Need some advice on a problem
 

Hello, my girlfriend has a 96 Honda Accord. She just started back at college so she needs her car to get to school every day.

When her car is at idle the engine is surging or sputtering. So much that at time I think its going to die. The engine seems to surge much more while in gear than in park or neutral. If you throttle up the surging/sputtering goes completely away. Other than this the car seems to run great.

I took the EGR valve and fuel rail off yesterday so I could clean the EGR and passages. They were not really carboned up but did have some. Put everything back together and the car seemed to run perfect for 20 mins or so. This morning when she left to school the problem came back. Does not seem to always do this.

If you can give me some ideas to look for Ill get on it right away. BTW the engine is the 2.2 L 4 cyl.

Thanks for the help.
Garrett

Re: Need some advice on a problem
 

A bad vehicle speed sensor will give you symptoms similar to what you described. However, I would pull the trouble codes before I would replace anything. If it is a bad VSS sensor it will throw code 17.

Re: Need some advice on a problem
 

Check out the DIY for cleaning the IACV in the FAQ's. A surging idle is a very common thing with the 5th gen Accords.

Don't bother fooling with the FITV adjustment until after you clean up the IAC and throttle body first.

Here is the link;
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-accord-1990-2002-2/cleaning-iacv-fitv-tb-1844067/

Re: Need some advice on a problem
 

she's cheating on you.....

wait, sorry, just came from GD&D....

are you getting any CELs? have any vacuum leaks?

so far good advice has been given

Re: Need some advice on a problem
 

Try out what the Ghost said. I had the same problem and it ended up being the FITV, but clean up the IACV fwith carb cleaner first.

Re: Need some advice on a problem
 

i am still working on figuring out exactly what is causing my surging idle, but just to let you know it is pretty common for it to quit surging after you do something to try to fix it and start again shortly after. everything i have tried has stopped the surging for between half an hour and 1 day and then it comes back.

BTW all advice that has been given has been good.

Re: Need some advice on a problem
 

Thank you very much for the advice! Might take me a day or two until I can get to it as I work 24hr shifts and she is in school and also working as well. But I will clean the IAC first and see what the out come is. Ill defiantly keep everyone informed on what I find out.

I have not checked for any codes. My friend has a code reader but is out of town. The check engine light is not on but that does not always tell everything :) Vacuum leaks I have not found any, but they are always hard to run down.
Garrett

Re: Need some advice on a problem
 

OK so tonight I took the IAC, throttle body, and FITV apart and cleaned them. The IAC screen was pretty dirty with carbon so I flushed it with carb cleaner and blew it out several time till it was clean. I then looked at the FITV and screwed the white disk in till it stopped. The disk was about 3 1/4 turn out. Cleaned the throttle body really good with carb cleaner and then put everything back together. I let the car idle for about 8 mins to let the ecu reprogram for idle but then the idle went very low. So low the engine was shaking and if you even turned the steering wheel the engine would die because of the extra load put on the engine. I drove it around for a few miles but at every stop the engine would try to die. So I came home too the FITV apart again and unscrew the white disk about 2 turns. The idle came back to normal but then my original problem of the engine stumbling was still present.

Its really weird because the engine could be running perfectly smooth and then all of a sudden you just get these quick little stumbles and you can see the rpms drop really quick then come back

So here I am looking for some more advice. I really appreciate what advice you have given me so far. Ill keep reading as well to see if I can find anything else.

Garrett

Re: Need some advice on a problem
 

So now try adjusting the FITV back 1 1/4 turns. Then you should be able to fix the low idle by opening the idle adjusting crew on the throttle body.