I have a 1992 Civic LX sedan that my dad and I have been fixing up. We've done a full engine tune up on it so everything works. We recently finished installing a new head gasket (along with the intake and exhaust manifold gaskets) and timing belt. Then we fired it up and the engine ran good... at first. It then surged once........... then again........ then again... then again and again. Then it kept surging and we have no idea why. Revving the engine doesn't stop the surge. What's interesting is that the engine surge stopped when the engine was finally warmed up and the RPM dropped down to normal idle speed. It also stopped when I put it in gear to move it to the parking area. I also noticed that the battery light is illuminated on the dash.

We originally replaced the head gasket because of white smoke coming out of the tail pipe, meaning that coolant was leaking into the engine, and also because the thermostat gauge was maxed out on the dash (the thermostat itself is brand new).

 

need to clean the fitv.. def the first place to start especially since it goes away once it clears it to the iacv

 

Considering you did a headgasket job. Have you properly bleed the cooling system? It also happens to me when I did one and once i bled it correctly, it stopped. Just a thought.

 

lunareg: I'm usually pretty good with acronyms, but what is the FITV? I'm just going to guess that the V stands for valve, but I have no idea what that whole acronym means.

tienzien: We didn't bleed the cooling system. I'll try that out. Do you think you can post some instructions on how to do it or maybe a link to another post?

 

Here is a rough idea of how it did it.
Have your car on a leveled surface,fill up your resevior to max line, turn your heater to max, open the radiator cap, start your car and top off as necessary. It should stay on for at least 45mins, and have 2 fan cycles kick in.

Read this thread the guy in more informative than I am.
https://honda-tech.com/forums/showth...eeding+coolant

 

u can run the motor with the rad cap open till the bubling stops thats ghetto tho..... theres a bleeder valve on the head open it until u see a steady stream of antifreeze then close it now your system is blead

 

Its the fast idle thermal valve the other is the idle air control valve. The first thing that came to my mind was air in the coolant as well, but since it goes away once the car is warmed up is what made me think the fitv. Coolant runs through it making your idle higher to warm the car up and once it is at op temp it closes and moves on to the iacv.

Def wont hurt to try bleeding the coolant first since you dont need to take anything apart to do that, and if its still doing it pull the fitv off and hose it down with brake cleaner till no more nasty looking liquid comes out

 

heres a video for you visual ppl.... this guy had quite a few of nifty videos....

EricTheCarGuy- Bleeding Coolant System

 

if u do it with the cap open then u have to let it run to till the fan kicks on so the coolant moves thru the system then top it off TIENZEN is right also ..... check yout iac .....and all your gaskets as well

 

Just went out to the car today and popped the hood. We were about to do the bleeding until my dad noticed that there was a coolant hose on top of the throttle cable. We took off the throttle cable and put in on top of the hose. Then we fired it up and let it run. No surging! Then we popped the coolant cap and topped it off and there were no bubbles at all. So it was just the coolant hose on top of the throttle cable! Thanks for all your help guys!

 

lol, yeah that would do it too