Gen 1 Intermittent StartUp problem

[PTSOLARA]

My 1999 Solara is getting older now. In the past year, i have these intermittent problems during cold/warm start of the car. It is hard to reproduce the issue to my mechanic since it only happens a few times in a week. Of course it usually doesn't happen when i am in the shop. It happens to my friend's 1997 Camry V6 too.

The issue:
Sometimes, after starting the car, the car will drop below the normal idle and stalls. If i start the car again, it will stall again.

The temporay solution:
The only way to get out of this issue is to keep my foot on the gas pedal. After about 20 seconds or so, the car will idle normally and i can drive away. It worked everytime and i have not need to call a tow truck so far.

I need a permanent solution if anyone knows any. (Idler problem? dirty throttle head?)

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

Clean your throttle body.

[Gregtrd]

Clean your throttle body.

i agree with jai jai blinks, when your car does that again and stalls, before starting it again floor the pedal and then start the car, you'll see it wont do it again. that happen to my car and my dads v6 camry. just clean your throtle body.

[shocar4]

yep clean your tb and your iac and that should all clear up!

[bassthrive]

anyone ever clean their MAF sensor?

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/knowle ... d=152&c=11
http://www.midwayautosupply.com/detaile ... .asp?19596

[PTSOLARA]

Don't want to sound dumb but how do i correctly clean the throttle body?

I have taken out my Ingen intake and cleaned the entire metallic tube and the K&N filter (as well as the throttle side by sticking in a cleaning cloth).

What else am i missing at this point?

[bassthrive]

how do i correctly clean the throttle body?

http://www.solaraguy.org/viewtopic.php?t=9553

[Ian]

That happened to me several years ago. Replace the idler valve.

[Sleeper]

Dude, that just happened to me like 2 hrs ago, and its never happened to me before. I turned on the car and then its low idled and died, and did the whole process once more. So then I gased it and it started up fine. Grr. I guess i need to clean my TB according to you guys...

[Down2TheC]

Not to be a splitter... but I'd change the fuel filter next since it's cheapest and easiest. (Assuming it's not really new). Usually a filter will cause the same stall or stutter at the stop lights, but this could be the first sign.

[PTSOLARA]

One of my friend who owns a 98 ES300 with 90K mi just confirmed that he also run into this issue (though very infrequently). It happens mostly on older 1MZ engines. Mine started around 100K.

20K miles ago, i have let my mechanic performed the throttle body cleanup/fuel filter change. i guess it is almost time to do that again. this time i will clean the throttle body myself. i will also look at the MAF and see if it needs cleaning or not.

Would the fuel pump be the cause of this problem? i just don't want to be stranded at night on the weekend.