01 Grand Marquis won't idle

I do not know if someone can help on this. I picked up an idle control valve but I am not sure that is what the problem is. When it is cold it will not hold idle at all. When it is warm it does better but dies sometimes. No check engine light at all. I was told by one person to take of the air filter tube from the manifold and see if the butterfly valve moves at all when I try to start it. I did that and it did not. I could of course manually open the throttle and keep it running. BTW, mileage is 73000. He recommended the idle control valve but I thought I would ask here before I tried it.

That sounds exactly like the problem. Anther thing I have tried with some success is spraying injector cleaner in the hole for the idle air control valve. It gets carbon buildup on it and thats what causes it to stick.

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering if you could tell me one other thing. The idle control valve sets about 4" back from the butterfly valve that is connected to the throttle. what is the sensor or whatever it is that is attached directly to the butterfly valve that sets right at the mouth of the aluminum intake?