help please

[ms199]

Ok, so to start off I have a 1998 Camry with a 4 cylinder engine and automatic transmission. Recently it has started giving me problems including stalling out at low rpm's or after idling for a while; not being able to hold a constant idle, it jumps up to 2200 rpm's and then suddenly drops to 600 rpm's and will eventually stall out; it hesitates when I try to accelerate after being stopped at a light; a couple of times when I accelerate and then lifted off the gas the car jolted some before coasting; and I believe the last thing would be that the engine has trouble restarting when it is warm, the engine seems to flood itself when I turn it off and I have to push the gas pedal to the floor while turning over the key in order for the engine to clean itself out and start up.
I have done some recent work on the car including an oil change, new fuel filter, spark plugs and wires, and a new idle air control valve. Any help would be greatly appreciated! I am pretty mechanical and do the majority of the work myself so hit me with your ideas. Thanks again!

[doozergreengrass]

I had a very similar issue a year or so ago, which turned out to be an ECT sensor. It was telling the computer the engine was cold when it was hot and I had wild rpm fluctuations as you describe. It could be the ECT sensor, but it may also be something else. Seeing as you have a new IAC valve you can probably rule that out though....I ripped out an ECT sensor from the same engine at a junk yard and haven't had those kinds of problems since....hope this helps! Good luck.

EDIT: here's a link to my old post (1st post on TN) as you can see the symptoms are very similar....

95 5SFE odd problem

[ms199]

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll try picking up a new sensor!