Should i be able to push or pull the pintle by hand in anyway? Mine I cannot budge at all either way. And my idle is screwy as hell.
Thanks, Gary

 

2 ways to take it apart. The easy way and the fun way.

The easy way is to compress the spring with one hand and unscrew the pintle with the other.

The fun way is to plug it back in to the connector out of the housing, turn the key on and ground A & B of the aldl as if setting the IAC. You'll be absolutely amazed at how far it flys when it comes all the way out. The fun part is finding it

Once you have it out clean everything up really good with carb cleaner. Maybe shoot just a tiny bit of oil in the hole too.

My IAC was basically dead, but tried cleaning it for the hell of it. Seems to work fine now most of the time.

 

Cool thanks I think I will try the easy way sounds like fun.

 

The "fun" way provided me with a couple of hours of "fun", trying to find the freakkin' spring. After moving a couple other cars and some equipment, it was in the last place I looked....

Cleaning and lightly lubricating the IAC pintle is a good idea. It only takes this much carbon and dirt to completely "kill" the IAC:



Idle Air Control Cleaning

You can remove the IAC and service it. Remove the electrical connector from the IAC. Unscrew the IAC unit from the throttle body.

You can gently rock the pintle back and forth and allow the spring to extend it until it comes apart in your hands. Clean everything with lint-free cloths and a mild solvent. Harsh solvents can affect the insulation of the stepper motor coils. It's generally the dirt and buildup on this worm shaft that causes sluggish IAC operation.

When the worm gear on the pintle shaft is clean and dry, apply one drop of clean light oil to the shaft and work the pintle back into the rack gears of the motor by the same rocking motion. It takes a while to get the pintle back into the worm gears, but you'll get it. It is important to get the pintle fully retracted into the housing so that the pintle is not forced against the gears when reinstalling the IAC unit in the throttle body.

While the IAC is out, clean the air passages in the throttle body. The orif[ce in the TB where the IAC resides is the seat that the IAC valve closes against, and it can accumulate a lot of carbon, dirt, and debris. The easy way to do this is with carburetor cleaner and a small stiff brush.

When everything is clean and dry, replace the gasket if it is damaged, apply a little anti-seize to the threads, and torque the IAC to the proper specs. (13 ft/lb for '85-'89 , 30 in/lb for 1990-on.) Proceed with setting the TPS and minimum air position.