I am trying to find the possible cause(s) -When I start my car first thing in the morning I have to keep applying a little gas at least for 5min. if I release the gas,or try to place in drive the car stalls out. If I allow enough time after I start my car and continusly apply gas,while in park, As my car is "warming up" it makes a revving sound(rpm's go from.5 to 2)then back down, in a rapid succession. After a certain amt. of time the rpm's go into "cold idle" I wait until I see the engine temp. gauge start to rise, then I tap the gas, then the car will hold idle(.6) I have to go through this procedure if have the car off (ie. to/fr. work, store, etc). Just today I notice when I have to stop while driving the car wants to stall, when I'm driving(continuous motion) ie. freeway it runs fine!! I replaced the spark plugs(4cyl) changed the air filter,oil started using prem. fuel. I would appreciate any suggestions on other possible causes I may have missed. Thank you

 

Replace your fuel filters and if that does not work, your fuel pump.

 

I never thought about the fuel pump if and with my luck that will probally be the cause any ideas on the ave. cost to replace? Thanks

 

1988, is it FI or carb'd?

If it's FI (fuel injection) I would look into the intake air control valve which modulates the idle based off of engine tempurature and if that sensor is dirty or clogged it will cause the idle to purge from 500 to 2k for a little while typically until the car is starting to warm up.

If it's carb'd I have no clue .

 

it's carb'd- I even tried carb cleaner which seems to help at first so that led me to think that was a possibility. I had the car when I lived in WI. and when I returned to Co. I had always used reg. unleaded gas but the problem here and I looked in the manual and the req. was to use an octane of 87 or higher well as you know here it is 85 so when this problem started to occur I have been using mid grade87 or higher and at first it seemed to work now no matter what grade I use and it seems to be worse in the early morning hrs too? Strange?

 

I would look into fuel related problems like fuel pump. You may also want to try http://www.3geez.com as that is a more specific 3rd generation specific forum.

As for the octane, using a low octane on a low compression and low horsepower vehicle is just fine and it shouldn't cause any problems. I use 85 and have no problems in my 90 accord.

 

Thanks- I'm going to check that site and I did not know that on the fuel, at these prices

 

Check and make sure the hot air door is moving. That can cause stalling and idle problems if it's no opening and closing correctly.