Idle dipping low.

[J Piroth]

For some reason, my idle has dipped down very low a few times in the past few days. It hasn't stalled yet, but it's well below 500RPM and seems close. It's happened right after startup when I was still in park and it's happened when I was stopped at a light twice.



I just replaced my battery on Monday, so is there any chance that has something to do with it? Any ideas on how to fix the issue?



Right now, it's just odd, but I don't want it to get to the point where I'm stalling out in traffic.

 

[Bill Ellis]

Might want to clean the IAC valve. There is a project here detailing how to do that. Low/fluctuating idle is a common symptom of a dirty IAC.

 

[Chris Youakim]

Could be a number of things, My ranger was doing the same thing. Turned out to be really dirty spark plugs. but i would also check the air and fuel filters to make sure they're not clogged.

 

[J Piroth]

Air filter is only 2K miles old. Fuel filter is older, but only about 15k miles on it so I don't think it would be clogged.



I've never cleaned the IAC, and the project seems fairly easy, so I may do that this weekend. Bill-E, am I alright just using 5W30 for the 1-2 drops of oil the project asks for, or is there a specific type of oil I need to use?