would a faulty IAC valve throw a code? I cleaned mine and made no difference as to the poor performance of the car.

The one we replaced was faulty, and I don't beleive it threw any codes. Does your car run ok at higher RPM'*?

if you can.. try as hard as you can to pull the thing ALL the way out.. this should make the car idle really high [mine is 2k when I do that, actually when cold it is always that.. I think I should stop resetting the ecu, shouldn't I?] and then the ECU will slowly adjust.. just give it a minute or two before putting it in gear or revving it. Just let it sit.. if the rpm is still at the same rpm as before, then there is a problem, either with the IAC itself, or with the wiring.


-justin

It starts ok, but it won't idle well at all. Tries to keep killing itself. If I give it gas it revs up but sounds real throaty (like a v-8 with). Cleaned it but it had no effect on the problem. Leaning towards a bad IAC

How much are the IAC valves (90 se) and if this is the problem will it be fixed as soon as the new one is in? Also could there be a problem with the plug wires?

With my case, and I think many others, it wasn't so much the IAC valve being filthy it was the "hole" that the IAC goes into. You may want to consider removing the whole TB, removing the three sensors (IAC, TPS and MAF) and get the TB complete clean.

The last time I priced an IAC it was $55 from Advance Auto.

I tried to clean mine without removing the TB and it was OK but much better after I it was removed and cleaned;



Pic shows IAC opening as clean as I could get it without removal. The inside was still filthy.