Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting idle dips and almost stalls but then comes back up

ok let me preface this by saying that I don't have much automobile knowledge. (this will probably become apparent soon enough.)

well here's the problem: I have five speed 96 Contour. For the last couple of months there has been some kind of squeaky belt. When I was at the dealership getting a headlight replaced I had them check it out but they said there was no real problem and the belt wasn't in danger of fraying or whatever happens to a belt (again, I don't know cars).

Well after driving the car for a while Saturday night I arrived back in my driveway and as the car returned to idle the RPMs dipped to about 500 and the car nearly stalled before they spiked back to about 1000 and fell again.

The next morning the same thing was still occurring. I tried to let the idle reset itself but it didn't really work. The engine also sounds like it is running "unsmoothly" and a couple of times when I went to restart it, I had to punch the gas to get it going. I haven't driven the car since this all started and have been waiting for my dad to come back from a business trip (I'm 16) to go about getting anything fixed.

basically I was hoping that this is a somewhat common problem and that you guys would know what may be up.

any help is greatly appreciated.

about 110k mile on it, by the way.

i have a 96 zetec(4 cyl.) mtx too with over 120k and mine does the same thing. it could be your idle air control valve (IAC) needing to be cleaned or replaced, expensive from ford though. first however you should clean your mass air flow sensor (MAF). its the first sensor after your air filter in your intake tract. unplug it and unscrew the worm gear clamps to release the entire metal cylindrical section. once you get it out if you look inside you can see the two thin wire sensors extending into the smaller interior metal sampling tube. spray them with residue free electrical connection cleaner until they no longer look black and dirty. should have a thin metal wire look to them. reinstall, plug it in and crank her up and see if that helps. dont forget to disconnect you negative battery cable before you do this and reconnect it when your done. this is always good practice when working on electrical portions of your car and will allow your computer to reset and adjust to the now clean maf.

I concur that it is most likey a dirty IAC. Try cleaning the IAC and the throttle body.