Does anyone have any experience diagnosing a problem with the fast idle thermo valve?

My Haynes auto manual says that when the car is cold, if you push down on the plunger (can't recall exact term), you should hear air woosh out. It then says you should warm up the car so the fans kick on. At that point you should not hear any air when you push down on it. The Haynes manual says if you get air coming from it when warm, it's bad and needs to be replaced.

Well, I tested that this past weekend and even when the car was fully warm, I could hear air wooshing from it (even before pushing down on the plunger). So if the Haynes manual is right, the part needs to be replaced.

Can anyone confirm whether this is correct? I ran out of time to clean the part this weekend, so I plan to do that shortly, but am just wondering if anyone has experience with one of those going bad and if they could confirm whether the Haynes manual is correct that I actually need to replace the valve due to the sound of rushing air when the car is warm?

Thanks,
Jonathan

 

My idle was bouncing going from 1000-2000 by it self, cleaned and screwed back down mine and it fixed it. Not sure if that'll help you out but good luck.

 

yeah screw it down counter clockwise. if it still does it the seals inside are shot and need to be replace.