jaycapz

Ok. NOW, im really confused. Maybe someone out there can tell me what the deal is with this f*kin car! Im losing my mind.

After I start the car, its fine. When sitting, once I get in it and drive for a mile, and come to a stop at a light lets say.... i take my foot and put it on the break, the idle drops to practically 100rpms... and hoovers just above dead basically. BUT, if I turn on the A/C (heat,etc).... the rpm's slowly readjust to about 500-600rpms. It will do this all the time, same result. Also, the lights dim, and the console lights dim, but once I hit the gas again everything re-brightens... etc. and will do this repetitively.

Also, i put in another post that my gas pedal has been UNBELIEVABLEY sticky. The peddle itself. At the throttle body it moves very smoothly (i just cleaned it a few months ago)... but at the peddle itself, its a lil sticky at where you first depress it. Dont know if this has ANYTHING to do with the whole problem...


What Ive done to try and remedy this:

1. New Cap. and rotor
2. tested battery with multimeter... sitting its at about 10V, idle its at about 13-14V.

To cold to really do much else! ALL ideas are very welcome! Im gettin really fed up with this civic. (2000 Honda Civic LX, 50K miles).

Thanks guys!

L.

When your car is at normal operating temp. what is your idle?

jaycapz

It USED to sit at the normal 600-700RPMS ... until now, where at first start of the day, once it has sat for 5-10 min's warming up, it will sit up at bout 700-1000 until i take it for its first drive of the day.

Hatchamaback

man that would suck hella bad. Maybe you got a bad short somewhere but i wouldnt know why it would deal with the brake pedal. Man that is insane, thats more annoying then a vaccuum leak. good luck to ya bro. Oh and battery reading with those volts is normal.

K I T T

Same thing happen to me, except for the sticky pedal.
But only during the night when my lights are on. Car idles really low when lights are on.
I replaced my battery terminals and solved the problem.

Check the grounds too.

edit:
Oh about the sticky gas pedal, try to lubricate the pivot points and cable. And check the spring on the pedal too, maybe its loose.

Goodluck!

HitEm'Up

You may have a bad ground to the alternator

jaycapz

I was going to check my alternator ground and power today at some point, already checked and cleaned the battery terminals... no oxidation at all.

Is there at all the possibility of a bad IACV or FITV? I never had the problem with either before, so i am not sure of the symptoms.

jaycapz

Yea, no good guys. The alternator ground and power wires are clean and secure.

Any other ideas? Like I said, I am wondering if it is a FITV or IACV issue.

But, arent these primarily used only wen the car is warming up? Also, the idle air control valve, would it cause the car to run a lil jumpy on the highway?

This is killing me.

all stock

sounds like your car warms up to normal oper temp and the idle takes a dump. try cleaning your iacv with brake cleaner.

if that doesn't work, what i did was raise the idle with the idle screw. it took the symptoms away without fixing the problem.

Sour Diesel

Sounds like an alternator problem because of the lights.

jaycapz

I doubt its the alternator, otherwise it would have gone out on me already. Its been 2 weeks, and I drive from NY to NJ everyday .... 35 miles each way for class, and the system is charging because when I drive the lights get brighter when I hit the gas.

I am very tempted to test the IACV. Where would it be on a 2000 civic LX? Is it the plug that is directly behind the throttle butterfly, sticking upward? When I disconnect that, the car almost dies immediately, but that humming noise i was hearing did go away [if I attempt to keep the car running via working the butterfly]

Archidictus

If your brakes don't stop very well in conjunction with the idle issues, you probably popped your brake booster. That's a massive vacuum leak. It happened to a buddy of mine and he didn't know what was going on, so I told him what it was and replaced it with one I had laying around. Fixed the problem right then and there .

jaycapz

That is a very interesting theory, my brakes actually feel lower since this started..... where is it located, and how can i change it? greatly appreciate it, but also... how would that cause a idle problem?

L.

Like what was said earlier try and clean the IACV. Use a small rag and spray it with brake clean. Clean inside throttle body as well (make sure no build-up in throttle body or around butterfly).

Also what other parts do you have on the motor? If you have any type of aftermarket pulleys such as altenator pulley then this would probally be the problem.
*The reason for this is the pulley is in most cases smaller than stock. To compensate you may have to adjust idle.
*How it may affect you- The engine will want to die when stopinig because of this low idel speed (most notably when arriving at a stop, or not downshifting and just using brake). Also because pulley is lighter it will drop rpm little faster then stock, causing hesitanting and dying problems.

Little more info would be great.

Andres-eh2

I believe this is an alternator issue or related. My cars' lights were dimming and the amp was shutting off, idle was getting really low, Turns out to be the alternator belt.

jaycapz

The belts are in good condition, no cracks. The tightness feels about right on the alternator belt. NOT A SQUEEL or peep at all in the past year! I have no power trouble, other than the usual poor low amperage stock alternator.

Anyway, i am gonna attempt to try and take the iacv out and clean it. Im taking a guess, but i have a D16Y7 (2000 civic), is the iacv on the top/front of the throttle body with a greenish cylinder on it and electrical plug on the left of it? Or is the it the plug just behind the throttle body with the eletrical plug facing vertically?

jaycapz

Update: I checked the IACV, I pulled the plug on it while running and the idle surged as expected. So, Im gonna assume the IACV is at least not faulty. I was going to take it out and clean it, but its in a hard to get to spot with tools. Any recommendations on taking this thing out and cleaning?

Does anybody think this could be related to a EGR valve problem? Worth looking into?

jdmhondas

get a new alternator and go from there

jaycapz

I already had the alternator tested, that was the first thing I had checked. I pulled my plugs tnite, to see if anything could be told from the plugs. The plugs are fine (they were in for 15K). Only from what I could tell they had a lil' more carbon deposits than they should for young plugs.

CooBlueDAB

ive got an auto that works most of the time, but then again, some times it does the same thing yours does.. it will stop, and it reminds me of a manual car/motorcycle/atv with a clutch, and your in a high gear, trying to go 1mph.. just chuggin as if it is trying to stop, but it just doesnt want to yet...

However, even wtih a new battery and all, and I believe my wires and grounds are solid..

So I dunno.. perhaps we both suffer some kind of vacuum leak like was mentioned?

jaycapz

Actually mine just feels more jumpy, and hesitant. It doesnt actually chugg... or the "limp home" affect. Its more just feels like its pulling back hard on stops and when I hit the gas and take it off and on again. Very pully feel.

VERY annoying!