Thank you very much. Below is the youtube video. I need your good karma.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OpmCG-DHdY

Car engine is constantly surging up and down.. with 134K miles, engine revs up and down when I slightly press on the gas pedal at 1800 rpm. There is lots of white smoke coming out of the tail pipe - more than the video shows. The smoke smell, Im told is when an engine is running rich. The engine is a bit rough on idle. Help...I've replaced the throttle body with TPMS and map sensor and fuel pressure regulator. Cleaned out the IACV. O2 sensors have never been changed.

Can this be a transmission problem? Im willing to give a reward if the advise fixes the problem. I am so desperate here and Im out of ideas, but I really want to learn and fix it myself...many thank you.

 

Forgot to mention, I put in new plugs not more than three miles ago. I pulled them out and they are all black tip. All the tips were black. Thank you for helping.

 

If the smoke is white/steamy it is possibly an internal water leak from a blown head gasket. This could cause the surging, as the water vapor is blown out the exhaust the O2 may signal that the engine is running lean, causing more fuel to be added. This back and forth action may cause the surging.

If the smoke is grey/blue, that indicates an oiling issue, either the rings are damaged or the valve guide is.

Have you done a compression check?
When did this surging occur? Randomly? Only after the spark plugs were changed?

The transmission will not cause a surging issue while idling.

 

Hello and thank you Michael

I went out an purchased a compression tester. Turns out, all the cylinders were 180 to 185 psi. It is all consistent.

The surging was there before I replaced with new spark plugs.

Other ideas I can look into? Can this be a fuel pump issue? O2 sensors? I'm not to knowledgeable so Im guessing at this point.

I had a new rebuild tranny put in not more that a month ago.

Thank you in advanced for your thoughts.

 

Do you have any check engine lights?

180-185 is good compression. However if the car is fully warmed up and still spewing out white smoke, im still concerned of a blown HG.

 

This is killing me, but I am learning so much

I ran the engine for 10 minutes. The idle is okay and runnnng a bit rough, but the surging is not occurring. Surging mainly occurs when I press the accelerator to 1800 rpm. The the surging wont stop. When I try to drive it (auto tranny), and I press on the gas, the engine dies. As for the exhaust, water vapor is coming out as if it is condensation. It leaves a spray like fluid on the concrete. Can these symptoms be indicative of a head gasket problem? Should I proceed with leak down test?

Many thanks.... I really dont want to send this to a mechanic...I want to learn from this experience

 

Problem solved - here is my follow up.

My dorky brother some how switched the electrical connector to the TPMS and the MAP sensor when he took the throttle body out to clean the IACV.

I'm stunned that both connects are the same. Both can be interchangeable and they are so close to each other. It was an honest mistake. Shame on Honda for not designing these connectors from not being so easily interchangable. For reference, the blue connector goes to the back (TPMS) and the the grey connector goes on top (MAP sensor). Thanks everyone...

 

Haha, I did the same mistake when I did my Euro R IM on the H22. Mine doesn't surge like that though; instead, it idles very very rough and puffs out alot of black smoke out the exhaust.

I went back to check up on those two connectors to see if I did get them mixed up, because I told myself not to do that when I get everything back together. Lol. And sure enough, I got them mixed up anyway. Haha. I learned about this when we did a Skunk2 IM on my brother's GSR swap EJ6 Hatch. Had the two plug mixed up and his car idles like ****.