Norac1983

Hi guys I hope you can help point me in the right direction. It's a 1991 Accord EX-R, 2.2, AT, 266,000km.*

My problem started with a slight bounce in rpm at idle. Not the typical 1000 to 2000rpm back and forth. *More like a drop from the normal 800-900 to down below the 500 mark. I also started noticing an occasional buck at around 80kmph. Over the last couple weeks it has progressed to the point it's undrivable. Here are some of the symptoms and things I've tried. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.*

Symptoms are:

1) Starts fast and smooth everytime (except 2 times it stalled in traffic)
2) Fast idle is smooth during warm up.*
3) After about 2-5 minutes it starts to miss at idle once the rpm have come down.*
4) After it's warmed up the idle bounces between 900rpm to under 500rpm.*
5) Idle stays iradic and sometimes stalls.*
6) AC turned on almost always stalls it.*
7) Turning the wheel left and right causes rpm to drop.*
8) Engine sounds and feels smooth revving it past 1500-2000rpm

Things I've tried this week:

New NGK Iridium IX plugs.*
New NGK wire set.*
New ignition coil.*
Cleaned IACV.*
Cleaned FITV*
Cleaned throttle body.*
Cleaned and sanded all ground wires and battery terminals.*
Listened for fuel pump turning on. *
Listened for working injectors.*
Bled and topped up coolant.
Tested for loose ignition switch.*
Tested for spark at the plugs.*

And some older stuff:

Cap and rotor. (1yr ago)
Fuel filter replaced. (1yr ago)
Air filter replaced. (1yr ago)
Battery replaced. (1-2yrs ago)
Radiator replaced. (1-2yrs ago)

Like I said any pointers or a general direction would be great. Thanks.*

holmesnmanny

First thing I would do is drop in another IACV and/or FITV. Make sure you screw the FITV inner wax screw all the way down. If that doesn't fix it I would clean out the egr ports.

Norac1983

I did snug down the plastic ring inside the FITV when I cleaned it. I've read the Honda bulletin on the EGR runners and lots on the web. Do you really think they could cause a sudden change in performance? I was commuting about 60km round trip every day up until a week or so ago. Now because it wants to stall due to the dips in rpm it is almost undrivable. Is there any way to rule out the EGR runners before digging into a job like that?

holmesnmanny

To see if it's certainly the problem you would warm up the car to operating temp, then open the egr valve at idle by pushing the diaphram. If the car doesn't die then the ports are clogged. However, this isn't a full proof way of ruling them out if the car dies.

You can get the IACV's at the local junk yards but people love pulling them and selling them on ebay so you can probably find one on ebay used. You don't need to buy a new one.

You could also have a vacuum leak tho. Try putting some water in a spray bottle and spray a fine mist around your intake manifold with the car on. If the car sputters you've found the leak.

poorman212

Humm.....Interesting voltage readings. Can you post those over here for everyone as well. Battery voltage drops to ~1 volt and the car dies?

Norac1983

Another thing I noticed is when I had my meter hooked up to the battery voltage was 12.8v with the car off and 14.55v when on. As I watched it there would be major spikes in voltage as the car would stall. It would be idling fine with a steady voltage and all of a sudden the voltage would drop and the engine would drop rpm and start to stall. The meter would bounce from 1v to a high of 18.6v.*

rshefland

Had a similar issue where car either wouldnt start and when it did it would eventually die down during operation and found it had a bad ignitor.... try that seemed to fix it

Norac1983

SOLVED!

I want to thank everyone who helped on this. I'm a complete NOOB and I'm red in the face for the fact I have to admit I overlooked the most basic part.

When I did my initial inspection of the cap and rotor I did not look close enough. There was line of corrosion on the bottom edge of the rotor lip. When looking from the top you could not see it but when looked at from upside down it was visible. Also after comparing a new cap to the old I was able to see that the tips inside of the old one were about half the size.

So now after cleaning the TB, IACV, FITV, and replacing the plugs, wire, cap, rotor, and coil it fired up right away. Idle went to 1600 for a couple minutes and then slowly dropped to 800 with no hesitation. Car idled and never dropped rpm. The true test for me was turning on the AC, it blipped less than 100rpm and went right back. Test drive showed night and day improvement with no hint of bucking at high speeds.

Only time will tell but in my mind it wasn't drivable yesterday and today I hit highway speeds so thanks again everyone. Now time to spend the $75 credit at the junk yard for the IACV I bought today.

poorman212

Glad you got it figured out......