Hi,

Whenever I turn the A/C on and I am stopped at a red light or whatever the car idles rough, and sort of stutters when I start to accelerate again. But after that everything fine. Is this normal?

The car is a 1993 Honda Civic, 64000 miles

Thanks

 

welcome to the world of owning a 4cyl every other honda ive drove done this even mine would idle down when i turned the a/c on. Unless its dropping 500rpm then i would think its normal. Mine would drop from 1000rpm to ~800rpm.

 

i have a buddy that had the same thing with the a/c on, his problem turned out to be a bad tank of gas and gummed up injectors, the a/c draws the most power out of the accessories so thats why you only notice it with ac

 

Sorry to sort of hijack but I have a similar problem... my car idles fine but it drives horrible with AC on. Well it drops a bit when the compressor comes on but it's not too bad. It basically feels like I have 5 ppl in the car.... I have to shift at way higher RPM because it feels like there is a huge load on the engine, when I start off I have to slip the clutch at a higher rpm is well. It's a big pain, I basically only use it on the highway now...

 

Duh, its a 4cyl. If you had an 8 you wouldnt even feel it.

 

just fixed my friends car with a similar problem. A/C compressor was actually turning off and on due to a low freon issue. At idle this off and on action was causeing the engine to idle horribly. Take a look at the end of your ac compressor and see if this is the case. If so probably a problem with either low freon or bad pressure switch

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by biker9075 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Rough idle with A/C on...

Is this normal?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes n' no!

On my D16Y5 it was perfectly normal - matter of fact, I ONLY turned the A/C on once I was moving. I switched the compressor off at stoplights and while accelerating!

On my B16A2, you can't even tell it's on @ idle/accelerating - but you can sorta tell its cycling, driving down the road, if you pay close attention.

Anyway, it's depends on WHICH 4-cylinder you're running - and one of the ancillary benefits of switching to a more powerful motor...

 

Wrong .... it's not "normal coz it's a 4 cyl." The engine speed rpm's are governed by the ecu and when the a/c cuts in it compensates for the extra load and should maintain the correct idle speed if not a few rpm's over normal idle. Now how to fix it, I really can't help there, maybe a Honda Ghuru here may help on that for you. Older cars have what's called an "idle up solenoid" that was an electrically opperated coil that pushed a plunger coupled to the throttle arm directly ajusting the position of the arm and thus making the engine run a little faster when the a/c was turned on.

 

thanks for your help. Sometimes its fine, but other times its really bad.

 

Do you have a chipped ecu ? does it fast idle correctly when it's cold/warm-up ?

 

Its not chipped from what I can tell, and it just seems to do it at random times after warm-up

 

loose or dirty/corroded ecu pin ? pull the plugs and use good quality cleaner on em, like deoxIT. Loose screw on the throttle stop . Sticking throttle cable ?? . Does the engine idle faster when you start it cold in the mornings (ie: does the choke work) without the a/c on ? till it gets warmed up ?

 

Seems this is a regular problem with Honda's, especially the CRV's. I have owned 2 since my wife runs a postal route and these vehicles seem to work out great for them on years before around 2008 when I believe they changed the gear selector on an automatic to the center console in their way. I have yet to find a good answer since these cars all have computer controlled idles. I hope someone comes up with an answer since I have post on a couple different sites. It usuall occurs on cars with some mileage, over 50,000 and at a stop with A/C on. If the motor mounts are bad, which is another common problem with Honda, it sounds like the car is rattling away. I mostly drop it into nuetral to stop a lot of the vibration. This takes some of the strain off the engine and helps it gain a little more RPM's on the engine. It has something to do with the IAC motor I would guess but with the cost of parts for these cars, guessing can be expensive and you would think Honda would start to take notice since these questions are starting to pop up all over the internet. I believe one answer is to get another car but that is not everyones's option either.

 

. Mine is kicking on n off im going to try this

 

yes the iavc is what makes idle go up when ac is on if its clogged it will be as if u opened up a vaccum and idle rough with the ac on