97 limited wont idle

[mehuddles13]

I bought a 97 Limited about a month ago & haven't had any problems. It has 217k miles on it but ran great until tonight. I was almost to a friends house & when I slowed down to turn into his neighborhood it went dead. I put it in neutral & cranked it back, put it back in drive & it tried to die again until I gave it more gas then it ran fine. I let off the gas to turn the next corner & it died again. I drove around the neighborhood to see exactly when it did it or if it would quit but every time I let off it would die but as long as I was on the throttle it was fine & drove smooth. No check engine light or any other lights come on. Anybody have any ideas? I had already planned on putting new plugs & air filter in it hopefully tomorrow if I can make time because I have no idea when they were changed last but I'm not sure that is the problem since it runs smooth otherwise. Any help is greatly appreciated.


Update:
After hanging out for several hours I decided to try to make it home in the cold. When I cranked it the first time it immediately went dead. I cranked it the second time & drove the 15 miles home & it drove as good as it always has. Maybe the fuel filter got clogged? I'll drive it some more tomorrow & see how it acts.

 

[jimlaw3]

try cleaning your throttle body,maybe the gum is choking the engine out when the truck is idling,I am a Honda tech and see this sometimes on Honda's with a lot of miles.You said you had no engine light correct?Good luck.

 

[mehuddles13]

Thanks for the input. Any recommendations on what to use? Also just pull the intake hose & clean from there (in the plenum)? Correct, no engine lights. I put new plugs & a new fuel filter in today. I had no idea when they were last changed so I figured it wouldn't hurt. Plugs were nice & tan with a little bit of crud on them but not bad. I've never personally changed a fuel filter like the one on it so I'm not sure but when I got it off and blew thru ii before I threw it away it dang sure wasn't clean gas that came out of it. What little I got to drive it today it seemed fine. Thanks again for your help.

 

[jimlaw3]

yeah, just take off the tube from the air cleaner and clean from there,open the flap with one finger and clean,don't spray too much directly into the throttle body,wet a shop rag and clean that way,be sure not to drop anything into the throttle body.They make a special throttle body spray,I work at a dealer so I'm not sure if autopart stores carry it.It may be a little hard to start afterwards just hold the gas pedal all the way down and crank.Let me know how its goes,good luck

 

[mehuddles13]

Finally got time to clean it and it wasn't quite as cold last night....so far so good. Carquest actually had the cleaner for future reference. Thanks again for the help!

 

[JeremyH]

I know that it's a bit late, but you should also clean the Idle Air Control valve. It is located on the throttle body and has a plunger than can get carbon buildup on it and cause problems.

 

[mehuddles13]

Never to late I can always go back & clean it. Thanks!

 

[jimlaw3]

Glad your problem is fixed.I just learned today that my transfer case has to be replaced.Not to happy about that,although its still under warranty,thank god.:zoom:

 

[mehuddles13]

That stinks but at least it's not out of your pocket