themiz816

I just bought a 1998 4 cyl 2.3 L Honda Accord two days ago. I test drove it and everything went fine. Then yesterday I went for a drive on lunch and noticed it sputtering as I approached stop signs and one time it even stalled.
After a few more drives I figures two things out.
1) It doesn't act up until it gets warm it usually only does it if I hit a bunch of stop signs or lights. This is why I didn't notice anything on the test drive.
2) I drove around for a while after it was warm in 1st gear (automatic transmission) and it still had the same problem. So I would think this rules out the transmission not downshifting.

I've seen similar posts about this, but wanted to start fresh because I thought some details differed. I was thinking about first trying to clean the FITV, IACV, and the throttle bottle according to this thread, but I'm not very familiar with what these valves do.
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-1990-2002-2/cleaning-iacv-fitv-tb-1844067/

It usually has a little bit of a rough idle. Does anyone have any better ideas why the rpm would drop when braking ONLY AFTER the car is warm.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

StreetsideStig

How's the fuel pressure?

themiz816

fuel pressure is in the range when I test it. what should rpms be at idle and when cruising with foot off the gas?


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themiz816

so i went ahead and cleaned the iacv and the throttle body according the the thread above. First off, the car wouldn't start after i did this. Finally replaced the spark plugs and floored it and it took like 30 seconds to start.

Now the car surges up and down between 1500 and 2000 rpms. Its really bad. its now worse than before. what should I do now? replace the iacv. its like $230, but if thats the problem i'll do it.

jdowen2

Are you getting CEL? Codes? Check all your vacuum lines for cracks/leaks.

holmesnmanny

Sounds like oxygen sensor might be bad. First I would check for an exhaust leak.

holmesnmanny

I just seen your last post. You may have caused a vacuum leak. I hope you didn't try cleaning out the iacv with the iacv hot as that normally causes the iacv to fail.

themiz816

no codes. o2 sensor was recently replaced. where should I look for leaks? the engine was mostly cooled down. could I have somehow caused the iacv to fail anyway?


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holmesnmanny

if you only disturbed the iacv and now it has a leak then it would be best to replace it now....but u can first try to spray some carb cleaner around the intake and see if the idle changes...that would indicate a vacuum leak there.

did you replace your oxygen sensor with a Bosch ? Bosch's are known to be bad out of the box

themiz816

ok, i replaced the iacv with a new one and i'm up and running. but it seems like it tries harder to start now.

this may be an issue for another thread but i was driving around after i did this and the temp went way up. at one point while i had the engine open waiting for the car to warm up i remember noticing that one half on the radiator hose was hot and the other half was cold. IS THIS UNUSUAL? Is this enough to make you think there is poor coolant circulation and need to do the water pump?

themiz816

Also, can anyone explain the idle adjustment. Went i got to mine it was all the way tight to the clockwise direction. Is clockwise high idle or low idle? all in all i probable rotated counterclockwide 1.5 or 2 turns. maybe this could be the reason for the slow starts.

holmesnmanny

The upper hose will always get hot before the lower hose...until the thermostat opens then the lower hose will start getting hot. This takes a few minutes to happen.

You shouldn't need to adjust the idle at all...however since you mesed with it...

http://www.hondaaccordforum.com/foru...e-speed-38734/

Keep in mind that you will be adjusting base idle with the iacv connector disconnected(when you plug the iacv back in and start the car it will automatically bump up the idle to 800 or so after the car has warmed itself up, so don't worry). Then take out the "radio/backup" fuse in the engine compartment for a couple minutes or so and plug it in and when you start the car do not touch the accelerator for about 10 minutes. Let the car warm up on its own. Also keep in mind that the very first white line after 0 on the tachometer is 500 NOT 200. You should be setting base idle to about 600 rpms.

Clockwise lowers idle and counterclockwise raises it.

themiz816

the car vibrates pretty good when idle is set at 700. is there anything wrong with raising idle to avoid the vibrations?

also, the manual i was reading said to remove the evap purge solenoid elctrical connection on the firewall, not the iacv. any ideas as to the reason for the discrepancy?

so if i dont reset the ecu the car will automatically adjust back to where it was? im curious why my haynes manual doesnt tell me any of the important details

scubacamper

Does the speedometer/odometer work properly?

If the speedometer needle hops up and down, and your engine performance is lousy, you'll likely need to replace the VSS (Vehicle Speed Sensor)

themiz816

seems to work fine. every now and then it hops around when I left off the gas.


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holmesnmanny

just do it the way i suggested and see what happens...that should be how you do it

how many miles on your car ? you could just have some bad mounts

themiz816

so i have an update. the stalling problem that i thought i had fixed by replacing the iacv is now back. on my way to work this morning as i slowed to a stop the rpms slowly fell to where the car almost died. i had to give it gas to keep it going.

I do have a p1457 code, which appears to most commonly be the canister shut valve on the evap canister. But I havent read anyone with this code complain about performance. Idk anything about evap systems, but could this somehow be causing my problem???

I mentioned before that fuel pressure is fine, but i haven't ever been able to test it when the car is acting up. To recap, AFTER i kick it into drive and the engine warms up, the idle feels shaky at stop signs. And then at random times, after the car is warm, rpms will drop at stop signs.

I'm gonna try to do the evap canister shut valve today. Any suggestions are much appreciated. I'm running out of ideas and need this car fixed.

152k miles. i need to look at all of the engine mounts. The two i've been able to locate show very little sign of wear.

themiz816

update: went to autozone during aweful driving today and now i have codes 1457, p1399 and p0505

holmesnmanny

You know you need to replace that evap solenoid so you may as well replace it. The p1399 could be caused by egr valve and/or ports being clogged. It would be best to clean out the valve and the ports. Your egr valve perhaps could be sticking open, it doesn't happen much but it has happened before.

I would first replace the evap solenoid since you know you need to replace it and see what happens. Who knows... that may fix your other issues. It's up to you if you want to clean out the egr valve and ports. I would, if it was me, since it's good maintenance, especially on a car with over 150k miles.

Keep in mind that the egr system only starts working when the car is warm.

themiz816

ok UPDATE: i went ahead and replaced the evap cvs valve and i haven't seen p1457 since. I thought that fixed it and everything was running better until my wife was driving it today and it stalled out on her. I went ahead and tried to spray out the egr port a second time and this time i sprayed into the egr valve too (thinking that maybe the valve itself is sticking open and/or shut.

I went driving around and the p0505 came back on. I'm nearly positive this is just because the idle is set too high. I followed the procedure holmesnmanny mentioned but when the iacv is unplugged the car just revs at 1200ish rpms no matter what. I went ahead and closed the idle screwed all the way anyway since I know that's where it was before i messed with it. Right now, I'm waiting for the car to cool down so I can try to reset the ecu, try to start it, and see where the idle is now.

themiz816

if the car stalls on me again should i replace the egr valve. It seems to be the only thing remaining that could be the problem, right????

holmesnmanny

Ok lemme go through idle reset procedure completely. You may have a vacuum leak. You will find out when you try to set the base idle.

Warm up the car til the fans come on twice.While car is running, unplug the IACV. The idle should drop, if it does not you either have a vacuum leak or the idle screw is set too far out. I'm not sure the exact setting of yours but the average car has base idle of 600 rpms. Turn the idle adjusting screw clockwise until the rpms get to 600. Listen carefully...the very first white line after the big 0 white line is 500 rpms NOT 200 rpms. I need you to read that again. When you do, then set the idle to the very next small white line. That should be 600 rpms. Count the rest of the lines, they should go 700 800 900 then the next big white line is obviously 1000. Do this by turning the screw in clockwise. If you can not get it to 600 rpms, then you have a vacuum leak. Then you need to find the vacuum leak. If you can get it to 600 rpms, then turn the car off, pull the radio/backup fuse in the engine fuse box for about 5 minutes, put it back in. Let the car completely and totally cool down(preferably overnight). Then start it up and without touching the accelerator at all and with all accessories completely and totally off, this includes headlights....let the car warm up. This should take about 15 minutes or so.

Then it should be around 800 or so. Let us know. However, a high idle normally won't cause your car to stall so you probably got something else going on.

Also is your iacv really new or did you get it from the junkyard ?

themiz816

ok. ill take a look at the idle again tonight.

The iacv was new. $250. ouch.

themiz816

well i replaced the egr valve and reset the idle correctly. everything drove great for a whole week. Then as i was slowing down it almost stalled again. I wasn't imagining it because as i sat at the stoplight i had to keep giving it gas to keep it from shaking. I continued on and at the next stop light everything was fine. This has happened twice. It makes no sense to me why it comes and goes like this.

Chris_McCartney

My Mitsubishi Pajero (Montero for you guys in USA) had the exact same stalling problem (2.8 TD Auto) and was caused by a worn fuel pump seal. Common problem for them Mitsi's. A faulty PGM-FI relay can cause issues on Hondas with stalling, misfire and lumpy idles. Thats all I got sorry...