I have a 1997 RAV4 that lately has been having difficulty keeping the idle rpm high enough (at least 800 rpm I would say) when starting. I have looked in this forum and other places and I see that the most recommended solution is to clean the idle air controller valve and the throttle body. But given the way my RAV4 symptoms show, I suspect it may be something else. So I'll explain how it happens.
When I start the engine, sometimes (not always) the rpm go all the way down to a very low level where it struggles to keep running or it just dies unless I put my foot on the accelerator. Often it just stays between 300-500 rpm. When I turn the air conditioner on it does not increase the rpm.
After a few minutes, when the engine gets warmer, if I push on the accelerator and release it, then it stays at a higher minimum of around 1000-1200 rpm, which looks to me as the normal rpm for a motor that is still warming up. If at this point (when the right minimum rpm are being kept) I turn on the air conditioner, then it does respond and the rpm go up 100 or 200 rpm. I don't think that the rpm would go up to the correct level by just letting it sit there and idle. It happens after I press on the accelerator. But I have to let a few minutes pass, otherwise when I release the accelerator, it goes all the way down and almost stalls.
Now, if the idle air control valve had difficulty turning due to being dirty, I wonder if the malfunction wouldn't happen all the time. This problem seems to be temperature related. Even if it normalizes when the engine warms up, the other day the weather was a little colder in the morning and when I went to start it, it worked fine from the start. Maybe it was just a coincidence, I haven't tried again because now the days got warmer. If you have any ideas about this I'll appreciate your advice.