rick78

Hello. I have found myself the owner of a 2001 CR-V with 188,000 miles. Family member offered it to us at a great price so we could "take care of the repairs ourselves". The reason she is getting rid of it is because back in July it died on the freeway. This freaked her out and she bought a brand new CRV in August.

Among the things done the past week:

1. Cooling system serviced
2. Plugs, distributor and wires replaced
3. IACV replaced
4. Throttle plate/body cleaned
5. Several vacuum hoses replaced
6. Fuel injectors cleaned

The issue is that when the car is cold it will stall or act like it is going to stall for about 5 minutes before it begins to run fine. The second day I started it up in the morning, I let the car warm up in the driveway. I went back in the house and when I returned the RPM was bouncing from 1000 to 1500 RPM. Never had a vehicle do that before.

Having to take the car back to the mechanic anyway for state inspection, I mentioned my observations. He said the up and down RPM's likely had to do with the IACV. He looked the car over again and says the spark plug wires are dated 2000 and appear to be the original wires. He recommended changing the wires, the IACV and cleaning the fuel injectors. Being still under my budget, I agreed.

I picked the CR-V up after the shop was closed and the same cold start issue. It didn't stall but felt like it was going to.

Of note: I have a folder of everything done on the CR-V. It appears back in 2004 the vehicle suffered the engine issues common with that year - An issue with the valves. Honda repaired everything at their cost according to what I'm reading.

Was wondering if anyone had any suggestions of what to do next. Should I look into valve adjustment or valve job? Any suggestions much appreciated...

OneBadTurboCRV

You need to verify the coolant system was properly bled. Then follow the procedure in the FSM to set the idle (as both must be done warm). See what happens after that... unfortunately the valves are notorious for needing adjustment and if this isn't done routine enough, it will eventually lead to burnt valves.

When the vehicle is first started and still cold, it doesn't utilize the IACV. It does a cold start enrichment process in lieu of the IACV. Older generation Hondas had a separate valve (FITV) for this instead. So definitely verify the idle is set properly as it sounds it is too low or you have other (potentially major) issues.

rick78

Thanks for the quick reply. Will check it out. Hope it is something simple...

rick78

Could you clarify regarding the IACV? The Honda manual says something to the extent that is is used to prevent the car from running bad during warm up. Are you saying the IACV kicks in a bit later? Thanks!

OneBadTurboCRV

Ok, I will further expand on what I said. When the car is cold, the IACV will be "open", to allow a higher cold idle. The ECU demands more fuel at this time as well. As the engine warms up it decreases fuel as well as lowers the idle (starts to use the IACV to regulate the air bypass = internal vacuum leak and works it way towards being closed). This is what I meant by what I said... I guess "not using it" wasn't the best phrase.

So, with what you say your problem is, I recommended what I did as first steps. These are extremely easy to do and with everything that has been done, you need to eliminate very probable variables first (let alone easy ones).

More times than not, a bouncing IACV is either the idle, dirty IACV, air pockets in the cooling system, or potentially a bad IACV. Hey, don't listen to me, follow the FSM.

EJ8_Man

Or a vacuum leak somewhere

OneBadTurboCRV

Vacuum leaks usually tend to cause a high idle not a rolling idle in my experience. Not saying it's impossible, but I would be inclined to believe it's because vacuum leaks are typically regulated (controlled) in the amount of air they they bypass.

rick78

Thanks for the additional advice. This morning I started it up and it ran fine. Drove around block and CEL came on. Took it to auto parts store and they plugged their tester in but say they "can't pull the code" and suggest I change the fuse to the cigarette lighter (huh?). Now bad weather and once it clears I'll try another place. I assume it would make sense to check the CEL code before I burp the system or will it matter? Thanks again...