Ford Ranger hard to start

I have a 4-cylinder, manual 1996 Ford Ranger. I sometimes have to keep my foot on the accelerator to get it to start and keep running. After getting it started, it putters noticeably when I put it in neutral or come to a stop, almost like the engine is trying to die. After a few minutes of driving, though, I hear a click come from under the hood and the engine revs up to full power. In fact, it often keeps a very high rev and a fast idle. Turning the truck quickly off and on fixes this, though. Once I work through these problems, it starts and runs perfectly until I let the engine get cold again. These problems are intermittent during warm weather, but pretty much constant during cold weather. Any ideas of what my problem is? Thanks.

The problem might with the Idle Air Control motor. This is what controls the engine idle under all conditions.

A quick way to determine if the problem is with the IAC motor is, while the engine is idling normally tap on the IAC motor with the handle of a screwdriver. If the engine idle speed changes replace the IAC motor.

Tester

I’ll have to get out my Haynes manual and locate the IAC motor to give that a try. Do you have a guess as to how expensive a repair that might be? Thanks so much for the tip!

Just a note to say that, AFIK, Ford calls them Idle Air Control Valves. My guess is that a new one will cost less than $100. You could take it off and clean it with throttle body cleaner. It might work.