This past week when I went to leave work my jeep would not start. It would turn over once, and then die…but if I kept my foot on the gas and kept the RPM’s up it stayed running. So, I drove it home with one foot on the gas and one on the brake so it wouldn’t stall out on the road. The next 2 days the same thing happened when I went to leave work. It starts fine the rest of the time, even first thing in the morning when it’s cold…Any thoughts???
If a car stalls except with your foot on the gas then there is a good chance that you have a problem with your idle air control (IAC) valve. The “gas” pedal is really an “air” pedal - its opening the throttle plate to let more air into the engine. The computer is doing the gas.
The IAC sits on the throttle body and when your foot is off the “gas” it allows the amount of air through that the engine needs to keep running. By giving it some throttle to keep it running you are now letting the “idle air” through.
So someone needs to check out the IAC valve. Don’t just assume that you need a new valve, though that is a distinct possibility.