levinz11

96 Accord. Non VTEC.

Cleaned the completely cLogged EGR ports. Put it all back together and now it won't idle. Feels down on power too. I was careful seating the injectors. Idle drops and drops till it stalls. Have to nurse it to keep it running.

Fix it till its broke right?

What do you think I buggered up? No codes.

poorman212

Check for leaks around the injectors.......did you leave them in the intake or pull them up while still in the "rail"?

levinz11

Will do. I left them in the rail. I cleaned the tips a bit with a soft rag and did nothing else.

levinz11

Just a quick update to others who find this thread.
I took the rail and injectors off again. Mind you I didn't buy new O-rings.
Cleaning the injector tips REALLY well and the rings in the manifold fixed my issue. Oh and the surging at 2000-2400 RPM is gone, too.

Cheers

levinz11

Well it started idling rough and low again today. I guess I'll change the o-rings in the manifold that injectors slide into. They are 20 years old and I don't think they're sealing tightly. I'm getting a light smell of gas.

MAD_MIKE

When reinstalling the injectors, always use a bit of non-silicone grease around the O-rings to allow them to slip into place without damage. Trying to push them in dry will cause them to roll jam and pinch.

levinz11

Mike my injectors don't have rings around the tips like some pics I see. The tips of my injectors are a rounded cone shape and slide into the seal that sits in the manifold. Does that sound right to you?

levinz11

I'm confused about which of these rings goes down into the intake manifold. Which of the bottom 2 is used or are both?

MAD_MIKE

O ring is the wrong description, mea culpa.
The one that looks like an Oil seal is the one that is pressed into the manifold(large cylindrical one). If your manifold is dirty it may be hard to see the seal. Pat #2 in the diagram.

levinz11

Right on. Headed to the garage...

poorman212

Just me but the times I have done this job I made the choice to leave the injectors in the intake.....and everytime I did this I replaced the top o-rings with new ones - yes use a light coat of clean engine oil or silicone grease on them and called it a day. To date, no issues but we each do things a bit different.

MAD_MIKE

If you can avoid silicone oils/greases that can potentially be ingested into the engine, please do.

Silicone can coat/insulate O2 sensors and render catalysts ineffective.

Synthetic sure, silicone no.

levinz11

New rings and I think the gunk in the ports clogged my cat. I used a shop vac but you can't get it all. Car just isn't making as much power and the exhaust sounds off. Kinda like a leak right behind the cat at the flex joint.

levinz11

You guys have any other suggestions?

Work performed: cleaned EGR ports and gasket. Replaced lower injector o rings. That's it.

Problems after: low rough idle. 4-500 rpm. Less power. A little bucking when at cruising speeds.

I thought it was an injector leak but they look fine and have new seals. Could this work have clogged the cat or something else.

Thanks for your help.

levinz11

Two codes 1382 (has been there for a long time and never caused an issue) 0141 for downstream o2.

poorman212

Chem lab time Mike, not going to go there....

Edit: the chemical properties of an RTV (room temp vulcanization) product with silcone is way different than a paste.

holmesnmanny

The thing that stands out to me is the fact that you wiped the injector tips. Not sure if that did any damage.

You could try doing the spark plug wire pull to try to isolate a possible bad cylinder.

If that test checks out it's possible the oxygen sensor got damaged. You can pull the connector for the oxygen sensor and see if the problem goes away.