My crx is having idle problems, it will go from about 500-1000k at idle. My concern is that at the 500 range it starts to stumble. The car died at idle a couple of times, so I pulled the plugs and they were covered with oil. Changed out the spark plug tube gasket, cam cover gasket, and put new plugs in. Car fired right up but it still has rough idle, if I put my foot on the brake pedal it will drop and when I release it it will climb back up.

I reset the idle screw and it seems better. Could this be an alternator problem? I have never had a dead battery though so I didn't think it to be the alternator. One of my friends also suggested it might be the throttle position sensor or bad grounds. I checked all the main grounds today and couldnt find any problems. Tomorrow during daylight I'm going to start up the car and pull the battery terminals while the car is running to see if it's the alternator.

Second question is how hard is it to replace the alternator replacement on the 89 crx?

 

Sounds like a vacuum leak, especially since the idle changes when you apply the brakes. I would suggest spraying carb cleaner on every vacuum line or gasket on the intake manifold, if there is a leak, the idle will increase when you spray it with the carb cleaner. Then replace the leaking gasket/hose.


It's definitely not an alternator issue.

 

Well you are right, it wasnt the alternator. I had it checked out last night as well as the battery. Even when I unplugged the neg side of the battery when the car was running it didn't die (with a/c highbeams etc, the rpms went down but it never died). 12v across when the car is off and 14 plus when the car is on.

I'll try checking the vacuum lines, couldnt I just hold my finger over one to see if its leaking as well?

 

even though the alternator was checked and it was said to be okay, could it be that it's on its way out?