hey guys a few days ago my rpm needle started to fluctuate from 1000 to 1500 rpms when i would come to a stop. This does'nt happen all the time but seems to be more frequent in the mornings or if the car has been off for a while. I brought it to a mechanic who said that the IDLE CONTROL could be whats causing the problem. He'll charge me 70 bucks to check and clean it if thats the problem or replace it and add the cost of the part to the 70 bucks. He would'nt tell me if cleaning it would be something that i could do myself (he wanted to charge me for doing it) so i'm posting to see if anyone knows exactly where the idle control is and how easy is it to clean myself.

 

Surging idle can also be caused by low coolant or the Fast Idle Thermal Valve needs to be screwed in a couple turns. This is something very easy to check and might save you some cash.

 

I checked my coolant and sure enough my reservoir was empty, I could'nt check the radiator because it was too hot so i got some coolant and filled my reservoir. I will check my radiator and top it off if needs be and then see how it runs.

 

I did what you said but its still doing it, anymore ideas?

 

throttle position sensor?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mark2583 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... He would'nt tell me if cleaning it would be something that i could do myself (he wanted to charge me for doing it) so i'm posting to see if anyone knows exactly where the idle control is and how easy is it to clean myself.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Couple things for you to clean out...
Fast-Idle Thermo Valve #14 under the throttlebody.
Idle-Air Control Valve #19 on the back of the intake manifold.

This picture is an LX (non-VTEC) so if yours is VTEC it might be a little different??
There's anti-freeze running thru those 2 things, so it might get messy? Either of those things can get confused if air pockets are going thru their coolant hoses. Squeeze the radiator hoses when it's cold - you'll hear sloshing sounds if there's air in the system.

HondaDude... What does he need to tighten? It's inside the round cover near the #14 label?? (I haven't had to do that yet...)

You can also clean inside the throttlebody, if there's crud in the bore where the throttle plate closes against the bore.

Vacuum leaks can also cause surging idle, if you want to check for that...

 

yep that #14 is the FITV. adding coolant to the overflow bottle might not help.
With the engine cold take off the radiator cap and open the 12mm bleed screw on the top of the T-stat housing; pour coolant into the radiator until it comes out the bleed screw, then close the bleed screw. Then if there is still the idle surge;
inside the FITV there is a nylon 'split' screw with a brass cone sticking thru the middle of it, turn that screw in a couple turns until there is no air bypassing when the engine is warmed. "warmed" <U>as in</U> temp starting to show on the gauge.

 

Also check to see if you have vaccuum leaks... i had the same problem a couple weeks back, turned out the gasket between the throttle body and intake was leaking. i took stuff apart to clean it and reused the gasket- thats what happened.

start by putting your hand over the throttle body with the car running.... it should die instantly. if not, then vaccuum leak. start isolating the problem by capping off lines to see if the problem goes away and you should flush out the leak if that is the problem.

Definitely check out the quick and easy stuff first (vaccuum leaks, coolant level) before you start mesing with factory settings.... they are set from teh factory that way for a reason!

Above all take your time and good luck!!

 

just curious, is it cold?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hondadude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... inside the FITV there is a nylon 'split' screw with a brass cone sticking thru the middle of it...</TD></TR></TABLE>Is that inside the round cover with the #2 gasket? If so, is there antifreeze inside there? Like I said, mine never screwed up so I never had to do that.

 

I removed my FITV and cleaned it along with loosening the bleed screw and pouring coolant in the radiator until it overflowed through the bleed screw. None of these things worked. It turns out that after I refilled my gas tank after lettting it go almost empty the problem suddenly stopped, seems that i just had bad gas

 

Well, good deal. But I guess cleaning that stuff isn't really a bad thing to do, even tho that wasn't the problem.

 

IAC or low Coolant