2001 Buick Century -- High Idle Then Stall on Cold Start

When starting the vehicle with either the remote start or the key, the engine revs up and then down several times before idling so low that the vehicle stalls. If I am in the car, I can give the engine some gas during the low idle to keep it running, and once the car is warm, the issue goes away, and the car drives with no problems. Any thoughts on what this could be?

Idle air control valve is bad. It is in the throttle body and the little electric stepper motor inside opens and closes a valve to let air in to maintain idle. Cheap to replace.

1 Like

Thanks for the response! That was my thought after some research, but wanted to get some confirmation from the community. I am new to the self maintenance of vehicles and don’t quite have the confidence to just ‘do’ yet

This is a pretty easy first DIY project. Be careful not to break the electrical connector and don’t let dirt get into the opening. This is a cheap and easy first repair.

If you are going to do this again, buy a code reader. There are a number that run on smartphones or iPads or Android tablets with wireless connections to the car. I like Torque Pro for android, myself.