98 dakota 3.9L

truck had been sitting for a about a day. friday evening (when it was so cold out) i started it up to warm up a little while i was loading my stuff in to go to goldsboro. it cranked, started, and idled as usual. idled for a few minutes. i drove from my apt near the mckimmon center to the gas station by the farmer's market. filled it up with gas. it started, but immediately died. wouldn't idle, ran fine if i kept it revved up. i tried it a few times and it would never idle. i got it on 440 w/ two feet, got it up to about 65 for a couple mins before i hit stop and go traffic. it idled fine whenever i stopped from there to goldsboro.

saturday morning it started and idled fine. i drove a few miles and shut it off when i arrived. it sat for about 10 mins. when i started it back up, it wouldn't idle again. i was moving it to load up some furniture, so i got it where i wanted it w/ 2 feet again. only moved it about 30 ft. got it backed up to the door and put it in park and it idled normal. ran fine back home and the rest of the day, including after sitting for about 2 hrs.

it's never thrown any codes. i guess i'm gonna check the IAC valve resistances. any other ideas? TPS maybe?

[Edited on January 18, 2009 at 12:54 AM. Reason : no codes during this ordeal, i mean]

1/18/2009 12:53:33 AM

no guesses? random speculation is welcome

1/18/2009 6:45:14 PM

you didn't by any chance overfill it did you and get gas in the evap system?

could also be shitty gas, or water in the gas

1/18/2009 8:57:53 PM

i doubt it. i let it go until the thing clicked off and then put about $.30 more in it. would that explain it doing the same thing again the next day?

how does water in the gas make it not idle? would it also run rough when i had it revved up?

1/18/2009 9:03:09 PM

IAC valve is $42. don't wanna just throw parts at it, but it's hard to diagnose when it's intermittent.

1/19/2009 12:34:33 AM

did it yesterday. drove from rhyne's gate to the food lion on western. when i got back to rhyne's gate and went to park the truck, it wouldn't idle.

it's only happening after i drive a short distance. never upon the initial startup after sitting for a long time.

1/21/2009 12:32:42 PM