Idle problem

[texaslincoln]

Lately my 87 Continental occasionally seems like the idle is racing. I noticed today on the freeway that I would be going 60 and then I would take my foot off the accelerator and the car would stay at that speed...then when I pulled off the freeway the idle was really high. I restart the car and all is fine - is this a throttle problem? Any idea how to correct? Thanks!!!

[Steve Moran]

Sticky (I)dle (A)ir (C)ontrol valve?
The IAC can cause this to happen.

[pro-five-oh]

See the TECH section about cleaning the idle control valve. Also get the engine codes read (free at a parts store) because it sounds like your TPS sensor might be out of whack.

[texaslincoln]

Well I followed the directions in Tech for cleaning the idle control valve - geez was it full of sludge. Got it back on the car and have noticed a couple of things - (1) the idle seems ok although the problem was intermittent before, (2) my 1st to 2d gear shift seems really smooth again (I have no idea if this was an outcome of cleaning the ICV), and (3) my car seems much faster to downshift instead of lagging like it has always seemed too. We'll see if this continues but so far it looks promising! Am I imagining these things or would the ICV cause these issues??? THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

[pro-five-oh]

Yeah, its possible that the clogged valve caused all that. Its hard to control throttle input when shifting without it!