Ford Repair: stalling, mass airflow sensor, 2001 mercury sable

Question
QUESTION: Returning from vacation on 7-5-10, I parked my 2001 Mercury Sable GS for about an hour. When I started the car, it immediately stalled. The car restarted easily, but immediately stalled several times. I was finally able to drive the car the remaining five miles by keeping one foot on the accelerator whenever stopping. Subsequently, the car has started and iddeled fine, but I have not moved it. Any ideas as to what caused the problem, is it likely to return and cost of repairs. Thank you.

ANSWER: sticking idle motor-dirty throttle bore-weak battery (although starting fine could be low on amps)
dirty mass airflow sensor-bad cam synchronizer-weak fuel pump etc. any one of these could be the cause of your problem-yes it will return so have it checked out-there is absolutely no way to tell you the cost before it is diagnosed. good luck.

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QUESTION: Seems like there are a lot of potential issues. Anyways that an amateur could narrow them down? Also, could you give a rough estimate of what the diagnostic costs would be? I am trying to decide whether to put more money into the car or replace it. Thank you for your very prompt assistance.

Answer
the most likely thing would be dirty throttle bore and or sticking idle motor-you can clean these your self with a small brush and some cleaner-get a can of carb cleaner-a small brush about the size of a toothbrush but wooden handle so it don't break on you-i have have three toothbrush heads break off and go into intake. also fine metal bristles cut the goo better-have some one sit in car and hold throttle open while you spray some cleaner in throttle bore and scrub with the brush keep spraying and scrubbing until clean every couple of minute spin the engine over so you don't to much cleaner in one cylinder. take 8mm socket and remove idle motor and clean both holes on it
this will probably fix your problem if not there are to many possibilities for me to go through here as far as cost to check it out-depends on how deep we would have to go here it would run somewhere between 31-93 dollars. good luck.