Engine wont idle

[sliminbay]

Hello all,
I have a 3.2L stock motor with very low mileage that has been sitting in my project car for some time. I run the motor once every month to keep it going. However, last month or so, the engine has been very difficulty to start and will not idle. Only way to get the car to start is by pressing the the gas pedal half way down and keeping the RPM around 3K once it fires. If I let the pedal go, engine sputters and dies. It almost feels like cylinder is firing out of sequence, but sounds great once the RPM is up. The engine was running perfect until recent start issue. Any help with diagnosis would be of great help. Thank you.

[T77911S]

start with air leaks.
ICV. make sure it is not stuck and it works. it should vibrate.
CHT sensor
make sure plugs are not fouled. could be running on 3 cylinders.

[ischmitz]

I agree with previous poster. Make sure the basics are O.K.

However, once I saw the "sitting for long periods" injectors come to mind. On the 3.2 they have a tendency to stick shut after sitting for prolonged periods. Sometimes its all of them and sometimes just a couple. When you start and run the engine they free up and eventually the engine runs fine.

If that is the case here keep the engine running and even help the injectors by tapping on them with a screwdriver handle while the engine runs. See if that improves things.

Ingo