The problem is that the car picks up idle speed on its own and can go to 2500
RPM on its own, although it seems to do it in hot weather , when I am at a stop light or in bumper to bumper traffic. When I start to move it goes down to normal.

 

manula or auto trans..... what year????

 

Sorry, i forgot to mention that it is 2000 Pretege with manual transmission

 

I could be all wet on this one, but if it were mine I'd be looking at the throttle position sensor/switch.
Ihave been toldthat was a fairly common problem on the 626's when they got some mileage on them. The Protos use the same setup as far as I know.

 

Mine (2000 Protege DX 1.6l, manual) idles low and rough much of the time, and a couple times has surged momentarily. Is yours the same, or doing something else?

I've been working on the air intake system, thinking it's either MAF, EGR valve, or IAC valve. I've cleaned the MAF and EGR valve, with some improvement but too early to say if the surging problem is gone. IAC valve appears to be a much bigger job to clean.

 

i would check the TPS and the vacuum lines. i always had this problem when i was losing vac pressure

 

Good suggestion. i hadn't even thought about the vacuum lines, but certainly a possibility.

 

Here is simple test that no one has mentioned yet. Start with it in idle with all accesories off. Then turn on the blower, then the headlights, then directionals. If the idle changes significantly, get the output power of the generator checked.