having had several bouts of 2,000 rpm idle this winter and consequently
enjoying several bouts of idle stabilizer cleaning i was begining to wonder
if the stabilizer black box was becoming flaky, the stabilizer itself
failing, or the van owner becoming equally flaky and failing.

it is old news that a high idle rpm, particularly in cold weather is
frequently caused by gummy crud in the idle stabilizer.  cleaning is often
effective.  but mine was becoming less so.  during the last fit of cleaning
upon which i got the internals shiny clean once again, it struck me to
*rotate* the aluminum air valve one sees when one looks into the port
perpendicular to the stabilizer axis.  i gingerly used a small screwdriver
to rotate the disk (it turns one way easier than the other due to the spring
end digging in) and found a black layer of crud behind the valve that
previous applications of carb cleaner and compressed air failed to root out.
cleaning this out and lubing the plunger with some miracle oil has returned
a reasonable idle to the van.  it has been in place about a week since the
last cleaning and seen some cold weather.  it will occassionally idle fast
for a brief period but settles down far quicker than it has in the past.  a
definate improvement.

-dan