3.2 ATX stalls below 1k RPMs, Starting issues as well

[Rubix]

I am really hating the fact I have to make a thread, you might have noticed I don't like to do this...
Here is a story, please help me fix my idle and starting problem, I want to drive this car again!!! I've tried a lot of things. I've searched and read 100+ threads. My car used to operate fine. Then it started a thing where the RPMs would consistently bounce from around 500-1500 over and over if I was coasting at low speeds (maybe >30 MPH). I figured, whatever, no big deal it's probably the IAC and I'll clean it out when I do a lower 60k in the coming months. Fast forward to now. I have completed the lower 60k, cleaned EVERYTHING, reinstalled and reassembled everything.
Problem:
The first time I started it, the car fired right up and idled for a few minutes. This was a rough idle, I'll tell ya what. I noticed a hissing from the top of the engine. I realized I didn't replace the the vacuum hose from the FPR to the plenum. At that point I put the hose on and the car died. So I did some trial and error and the car ran better without the hose, but still wouldn't start or idle correctly. So I have replaced the FPR. Same deal, car will not start unless I work/pump the throttle and will only continue to run if I keep it above 1k RPMs. I have tried starting and letting the car run without various sensors to try to figure out if one is bad. I have tried unplugging the IAC, TPS, MAF, CPS, CID, and who knows what else. All same results, same problem.
I have checked my grounds - engine strap, little wire from negative battery terminal, DIS. Regarding the engine strap - you don't need the intake to block bracket right? I just have its bolt in the plenum with the ground strap bolted on.
I have checked my battery. It's fine. I have checked my fuel pressure, fine, and I can hear the fuel pump priming just fine. I replaced the spark plugs with Motorcrafts (what else?!) in fall '08 and there's nothing in the wells. The wires are installed and routed correctly.

Now, solutions...
I've thought of a few things which COULD be affecting me here... the CID gap. If the gap wasn't right would these symptoms occur? Dirty MAF, would it cause these symptoms? Bad CPS, would it cause these symptoms even though no conditions changed when I unplugged it? Bad gas, there's only about less than 4 gallons of 93 octane in the tank from about November or December 2009, would that cause these symptoms? Vacuum leak, I'm sure it could cause these symptoms but how could I find it if I can't keep the car running without my foot on the pedal? Reset the car's idle, I can't properly reset it if the car won't start and idle in the first place.

Before you ask if I've checked codes, the answer is YES several times. Always simply get 111, which as we know is all tests are fine.

HELP please!

 

[St Louis SHO]

Ive had a junk MAF cause this before on a 95 ATX. Also, I've had a bad PCM on one. To me, though it sounds like a nasty vacuum leak. Take a piece of small vacuum hose and stick it on the idle screw so it will start and run so you can poke and prod under the hood while looking for a vacuum leak and report back.

 

[Wakeboy1337]

have you tried resetting the computer aswell?

 

[rubydist]

What I think has happened is that the pcm 'learned' the idle w/ the vacuum leak, so it has the iac completely closed at idle start-up, which means it won't run now that you have corrected the vacuum leak.

What I would do is disconnect the battery for at least an hour, to be sure that the kam is discharged. (yes, I know you are supposed to be able to do that w/ a couple of minutes disconnect of the battery and stepping on the brake pedal, but that does not work on my red 94 - it just takes 2 hours of the battery disconnected....) then, make sure all the vacuum lines are in place correctly, and restart the car so it re-learns the idle.

btw, the way you know if the kam has been discharged or not is that if you reconnect the battery and the radio is still on the station you had it on, the kam has not been discharged. if it is discharged, the radio will come on some am station, I don't recall the number off the top of my head.

 

[Rubix]

I'll look into it. For what it's worth, before starting it the other night the battery was out of the car and in my shed for about 4 months. Guess I'll disconnect it over night and try again tomorrow, at which point I'm expecting (because I'm being pessimistic) to be trying to find vacuum leaks with your method James.

Keep the ideas coming though, thanks for responses thus far

 

[hawkeye18]

You said you cleaned the IAC.

Did you replace it?

IACs can go bad in ways cleaning them can't fix.

 

[jmpSHO]

x2 on replacing the IAC, I never had much luck with cleaning them. Same with cleaning the MAF, it doesn't always fix the problem, sometimes they need to be replaced.

 

[SeanMc]

Check fuel pressure as well. I just had an issue where air was getting into the fuel lines, causing CPS, IAC, MAF, DIS, bad spark plug wire, coil pack, fuel pump issues....without any codes. After replacing all this, I found that the hard line that comes out of the fuel pump "hat" was broken, and sucking in air.