My car has recently been idling and running poorly. I am headed to a driving school this Friday and need to get this thing sorted out, however work is killing me right now. Any help would be appreciated.

The car:
2001 ITR with AEM intake and valves (not sure whose, just bought the car used, second owner didn’t know)

The symptoms (which only happen occasionally, with no pattern):
-Erratic idle, especially when cold, sometimes stalling.
-Car sounds like it’s misfiring upon start up
-Throttle dips upon application, then shoots up. When idle is erratic, it rises in stages.
-Oil smells strongly of fuel and is burning a lot (soot on rear bumper, not greasy more powdery)
-Power cut out during highway cruising. Feels like fuel was cut for an instant, car jerks back, then resumes normally.

My brother is a mechanic and took a look at it today. He couldn’t reproduce any of the symptoms (which figures) but noticed the PCV valve was stuck open. He replaced it. I figure this is cause for my oil burning but am not sure if this would cause the other symptoms. Spark plugs and distributor looked good, no vacuum leaks he noticed.

My searches reveal PCV could cause idle problems, but none are described as severely as mine. I don’t want to make the drive (+500km) to the driving school to have my car die on me. Is there anything else that could be causing these problems in conjunction with PCV?

Car is going to Acura tomorrow, but leaving on Friday that doesn’t leave time to order parts if necessary. Any help would be great.

Cliffs notes: Erratic idle, oil burning, and momentary power loss. PCV replaced. Anything else to look for?

 

Check the ignition coil. I doubt that would cause any oil burning but it can cause the idle problem.

Replace the fuel filter first thats like $30.

 

I hope that someone can help with this as my 5th gen lude is doing the same thing, except for the momentary power loss while cruzin. Really bogs down low, oil reeks of fuel, horrible gas mileage, but runs great and hauls a$$ when in VTEC.

Here is the thread for preludes that have the same issue. Some have even been able to solve it , while I have not been as lucky...

https://honda-tech.com/zero...age=8

hope this helps, and that you get your issue solved before your school...

 

What happened? Did you figure it out?

 

No.

I took my car to the track school and the symptoms continued but didn't interrupt my fun .

There doesn't seem to be any pattern to this problem. I can't see anything wrong, no vacuum leaks, the IACV and FITV look good, everything is nice and tight. I'm beginning to think it's a TPS going bad. I need to test it still.

 

oil burning.. eeek


Modified by ITRDC2R at 5:13 PM 4/24/2007

 

Oil burning was a result of the PCV valve. New PCV has solved that issue.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Scotty2H &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Spark plugs and distributor looked good,
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sounds like electrical problem..

how many miles on plugs? wires? cap? dist. rotor?