When i did my last time we marked the distributor housing near one of the bolts so i'd kno where to put it if i ever had to take off the dizzy... Well just my luck i had a bad headgasket recently and ended up replacing tons of new gaskets and seals.. Well that fixed the HG issue, but now my car will randomly sputter throughout the power band... Sometimes it does it, some times it doesnt, kinda aggrivating... But also, even after adjusting the idle screw on the TB and messing with my dizzy, i can't seem to get my idle under 1100rpms..

Question..
Would a partially clogged IACV have anything to do with the idle being set..?

 

did you start the car with the dizzy lose and try moving it back n forth? tell us what you already tried besides the idle screw

 

Bad timing setting?

 

yeah, tried reclocking the dizzy... idle screw... reset ecu... checked injectors & wiring... checked cap & rotor "all brand new along with new plugs & wires"... i'm thinking maybe a clogged cat..?? i dunno probably a lil outta the box there but dunno... its pretty constant but it doesnt do it at the same rpm's all the time, it varies... also seems to only really do it when im @ WOT...

 

Need more info on your car and motor. I kinda have the same problem

 

I thought maybe it could be the timing but we just did the timing the other day when i put the head back on from the shop... and i'm thinkin because it didnt do it before the HG issue its something that i had tampered with during the job...

 

92 hatch d16z6 all stock..

 

Ok, I have a d16z6 as well, and I know exactly what your talking about. It will have days when it runs strong and others not, sometimes just randomly throughout the day. I messed with the idle screw and it drops like it should, but after some time of driving it drops so low that it almost wants to stall out. Here's what I recommend, while the car is on, disconnect the TB sensor and see if the idle drops, if not, bad sensor, if it does then its working, and then connect it back , and if the idle is still at weird levels, it can possibly still be the TB sensor. Try this with your sensor on the intake manifold, and see if you get anywhere. And did you change your HG because of a overheating problem? Is the car running at regular temp.

 

yeah i had a leak on an exhaust port of the gasket so my coolant was boiling... had the head done at a local respected performance shop, everything was checked out fine... now the car runs fine, no boiling...

 

and yeah for like an hour of driving it will be fine than outta no where i get a millisecond hesitation at WOT and sometimes numerous times throughout the whole power band... at first it seemed like only around vtec it happened but than it happened at even 2-3k rpms...

 

Ok, I have the same motor pretty much, start with the sensors, have the car on and disconnect the TB sensor, and if the idle remains, then its a crap, if it changes then it could still be good. Then reconnect it and if it is still idleing bad, then it could be a not so good sensor, try this with the sensors on the intake manifold. Then check your actual TB, for anything out the ordinary. Is your car running at regular temp. Was that the reason why you changed the HG? I have the same problem, and its truly annoying, it randomly decides to run strong or not at certain points of the day.

 

^^ thats y i changed the HG

and yeah the car runs at normal operating temp... ima go check the sensors right now... thanx bro brb..

 

so i just unhooked the TPS and when i unplugged it, at that very second it did a slight idle adjustment but went back to 1100-1300 area "cold start" so i drove it around the block, drove fine with TPS unplugged... of course CEL came on, but other than that u couldnt tell i unplugged anything really.. no crazy idle or anything...

 

Sorry, I double posted because I thought the messege failed to send, but yeah, try out the sensors.

 

its cool

 

swapped TPS from my old motor, same deal... still sputters, and still idles at 1100...

 

just outta curiosity.. would i be experiencing these issues if my cam timing was one tooth to the right off..?? i've heard one tooth wont make a big difference and i've heard one tooth makes a world of difference..??

when i put the head back on and was lining up the head to be TDC with the block, it looked like P28 said up, but after i got the belt on i noticed the P08-P08-P28 dashes on the plastic backing of the timing cover.. well p28 lined up perfect on the cam gear with the dash mark, but both the p08 dashes & arrows were like 1mm off....

 

i would just time it again, just to be safe, the only thing is that, if your timing was off, your car would run bad all the time, not just sometimes.. thats the catch. im going to do my timing again as well and let you know if i get a different result. and what you can also try is, on the iacv, you can place a piece of paper between the manifold and the sensor itself and bolt it back on, and see if that drops your idle? and check your throttle cable as well

 

adjusted throttle cable already.. but yeah i didnt think to clean the IACV either so im gonna try that... i called my friend with a timing light but hes not answerin so hopefully he comes thru...

 

one cam tooth makes a HUGE difference on a stock engine. Never good.
obviously not as much as two teeth, but still a difference that noticable.

cleaning the IACV may help, but it doesn't do much once the engine is over idle speeds.



how to set idle speed (as per Helm manual)

drive around until engine is at operating temp
turn off engine
unplug IACV
start engine (ignore CEL)
allow engine to idle down and stabalize.
(this may require you holding open the throttle slightly until the engine can hold it's own)
set the idle screw so the idle speed is at 420rpm (+/-50RPM)
turn off engine
reconnect IACV
reset ECU
start car and let it idle normally.

 

Agreed, but what do you think is causing it to run good on some occasions and bad on others? Could the timing being off by a tooth cause this?

 

x2 ^^

 

And thanks for the help Relic, i appreciate it bro...

 

I think you got 1 or 2 tooth too advance causing high idle (you can't not bring down the idle with the idle screw or dizzy) check your timing..

 

Yea the timing is a prime suspect because your computer compensates for minor advance or retard but it has a restricted range that it can smooth out