Dug into it last night. First tried starting just to check and it died as before. Pulled IAC off (mine looked a bit different that the pic-does not have the black cap with the felt filter thingy). Did not look very dirty inside the module to me. Seemed like a very, very light coating of black stuff - no clumps of gunk visible through the little ports. Realized it was two parts and took the two screws out to take the solenoid/plug half off.
Then I could see in a bit better and push the plunger. Found the plunger to have some resistance - not difficult to depress with my thumb, though and did not feel like it was sticking.
First used electric cleaner, as I'd seen that recomended for the IAC in another thread and hadn't seen the recent advice here. That seemed to do nothing, so I then used brake cleaner. Was a bit worried using brake cleaner, since the plunger felt like it might have a rubber diaphram or rubber parts hidden from my view, but I did it anyway. I was carefull not to get it on the solenoid half, as that clearly had a hard rubber or plastic insert/sleeve inside - used just a bit of electric cleaner on that half. Cleaned the half with the ports and plunger very thouroughly, actuated the plunger repeatedly while full of brake cleaner. Let it dry well, put it back together and back on (the holes it attaches to seemed gunk-free, so I didn't mess with them.)The gasket looked fine and the electric plug connections looked very good. I did notice a red marker stripe on the unit, so I am assuming it came from a junkyard.
Then, when I went to start it, it did the same dying thing. Argh! I started again and, as it was about to die, held the gas pedal down and let it warm up. Let it run for about a half hour while I pulled the bezel off my 4x4 shifter to investigate my other problem (slips into neutral from 4-high - has no neutral lug in the plate to prevent this). Then turned it off and started again and that time it started and stayed idling.
So, I figured the cleaning had not cured the problem and wasn't sure about next steps, as I really would like to use it this Sunday for a snowboarding event.
Figured I'd warm it up and try driving it to work today and maybe take it by my mechanic at lunch. Surprise! For the first time since last Thursday, it started right up and idled perfectly with no gas pedal.
***Editing again, 21 days later, to say I have yet to get around to replacing, but have had no more trouble. THANKS AGAIN!***