Went to Office max to pick up some more school supplies and at the stop, my idle just sunk below 0 and the motor died. Had to start her up again and pressed the peddle a couple times...


Is this because I'm running to rich? My idle isn't quite smooth. When I start the car when its cold, the idle starts around 1800rpm then gradually gets down to 1200rpm, then when i drive it, it idle's around 700rpm or so.


It stays there most of the time, but sometimes it shoots back up to around 1200rpm then back to 700rpm, and sometimes (Like today), it just drops and my motor dies. WTF!?

Oh yea, and when it idles at 700rpm, its smooth... then once in a while the car shakes while the rpm is still steady. It keeps shuddering for awhile. Why is this?

 

have you ever replaced your fuel filter?

 

yea my car does that also, have u noticed it to happen more, when u are making a turn, if so it couild be the fuel pump, as people have told me, but me and you both have similar mods, with similar problems. cam gears, timing, maybe have something to do with it.

 

his car has like 9k miles on it...its not he filter

 

How long have u had the problem? I'm not sure what ur problem could be, and this may be way off but i remember hearing somewhere that skunk2 cams should be mated with other skunk2 valvetrain parts to run properly and that they don't mate well with other company valvetrain as well.. but i dunno how that would compare to stock .

 

cant really tell you without any other info.

 

Have you ever gotten a cel?

 

Yea. A couple days ago, but I just reset the ECU and it was gone. I forgot to check the code.


Stage 1 cams are suppose to work perfectly fine with stock valvetrain and have a smooth idle. I'm not sure what the problem is. Is it because I'm running too rich on the bottom?

 

I think it might have something to do with your cam gear timing, an maybe the tuner didn't counter it with idle adjustments witht eh vafc.

 

how high are you revving...did you ever misshift...bent valve?

 

I never passed my Redline before and I never misshifted.

 

any cam timing adjustments? bending a valve can occur that way also. it sounds like you need to have a leakdown performed bro. any other advice would be helping wishful thinking set in and get you disappointed. it could be your throttle plate sticking with the idle thing... the TPS got funky on mine and we seemed to straighten that out by tapping the sensor on the plate. as far as dying... hmm. ignition timing could be bad, an injector clogged... fouled plugs? it could be just about anything but my guess its more than one thing. hope you get it worked out.

 

Hmmm... I hope it isn't a Bent Valve.

Diablo Autosports did the installation and a Valve Adjustment afterwards.

Went to DSR to get it Dyno Tuned and Lawrence did some adjusting with the Cam gears.

Other than that, nothing was touched. I didn't even redline it that much. Maybe like 2-3 times since I got my stuff in, so there would be no reason for the Valves to get bent... ?


damn it. This is really starting to **** me off. I have no idea what it is and I have no money to even find out what the problem is!

Anyone wanna help a poor guy out and see/fix what the problem is? Bay Area folks?

 

Keep in mind if you have any more than 6-8 deg of separation on high lift/duration cams which is anything over stock GSR cams even Skunk2 stage 1s are, you can smack valves TOGETHER during the overlap period. The overlap on the Skunk cams at 0,0 is 36degrees!!! The GSR is 17 and ITR 25, w/CTR intake: 28. Add +2, -1 and you are adding 6 more deg to a whopping 42 deg!!! That would look like +2, -1 or more on the skunk2 gear which is an analogy for +4, -2 deg crank to valve refrence which is how the engine INTERPRETS valve timing. This is another way to bend valves. I hate the +5,-5 setup of the Skunk2 gear it is misleading. At high RPM you may have done this. Its all good, replacing valves isnt all that bad. About $500 out the door if you can pull the head and break it down yourself. Hope you get it running good soon. If you replace valves, keep it stock. Dont waste your time with aftermarket valves. If you dont have the money to do this, at least have it leaked down my a honda mechanic, not in a speed shop


[Modified by MikeSarr_GSR, 9:25 AM 8/31/2002]

 

DAMN! I was hoping it wasn't a Bent Valve!!!! AHHHHH! I can't afford all this!! Should I get the stock Type-R Valves? Also, how can I Prevent it from Bending again? Upgrade the Valvesprings and retainers?? How can I check if I have a bent valve or not? Please help me out. Thanks...

 

Well. I heard that the car won't run normally when you have a Bent valve. A friend of mine is saying its not a bent valve, and that the car would run really bad if I did have a bent valve.

So what can be the problem of my idle? Fuel? Too rich? Too lean? Adjust the idle screw?

 

your friend isnt air in your combustion chamber, now is he? Leak it down
sorry to rain on your parade pal, I just would hate for your to be getting your
hopes up for no real reason. if you have lost come compression based on a mildly bent valve or two it will run fine over idle speed, however almost DIE at idle, with a coughy, non-stable exhaust note...

like hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...puf..pufff.....hmmmmmmmmmmmm...sp irt.....hmmmmmmmmmmm.pppppf pfff...............hmmmmmmmmmmmm

let your car idle and listen to the exhaust. if it is stable I wouldnt worry about the valves. too much, if it pops like I describe you can drive your car near some walls, if it clicks alot, more than normal... thats another tell tale sign. It can also throw a misfire CEL if its bad enough. If you had a bent valve it is true you will totally know about it... your car will feel terrible hope you get it worked out

 

talk to mike @ diablo

they should have told you about this possibly happening.

he might be able to get you better pricing on some new parts

 

damn. From reading it, it seems like I do have a bent valve.

I didn't touch anything on my car. Mike and Chris at Diablo Autosport did the installation and Lawrence at DSR did some tuning, so there is absolutely no fault on my hand.

If it is a bent valve, should't Diablo Autosport (who did the installation), fix the problem for free? I mean, it would reasonable wouldn't it? Damn it.

 

Ok. I talked to Chris at Diablo Autosport just now and he's gonna check my car out and see whats up.

I have some more info I forgot to mention.

Before I got all that installed, a friend of mine had installed the VAFC already for me. After I took it to Diablo Autosport, they found out that the VTM Wire wasn't connected at all. So they fixed all that up.

That might have contributed to the problem?


All in all, I'm not saying its Diablo Autosport is responsible or Lawrence at DSR. Just wanted to clear that up.


Diablo Autosports is cool for calling me and asking if I want my car checked out. They're willing to help me find out what my problem is. Thanks Mike and Chris!

 

well, by driving your car hard you are not completey blameless...
hope it all works out man. more than likely if anything the exhaust
valves bend. the intake valves will turn out fine. if the head has to
come off, have some ITR intake valves lapped and dropped in!

 

We're gonna be running a compression test to see if any of them are bent or not. I'll be checkin that out sometime this month since I'm busy with School. In the meantime, I'll be drivin around my beater...

 

a simple compression test isnt gonna help you... it tests too many engine
components at the same time. you need to leak it down, they pressurize
the cylinders at BDC and measure the rate of the escaping air in each cylinder
and they compare them. depending on how it "leaks down" you can determine within a high margin what component failed. get that done by an acura technician,
dont trust the speed shop since they have a conflict of intrest. thats my advice to you.

 

How much does Acura charge for a leakdown?

 

did you try bringing the screw up a lil on the TB yet?