A poor or erratic idle can be both nerve-racking and scary.
Many people that used to pop a hood yesterday and fix the problem can get scared when popping the hood of most modern-day vehicles.
Things have definitely become more difficult than the old days in life and under the hood of your car.
Except the guts of your vehicle may not be as hard to repair and diagnose as you think.
An engine with a bad idle can be easier to find and fix when you have the right tools and the correct information.
First thing you should consider to what is meant or what is your exact symptom of your poor idle.
On most modern cars the biggest problem experienced is a loping idle.
What this means is you RPM needle will go up and down over and over again giving you the feeling that you car is going to cut off completely.
This problem is usually attributed to a bad IAC (Idle Air Control) Valve, or a bad TCS (Throttle Control Switch).
These may seem like Greek to the average person, but they are easier to diagnose and fix than you think.
An IAC simply helps to regulate the airflow going into the intake when you let off the accelerator pedal.
It has a small valve that can get filled with carbon deposits and cause the valve to stop working.
A TCS is what sends the IAC its signal to know how to operate and what position to be in.
So when it fails the other sensors are unsure on how to function.
These are a couple of items that you may consider inspecting when you are faced with a poorly idling vehicle.
Find some information specific to your problem so you feel confident when diagnosing and repairing your problem.