My 1999 4 cyl manual transmission will just die when idling at a stop light. Normally it will happen in the morning or when I haven't driven it for a few hours like rigth after work.

I'll pull up to a light, put it in neutral, then the rpms will bottom out and stall.

Either that, or they'll dip REALLY low like 200 RPMs then they'll shoot back up to about 2000 rpms and stay there. It's really strange.

Any advice?!?!

 

I had a similar problem. My 99 camry with 125k miles stalled while idling at Traffic lights. Initially it used to happen exactly 20 minutes from the time I start the car in the morning. Once it stalled, I was able to start it immediately and so I just ignored it.

Then it started happening more freuently. Looked in the forums and zeroed in on the Coolant Temperature Sensor. Took it to the Toyota dealers and asked them about the Coolant temp sensor, that a-ho said he never heard of such a thing. he wanted to get a diagnosis done so that they can fleece some money. did not fall for that.

bought a Coolant temp sensor in Autozone for 25 and a friend helped me install it. After seeing him put it in, I could have done it myself. its an easy job. only thing is you have to drain the coolant.
after installing it, haven't seen the issue. Also the idling which used to be rough is a lot smoother.
It has been 2 days. This is an easy and inexpensive fix. Try this before anything else.