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YACT: Idle high after starting car

IanthePez

Senior member
When I start my car it idles at about 1.6k for about 30 seconds or so and then it will go back to normal. It will also go back to normal if I give it a tiny bit of gas. What could be causing this? Someone mentioned that it could be a clogged fuel line or something similar. Any advice? Is there something cheap I can run through the car that might help? I'd prefer not to take it in because I know they'll charge me a couple hundred for some tiny thing. Thanks
 
1600 sounds kinda high but all cars will idle at higher RPMs when the engine is cold.
Also check MAF. What type of car?
 
It's a '99 Ford Taurus. It hasn't been doing this for that long so I assume something is wrong, even if only slightly wrong.
 
carb'd or fuel injection? or electronic fuel injection.. or a jet engine. a little more info would be nice ;-)

if its half modern check the warm-up regulator.
 
Negatory on the "clogged fuel line".

Does it go down to normal idle all by itself after 30 secs, or only after tapping the gas?

Hmmm..
 
It will slowly go down to normal after around 30 seconds. It's almost like something just has to work itself out 🙂 I suppose now would be a good time to say that I don't know that much about cars, which is probably why i'm asking on ATOT, hehe.
 
fast idle valve is on when you start the car cold. but, even if you tap the gas slightly when it is cold, it should still idle fast untill coolant temperature reads warming on the sensor, or at least thats how i think the fast idle works.
 
Here's waht you do first, with the ignition key removed from the ignition, disconnect the neagtive battery terminal wait ten minutes and reconnect it.
Start vehicle and drive normally until fully warmed, let vehicle cool and then check for high idle at a cold start.If this does not help, check for trouble codes first, if none are found, remove and thoroughly clean your AIS (automatic idle speed) motor.
 
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