1991 Ford Taurus idling

Could be the idle air control solenoid or the idle speed control solenoid

First eliminate all vacuum or air leaks in the system. You may have a bad IAC ( idle air control) but try cleaning the throttle body first. Remove the intake snorkel, have someone hold the throttle wide open for you and scrub the back side of the throttle plate and surrounding bore with an old tooth brush and some carb cleaner. Be sure to spray some into the small holes next to the throttle plate. That should help stabilize the idle. If it still has a problem, replace the IAC.

thanks so far guys, still cant get the car to idle from start.it will die unless I hold my foot on the gas,and this is fuel injected.
is ther a simple and fool proof way to test the iac without a multi meter,I haven't worked on any newer cars before.so im just doing what I can.

No, there is n0o way to determine if it's intermittently sticking or binding.

Is the iac the same as the idle speed sensor?If not where is it located? and is it a mechanical unit? Got to get this car working right.Running out of time and money...

There is no idle speed sensor. IAC is idle air control and it controls idle speed on instructions from the computer.

is it possible I got a bad one when I replaced it? it seems im getting a lot of new parts that are bad lately.will try reset the throttle stop and then replace the iac. hope this works.

NO! DO NOT TOUGH THE THROTTLE STOP.

sorry,its me again.
both my helpers are tired of working on this car,the idle problem is getting worse it takes longer now for the idle to keep the car running.Its dying when I stop at a store, it does usually start right up but it takes longer now to keep running.we uprd the base idle and that doesn't enven start workin for some time. I've put all my savings into this car and just getting so frustrared.still looking foe the key. I have replaced the ecc,tps,aic and the main two wire temp sensoralso the egr sensor and the o2 sensor, still hasn't changed the base problem.

You're just creating more problems now. I advised you not to touch that idle stop. You need to take it to a competent shop for diagnosis.

I haven't moved the throttle stop.will take it to free scanner tomorrow.
very frustrating.

I took the car to a competent shop before this problem continued they said the scan showed confusing codes then we replaced the ecc, at that point I ran out of money,that was 500 dollars.

a ecc unit is 150 dollars, that's what they replaced last time,I also replaced the iac and various other sensors,the only main sensor I haven't replaced is the sensor on the transmission,it has a axod-e unit.

sorry,i didn't mean throttle stop,we changed the base idle in order to keep it running

The base idle is not adjustable. The only thing adjustable is the throttle stop and that should never be touched.

I will have my friend fix that tomorrow,we were apparently misled by some of the people we talked too,i was told to set it back to original and reset the ecc is this correct?

set the idle stopback like you said,dont ave a tah..sorry to upset you.

Once that setting is disturbed, there is an entire procedure to set it correctly and if you're already having an idle problem, you won't be able to adjust it correctly so now you have 2 issues and I can't tell you which one is causing your problem any more.

its all right, went around to all the stores offering free code readings and none had a reader that would work on a 91, has an external plug.,will keep trying until I can do better carwise.

the original problem is the same,wont idle cold and bad fuel mileage.set the throttle stop back to as close to what the book says as we could,it does idle smoother once warm, I replaced The IAC, still same problem.
the reason im working on this car so hard is its all I have to make trips to VA and to take friend to Riverbend Hospittal.I cant afford another one .

Did you do everything I advised in my first response? That's about all I can tell you without seeing the car.

I understand,another friend is going to check for air or vacuum leaks,will clean and or replace iac when I can.thanks for your help.