Idle Air Control Valve ? working

I had the IAC valve off today to clean it up as the idle spped was getting rather low. Can anyone tell me how I know if the thing is working? Switched off I am able just to rotate the “shutter” freely and it settles open a couple of MM. Conected up it doesn’t seem to move very much. It justs makes a quiet whirring noise and oscillates open and closed by about 1MM. The reason I’m suspicious is that the car doesn’t start and rev to 2000rpm for a few seconds then settle back, which it always used to do. ( I have never found I need to use any accelerator to start it ) Any ideas? Thanks, Mark

Have you also checked the idle postion screw on the throttle bodies? mine had a habit of slowly unscrewing itself and lowering the idle, when warm adjust the screw so its idling at 1250 and see what happens next time you start from cold.[This message has been edited by Phil (edited 22 February 2003).]

Thanks Phil, I will have a check, but it seems to idle at 1250 whatever!