Idle air control valve: spring v springless

[thickvthin]

Hello, I have a 99 f150 that i took out the idle air control valve to see if it was stuck open slightly as i was having hot start issues. The new designs seem to have no springs in them or they are not quite like the original with the heavy duty spring as seen in the picture. I take it the spring keeps it in the open position until ecm decides to push against the spring and close the idle air valve? Does that look excessive carbon in the spring valve and the port? It is about 90k miles since last change of iac. Also I am not sure if the ecm knows what to do with the spring-less valve?

 

[thickvthin]

I ordered a new iac valve to replace old one thinking it is not functioning properly. I was having hot start issues. Once running everything was fine. The old one has a spring and new replacements do not have a spring or it is not heavy duty like the original. I find that to be concerning. How does this spring work. It keeps the valve open as default until the ecm presses the spring and valve shut?

 

[Joba27n]

From my experience, the only time the spring becomes a factor is if your truck is a manual trans. If it is then I would stay springless as I find the spring holding it wide open tends to mess with your shifting especially lower rpm shifts as the engine will idle down slower and to some degree take offs as you touch the gas and the IAC will go wide open.

I would either clean the old one with carb clean or reach into the new one with cutters and cut the spring out.