i've posted for this before about a week ago but did not get any responses and my problem is progressively getting worse and worse. About 2 months ago i noticed that when i start my car in the mornings it would struggle to stay on for about 5 seconds and then the idle would level out, shortly after that it would happen at random times during the day as well. Since lately it happens almost everytime i start the car and is taking longer and longer to level out. whenever i bring it to a shop it never does it at that time and they all say it has to do it so they can see before they check it. I should add that the car never stalls and the problem does not exist during driving or if i'm stopped at a light. I have already removed and cleaned my IACV and screwed my FITV......any ideas would help.

 

whens the last time yougave it a tune up?? how many miles on it? did you clean the EGR??

 

i replaced the spark plugs and wires 5 months ago it has 180 thousand miles and i know nothing about an EGR valve. if it helps any, i'll tell you that i'm due to replace my timing belt, balance shaft belt and water pump this is especially important because there is oil leaking from the timing belt compartment (could be just camshaft seal) also i noticed a little oil and water mixture come from the FITV valve when i went to tighten the screw but a mechanic told me that was normal so yeah....

 

Unless it's in a puddle in your driveway or on the outside of your engine. Coolant and oil should never come in contact with each other. I would keep an eye on that if I were you, that is not a normal occurrence. Did your mechanic tell you why it was normal. I would get a coolant pressure test done ASAP just to make sure there is no leak in your system

For your idle situation, Was it idling like this before you changed the FITV screw? Are there any signs of oil in your rad? If there is oil in the FITV lines than there could be oil coating your ECT sensor that would cause an erratic idle during warm up. An air bubble left behind from when you disconnected the FITV lines could cause this as well. Try bleeding your cooling system, reset your ECU and see what that does.

 

yes it was doing it before i messed with the FITV screw, that was actually the reason why i messed with it. i'll try bleeding it and see what happens

 

i just tried to bleed the system however it was not successful. i loosened the bleed screw and started pouring coolant down the system, the radiator almost overflowed but nothing came out of the bleed screw

 

any ideas

 

nothing at all came out?
well how about trying to replace the water pump, because the water pump could not be circulating, therefore the coolant wouldnt run through the system
let us know

 

I'd also add that unless your doing the labor yourself buying a new motor mught be smarter than spending all the equivilant tuning this motor up

 

the most frustrating thing about this issue is that i have no idea what is or could be, there is no sign of it during driving which leads me to believe that it cant be that big of an issue. i've decided to leave the car overnight at the mechanic on monday night so they can see it happen for themselves when the crank it in the morning. its struggling more and more to stay on now but never shuts off. i'll update with their findings.

 

i have a $65 credit at autozone so if i'm lucky they'll find a part that needs to be changed that my credit will cover

 

The FITV gets adjusted when its fully warmed up. Did you clean the entire throttle body, sorry, I didnt really read the other posts, getting too tired tonight, AM now.

 

i saw a little oil and water mixture come out of the FITV when i removed it to tighten the screw. i thought that meant my head gasket was to blame but my mechanic said that that was normal and wouldn't cause an issue. my dipstick looks regular (not creamy) and the radiator cap looks fine as well. also i did not clean the entire throttle body, how easy is that to do yourself?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GhostAccord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">For your idle situation, Was it idling like this before you changed the FITV screw? Are there any signs of oil in your rad? If there is oil in the FITV lines than there could be oil coating your ECT sensor that would cause an erratic idle during warm up. An air bubble left behind from when you disconnected the FITV lines could cause this as well. Try bleeding your cooling system, reset your ECU and see what that does. </TD></TR></TABLE>

how do you check for oil coating the ect sensor?

 

To check for oil on it you would have to remove it from the housing. I am thinking that your situation probably has more to do with a bad FIT or IAC valve.

First off
• Re-Check all your vacuum hoses for cracks / leaks.

IACV test;
• Start your car, hold the throttle @ 2500 - 3000 with no load (Park (AT) or neutral MT) until the rad fan comes on.
• With the engine still running unplug the IACV connector.
Was there a reduction in idle speed
• Yes - IACV is OK
• No - sub a known good IAC and retest.

FITV test;
• Remove air intake duct from throttle your body
• Start the car
• Put your finger over the bottom left hole i9nside the TB and check for vacuum. There should be vacuum there when the engine is cold.
• If there is no vacuum replace the FITV and retest.
• start the engine hold @ 2500 - 3000 rpm w/no load until rad fan comes on.
• Place your finger over that same hole again. There should be no vacuum present.
• If there is vacuum with the car up to temp check for air in your coolant system.
• If coolant is OK replace your FITV.

I am concerned that you had no coolant coming out of your bleed screw. With out that there is no way to tell if you have an air bubble sitting next to your ECT. That will cause a rough idle but usually it will persist after the engine has come up to temp as well. If your having a rough idle right off the hop I would do the three tests above.

 

i tried to bleed the system with the engine cold so i'm not quite sure if it has to be warmed up first to be bleeded , when i bled it a year ago (also with the engine cold) the coolant came flowing through just fine....sorry for being a rookie

 

Carb cleaner, tooth brush and a rag, hold open the throttle and goto town on everything you see in there to include the back side of the throttle plate, try to soak up as much carb cleaner with the rag, no need to remove the assy from the intake, scrub scrub scrub, done.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GhostAccord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To check for oil on it you would have to remove it from the housing. I am thinking that your situation probably has more to do with a bad FIT or IAC valve.

First off
• Re-Check all your vacuum hoses for cracks / leaks.

IACV test;
• Start your car, hold the throttle @ 2500 - 3000 with no load (Park (AT) or neutral MT) until the rad fan comes on.
• With the engine still running unplug the IACV connector.
Was there a reduction in idle speed
• Yes - IACV is OK
• No - sub a known good IAC and retest.

FITV test;
• Remove air intake duct from throttle your body
• Start the car
• Put your finger over the bottom left hole i9nside the TB and check for vacuum. There should be vacuum there when the engine is cold.
• If there is no vacuum replace the FITV and retest.
• start the engine hold @ 2500 - 3000 rpm w/no load until rad fan comes on.
• Place your finger over that same hole again. There should be no vacuum present.
• If there is vacuum with the car up to temp check for air in your coolant system.
• If coolant is OK replace your FITV.

I am concerned that you had no coolant coming out of your bleed screw. With out that there is no way to tell if you have an air bubble sitting next to your ECT. That will cause a rough idle but usually it will persist after the engine has come up to temp as well. If your having a rough idle right off the hop I would do the three tests above.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I checked a few things this morning

i did the IACV test which turned out ok.
i did not feel vacuum when i checked the FITV though

there are 4 reasons that lead me to believe that my problem lies in the cooling system

* i have to add a little less than a quarter gallon of coolant once a week so its burning or losing coolant somewhere
* this morning i let it idle until it was fully warmed up and the upper and lower radiator hoses were still soft
* i still cant bleed the system
* and i really do think my ECT sensor is bad since if i'm sitting in traffic for a while my radiator fan does'nt kick in when the temp starts getting too high. i have to turn the ac on to get the fans to come on.

i think that the pressure test would be the next best thing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Duane_in_Japan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Carb cleaner, tooth brush and a rag, hold open the throttle and goto town on everything you see in there to include the back side of the throttle plate, try to soak up as much carb cleaner with the rag, no need to remove the assy from the intake, scrub scrub scrub, done.</TD></TR></TABLE>

i tried this already but it did not make a difference

 

If your adding coolant once a week and there is oil in your coolant lines. I would have to say you have a coolant leak somewhere. Possibly a small crack in a water jacket. Do you know anyone that could run a pressure test on your cooling system? That is what I would try next to see how bad the leak is. Could be a small leak starting in your head gasket?????

As for your no vacuum FIT, try and re-adjust it. You may have adjusted it to far.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mark2583 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

* and i really do think my ECT sensor is bad since if i'm sitting in traffic for a while my radiator fan does'nt kick in when the temp starts getting too high. i have to turn the ac on to get the fans to come on. </TD></TR></TABLE>

i believe this is the root of my problem because i was able to confirm with a mechanic today that the reason i cant bleed the system is because the head gasket is slowly going bad. i knew from day one that my ECT sensor needed to be replaced. That is why my fan would never run while i'm driving unless i turned the a/c on, sometimes i would not notice the gauge getting too hot in time and gradually over time it slowly damaged my head gasket 1 year). i guess this is one of those times where something that could have been relatively cheap and easy to fix has turned into something alot more costly since i dont know how to replace it myself

 

I have a similar prob on my civic ex d16y8 it starts up very weak(may be normal) but cold weather starts but takes longer maybe like 5 turns 2 being normal, sometimes, rarly when it starts it dies slowly in rpm and shuts off, well also 1st gear is weak like i have to rev to 2500 to get it moving smoothly but dat might be the clutch, once warmed its perfect runs good and drives fine, i thnk it might be da fuel filter or iac sensor or fuel filter maybe, idk much about the hondas plus im 17 and dont have much experience with the hondas, i prefer toyota. Just my opinion