I think you have 3 problems here. 1 Bad quality idle 2 Need for a tune-up 3 Bad battery and or charging system You need to tackle them one at a time so "Divide and conquor." First the engine needs to run so charge the battery, clean all of the "big" wires and terminals get the engine started and test the charging system and battery. Next, if the car hasn't been tuned-up in a long time replace all of the usual items, spark plugs, ignition wires, cap, rotor, fuel filter, air filter, oil, oil filter,etc. This should improve the idle quality and gas mileage. If it doesn't check the timming and fuel mixture adjustment. Shorting the idle switch to ground shouldn't harm anything execpt tell if the switch is working. It may only need to be adjusted so the linkage pushes it at idle position. David Teitelbaum vin 10757 --- In dmcnews@xxxx, "Palatinus, Joe" <jopalatinus@xxxx> wrote: > My 81 auto was stallling a little bit for a while, and it would take a little while to turn over as well. It tended to stall just sitting in the driveway running. any ideas or thoughts on the subjct would be appreciated. > Thanks > Joe Palatinus > VIN 17167 6808