1995 Mercury Sable No start

JSHUFFMAN

MEMBER
1995 MERCURY SABLE
3.0L
V6
FWD
AUTOMATIC
70,000 MILES

My daughter's Sable won't start unless she holds the gas pedal down. Getting plenty of fuel pressure. When she releases the pedal, the car stalls. This is an OBD 1 if my memory is correct. No engine light comes on so I don't have a trouble code. Trottle position or mass air flow sensor? Witch one to start with? She has a limited budget. It had plugs and wires done a couple of months ago. Could it be IAC valve?

7 Replies

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,867 POSTS

It could be an OBD1. 1995 is when they really made the change to OBD2. Regardless, it sounds like the idle air control valve (IAC) is bad. The IAC is responsible for maintaining the engine idle speed. I would start with that and also check for engine vacuum leaks.

Let me know what you find.

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Tuesday, November 26th, 2013 AT 8:29 AM

JSHUFFMAN

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Thank you very much for the idea. I love this website! You guys are the greatest. I will keep you posted.

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Tuesday, November 26th, 2013 AT 8:42 AM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

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Glad to help. Let me know what you find.

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Tuesday, November 26th, 2013 AT 9:05 AM

JSHUFFMAN

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Ok. She put on a new IAC valve. The car still won't idle. Does the car need to be driven to reset the computer so it can "learn" that it has a new part? Also one of the wires on the connecter had a nick in it down into the copper. I told her to replace that connecter. If this does not work I told her to replace the MAF sensor next. Are we going in the right direction?

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Thursday, December 5th, 2013 AT 7:20 AM

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,867 POSTS

I'm going to suggest two things. First, make sure there are no vacuum leaks. They can cause this problem. Next, even though the check engine light is not on and this is an OBD1 system, you can still check codes.