That's what I thought you were talking about . As I recall, having looked at prices for that a while back, those don't come too cheap. But I suppose they could be worse.

 

Of course I'll have to diagnose the issue first. Thank you very much for your detailed explanation. You have all been very helpful! I'll keep you posted on the developments of this issue when I have had a chance to fiddle with things.

Sorry, I forgot to post after figuring out the problem. This was quite stupid really, so read on for a good laugh/rolling of the eyes .

 

Since my wife has been driving the car a little more lately, I don't always catch this kinds of things right away. I didn't actually know about the idle problem until a few weeks after it started.

 

When I finally got a chance to inspect the above mentioned components, I noticed that the connector that goes to the sensor on top of the AAV (pictured above) was just plain old disconnected. I don't know how this happened, or why I didn't notice it sooner.

 

I suspect that the last time I had the mechanic work on it he must have fogotten to reconnect it or something, becuase I think it started to happen at about that time. I just never put the two together. So I cleaned the connections off, plugged it back in, and voila! Problem solved.

 

Sigh...all that worrying and commotion of such a stupid thing....

A 3/8" socket extension fits in the fuel line like a glove. Just shove one in the line quickly when you pull it, Then pull it out and put the line back when done.

Easier than a clamp and won't damage the line.

From my previous experience, the second you remove the fuel line, gas starts spraying everywhere. So trying to plug that line would result in getting gas all over the place no matter how fast I am at it. That's kind of what I was trying to avoid .