Car stalls in park or neutral

[WJS02]

Hi all, I have a 2002 zx3. Almost every time I start it, I have to put it into reverse as quickly as possible to keep it from stalling. Sometime it'll also stall when going from reverse to drive. It doesn't stall if I keep revving the engine in park, and once it's in drive it runs great. The car idles fine, except if I turn the A/C on, then it idles rough and feels like it'll die, although it never has, don't know if there's any relation.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm a total car noob, so go easy on me!

[Sponsor]

[whynotthinkwhynot]

That is probably the idle air control valve, seen on this forum abbreviated as IACV or IAC. It might be exacerbated by a bad positive crankcase ventilation valve vacuum line that has collapsed. You can check it at idle when the engine is running. I'd check that PCV line with your hand, follow it from the intake manifold to where the PCV valve is on the engine block. It typically collapses in the rubber elbows. It's not a bad idea to replace the valve with this sort of mileage either- it should be a $5 part. The PCV line you will want to get from a Ford dealer.