Dodge Repair: Throttle Sticking/fast idle, powertrain control module, independent shop

Question
The throttle on my 2001 Durango seems to be sticking pretty bad. When started it goes all the way up to almost 2500 rpms. In park it will "settle" at between 1700 & 2000 and sounds like I'm gunning the engine. There's no real fluctuation, it stays solid at that rpm level. In drive it stays at just over 1000 rpms and went a little over 10mph without me touching the accelerator. Thanks in advance if you have any adbice on what I might be looking at.

Answer
Hi Jim,
There are a couple of possibilities for a high idle speed. One is that the throttle plate itself is sticking slight ajar open due to crud on both sides of the plate and on the side wall of the throttle throat. So I would remove the housing that covers the throttle body and take a visual examination of those areas for cleaning with solvent.
The other possibility, if that is clean and closing tightly is that the automatic idle control 'motor' is dirty or faulty. When you check the throttle throat notice that there is a small channel on the side of the opening and that is idle air input passage way which is controlled as to the amount of air that it admits for idling by a variable opening tip that is moved electrically by the powertrain control module. That motion or the electrical control of it may be faulty. That will generally set a fault code in the memory of the pcm if that is the case.
You can try for a self-readout of the fault code using the ignition key: turn it 'on-off-on-off-on and leave on' doing that in 5 seconds or less elapsed time. Then watch the odometer window of the cluster to see if the mileage reading is replaced by a 4-digit number preceded by a P. If so let me know that number. If not, then that approach is not available and the way to seek a code it via a plug-in code reader. A nationwide auto parts store, such as Autozone, will often do that readout for free. If that is not available to you then an independent shop will usually charge around $40 for the readout.
In either case let me know the fault code number and we'll go from there. Also tell me which engine (L) you have.
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Thanks,
Roland