If you want to follow the whole course of events you can check this thread
https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-crx-ef-civic-1988-1991-3/revs-3500-when-cold-2446203/

but i figured i would start a new one since i have a new problem...

I pulled both valves and cleaned them. I also turned the FITV in which did fix my high idle. Now I have white smoke coming out of the exhaust from a coolant leak somewhere. I tried adjusting the FITV back closer to where it was as well as pulling both and checking for bad gaskets/etc, but everything appears fine. Is there any way I can test these components to find which one is leaking?

I would really like to fix this since the FITV is 280 dollars, the IACV is 100. Combine my extreme brokeness and need for a reliable high mpg car for my new job and I need to get this thing on the road quick!... the motor is a d15b vtec in a 89 crx dx if it matters.

thanks a ton to anyone who can help.

 

I just pulled it all out and cleaned the crap out of it. I dont really see how it could leak from the IACV since the coolant just flows around the valve and doesnt go anywhere near where it could go into the intake. The FITV could have a bad gasket that might do it, but they all looked fine. I cleaned up in there and now im sitting letting the computer reset just in case something else is doing it.. dunno why really.. just to make me feel like i covered all the bases..

 

I cant think of anywhere else that coolant could be getting into the motor, so I guess i might be in for a blown head-gasket....

motor is one of the "we tear it out of a japanese car" motors i picked up that said "45k miles or less" so i really have no clue of the background of the motor itself. The timing has been set for a couple of years by the "twist the distributor until it runs good" method. The distributor is wrong for the motor, meaning it only has one bolt holding it in, but it has run fine despite this. A friend thinks that having the timing potentially wrong could have caused detonation and thus blowing the head gasket, but im clueless about this. Does anyone have any ideas or clues about what could possibly leak coolant into the engine other than the FITV, IACV or a bad head gasket?

thanks