I have a 1996 Maxima with 135,000 miles. Normal idle used to be 600 when warm, 1,000 when cold. Lately, it has been idling near 1,000 when warm. Also, it will be idling at 600 and then slowly begin creaping up to 1,000 while I am stopped. I am worried about the wear it is causing on the breaks and transmission. I have tried revving the engine, but it just returns to 1,000.

Any suggestions?

 

Clean your throttle body AND your IACV valve. Sounds like the IACV valve may be sticky.

Also check to make sure your throttle cable isn't binding up or hanging on anything.

Make sure all your vacuume hoses are connected, a vacuume leak will cause your idle to increase as well.

 

Also if your running your ac your idle will be between 800-900 so if you have that on that could be one of the reasons.

 

Yes, this sounds like a sign of a faulty IACV. This happened to me when my Max approached 60,000 miles. Nissan replaced it under warranty, and never had problems since.

 

Thanks! As a follow-up, are these difficult for an amateur "do-it-yourselfer"? If not, any suggestions on where to go for directions on how to do this? Finally, what could I expect a Nissan dealer to charge for this?