A little background info... 1995 honda accord with JDM H22a swap.

This is going to be a real long read but I figure that as much info as possible will help. Skip to the bottom for my questions

Ok on to the details... Ever since I swapped the engine I have had the jumpy idle up and down up and down issue. I have tried a lot of different things to fix it like replacing all vaccum lines ect. Well I got it down to where it only does it with accesories on like headlights, A/C ect.. So I figured it was the Idle Air Control Valve. Well I was able to find a H23 IACV at the junk yard so I swap it out. It still had the same issue just not as bad. So I figured the junkyard one was getting ready to go bad so I ordered a new one from hondaautomotiveparts.com but it still hasnt arrived.

Anyway after I put the junkyard IACV on I noticed the car would seem bogged down a little and every now and then it would idle real rough at stop lights at around 500 rpms just real rough and the engine would kinda shake to where I could feel it in the car. Once in a blue moon when I would come to a stop the rpm's would just drop and the car would stall out, and it would take a few seconds longer than normal to get it started back up again. That only happened maybe 3 times in 4 weeks. It didnt get bad until last saturday night, I drove the car to work and home again and it was fine, changed my clothes and went to leave again, took maybe 10 minutes started the car up drove to the stop sign at the end of my street and it died. Started it up again got to the next stop sign and it died. It died 4 times on me so I took it home and later that night put the old IACV back on since thats the onyl thing I had changed. It started up fine but once its warm it goes into the rough idle and stalls out whenever I push the clutch in after driving, it even stalls out when the car is still moving. My good buddy James(spikeddrummer) who helped me with the swap said it was an issue with the closed loop once the car is running off the sensors. I do have a CEL on for code 12 Exhaust Gas Recirculation Valve but that has been on since we did the swap but only comes on after a few minutes of driving.

Questions: what could cause the rough idle once the car is warm? I have good plugs, wires, cap and rotor. I think its more of a sensor issue. If it is the EGR valve how can I bypass it so the ecu thinks its working, I've heard of some way you can use resistors and close the circut but havent seen any instructions.

Sorry for the really long read but I figured all the info I could provide would help. If anyone needs to know anything more just ask I reply

 

guess I gotta bump

 

http://www.ef-honda.com/ben/Badidle.php

since you mentioned it only does this when warmed up, try checking the IACV and adjusting it. don't know how? search

another thing, i had this problem also, today, i just finished installing all new intake manifold gaskets (there's 3). check for any kind of vacuum leak by spraying different spots of your intake manifold where air might be leaking

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by According To Ben &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A little background info... 1995 honda accord with JDM H22a swap.</TD></TR></TABLE>WOW, I'm amazed. A newbie with only 2 posts. Some guys with hundreds of posts STILL refuse to tell us what car they're talking about...

Vacuum leaks, like Advan06 suggested. Check carefully for anything.

Air pockets in the cooling system. Especially since you've changed out your IACV.

Fast-idle thermo-valve (FITV) should be under the throttle body, clean that out. Some people have found it's guts coming loose, you gotta screw them back in. Search - someone posted instructions with a picture or 2.

You've mentioned the EGR. EGR is supposed to be CLOSED at idle. Maybe yours isn't? I don't know H22 manifolds real well, but maybe there's a way to plug it & see whether THAT'S what's affecting your idle?

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys, While my car was out of action I took the time to repaint my vavle cover because it got beat up during the swap and I was tired of looking at it all chipped up. Today everything is going back together so I'll let ya'll know how it goes.

 

Ok I got everything back together today and started the car up.... I let it warm up and it went into a semi-rough idle, it wasnt idling as low as before but still a little rough it was at like 600 rpms maybe so I raised the idle via the screw on the TB. That helped and smoothed out the idle I think I raised it to about 900 rpms, took it out went around the block a few times, got on it a little bit. I noticed though every time I pushed in the clutch and the car returned to idle speed that the rpms dropped real low then went back up, like I would push the clutch and the rpms dropped to 400-500rpms then back up to 900-1000. When I got home I messed with things while it was in my garage that way if it died i would have to push it anywhere. The engine was ideling at 800 rpms and I turned my headlights on, rpms dropped to 500 and a rough idle turned them off, back up to 800. Turned the fan blower on high and the rpms dropped, turn it off and rpms back to normal.

Questions: Is the IACV what raises the idle speed when accessories such as headlight and heat? If so do you think mine could be bad. It would make sense why it kept dying on me when I left after work, I had my headlights on, btu when I went to work and left work it wasnt dark yet. Last night I applied 12v of power to it and touched the ground to the other terminal and I could hear it click. If its something else that raises the idle let me know.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by According To Ben &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ok I got everything back together today and started the car up.... I let it warm up and it went into a semi-rough idle, it wasnt idling as low as before but still a little rough it was at like 600 rpms maybe so I raised the idle via the screw on the TB. That helped and smoothed out the idle I think I raised it to about 900 rpms, took it out went around the block a few times, got on it a little bit. I noticed though every time I pushed in the clutch and the car returned to idle speed that the rpms dropped real low then went back up, like I would push the clutch and the rpms dropped to 400-500rpms then back up to 900-1000. When I got home I messed with things while it was in my garage that way if it died i would have to push it anywhere. The engine was ideling at 800 rpms and I turned my headlights on, rpms dropped to 500 and a rough idle turned them off, back up to 800. Turned the fan blower on high and the rpms dropped, turn it off and rpms back to normal.

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**** man, same thing is happening to me right now. kinda wierd that we have the same problems at the same time

 

"adjust the idle screw with iac unplugged. once the you got the idle @700-800rpms plug the iac back in. pull the 7.5 amp fuse to get rid of the CEL afterwards."

Instructions from another board... did that and....
Woot!!! car is drivable again.... it doesnt stall out on me anymore. Now I just have the jumpy idle, all the time. But at least I can drive it. I musta had the base idle set too low and it would just stall otu when it went to it. Thanks for all your help guys, now I just need to replace the IACV with a new one.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by According To Ben &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... Is the IACV what raises the idle speed when accessories such as headlight and heat?</TD></TR></TABLE>The ECU controls a steady idle by telling the IACV to open & close. So it's more accurate to say the IACV prevents the idle from dropping. If the IACV is stuck or broken, it'll cause idle problems.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by According To Ben &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... If its something else that raises the idle let me know.</TD></TR></TABLE>Up until about '96 there's a fast-idle thermo valve (FITV) under the throttle body. That's responsible for the faster idle when it's cold. Later that job was built into the IACV.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by According To Ben &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">"adjust the idle screw with iac unplugged. once the you got the idle @700-800rpms plug the iac back in. pull the 7.5 amp fuse to get rid of the CEL afterwards."</TD></TR></TABLE>Maybe that's right for an H22? But it's not right for all Hondas. My '95 Integra says unplug the IACV & adjust for a 420 rpm idle. Plug it back in & the idle goes back up where it belongs.

 

If its loping from 500 to 1000 consistently check for any vaccuum leaks if none replace the fast air idle valve.

 

Got the new IACV in and it still did the jumpy idle. But I ahd my idle set too high this time so I turned it back down to about 500 rpms with the IACV unplugged then plugged it back in and bam all fixed. I also fixed my EGR CEL, turns out that I had 2 vacuum hoses switched(had the input hooked to the output and vice versa) Thanks everyone for all your help.