I have a manual carburated 89 honda accord DX that just won't idle. When I first diagnosed the problem I noticed the primary barrel wasn't spraying much even at WOT. I figured ok somethings plugged up in the carb. Pulled it off, rebuilt it, put it back on and now its spraying gas. Still won't idle. I can drive it around just fine, but as soon as you let off the throttle it dies. I'm pretty sure the nest of vacuum lines is correctly installed, but generally vacuum leaks on carbs cause high idle not low. Any ideas???

Dave

 

is your idle solenoid on back of carb ok??? are you getting power to it????

 

have you adjusted the carb? that sounds like the problem to me. that or like desert said, the idle solenoid. could be vacuum related, though. get some carb cleaner and see if you have any leaks.

 

chk the pcv valve as well, i have seen a bunch of those cause problems squeeze the hose with pliers and see if that helps hose is located behind valve cover below air cleaner bracket

 

Hmm... Is there a way to test the idle soldnoid? I see it just has 1 wire. Can I just apply 12 volts and make sure it moves? Is it sent variable voltage to make it move in and out different amounts? Its probably the cause since the carb is PERFECTLY clean. I had the whole thing apart and cleaned everything. The only thing I guessed on is the mixture screw. Couldn't find where to set that anywhere so I assumed 1.5 turns out from tight. I havn't been able to get it to idle at all so I havn't played with it anymore than that.

Dave

 

to testr solenoid remove from car, put ignit switch on touch solenoid to carb thr plunger should retract if it does solenoid is ok if it does not and you got power to solenoid than solenoid is no good ...
another easy weay if you hace someone cycle the ign key you can hear the solenoid energize while turning key on and off,,, but first off make sure you get power at the wire