Recently I pulled my motor to clean up some oil leaks on it.
While I had it out I took out the charcoal canister.
I put it back in:
see pic 1.
Started up and had some strange idle problems. It revs up to 4K stays there then drops to normal idle then shoots up back to 4K stays there for a while then drops to a normal idle and just keeps repeating this.

I do have some vacuum lines not connected now on the IM. The line going to the tank that went to the charcoal can I left open.

First at the throttle body:
see pic 2.
Second is at the back of the IM:
see pic 3.
And I have the purge valve disconnected both electrically and vacuum.
see pic 4.

I have NO CEL.

I am not sure where to go from here.

 

You have enormous air-leaks into the intake. That's why the idle is cycling.

The first thing I would do is to put electrical tape solidly over all the leak-points you show in your photographs. Have you tried this?

 

And can I ask why you deleted the evap purge solenoid and the evap canister.
As this system does not ruin HP's in any way.
And needs to be present in most states that regulate emissions on our vehicles.

 

The canister was busted open and not doing a lot.
i tried plugging both with no luck.

 

Make sure your not swapping the idle air control valve connector with one of the evap auxileries also

 

borrowed a friend's canister and connected it per the manual and still as the same idle problem.

Any suggestions?

 

No check engine light at all?

Did you completely burp the cooling system of all air?

And have you physically checked for any signs of vacuum leaks?

 

Yup no CEL.
Yup I completely burped the coolant.
I checked every thing I could think of. I disconnected the intake tube and plugged the IAC hole with my finger and the idle dropped but not all the way to normal. Plugging the fast idle did nothing.

 

cleaned the IAC seemed to help a lot. Reset the ECU and messed with the idle speed screw gave me a steady idle but then when i started to drive it started to pulse again.

1K to 2K to 1K to 2K and so on and so on.

vacuum lines are all installed and in stock locations so I am not sure what is wrong other then some how the IAC went bad from pulling the motor and putting it back in....seems strange to me....

 

What exactly was done to the motor during your last stint of working on it?

Was the engine experiencing these same problems before recently working on it?

And try to spray some carb clean around gasket areas while engine is running to search for vacuum leaks, TB gasket, IM gasket, ect, If idle increses or changes in any way, you can narrow down the problem area/leak

 

good suggestion i will try that.

I did vlave cover gasket, new oil pan, cap, rotor, plugs, wires, timing belt, water pump, cam seals and so on.

I am going to re- burp coolant and try to find someone with a known good IAC valve and i will try to search for the vacuum leak.

And no the engine ran great before i pulled it. So its probably a dumb mistake.

 

It always ends up being something dumb in the end, but no worries, just trying to get a feel for whats been done to see if something in particular is contributing towards your issues.
Get back at us after completing these tasks.

 

coolant is air free and was, so that's not it.
Hit the IAC a couple of times while running and it did nothing.
Started spraying carb cleaner every where and when I spray it at the IM by the head it smooths out.

I forgot to mention that i replaced the intake manifold gasket with a new one. But the old one was stuck on there pretty good so it took a lot of work to clean the old one off.

Im going to try check all the bolts holding the IM to the head. I hope i didn't mess up the surface of the head when i was cleaning off the old gasket.

 

You DO have a leak at the IM gasket then,
It needs to come apart again and all mating surfaces cleaned, flat, and true.
If you have any Gnar knicks a dab of hondabond/liquid gasket will do the trick, and reinstall it using factory torque specs will fix it.
I do condone doing the idle and spray technique again before doing this and narrow down exactly where the vacuum leak is coming from, so when disassembeling you can note/see where the problem area lies.
Good job w/pictures and following directions, youll be on the road in no time

Also let this be a lesson to not fix it if it hasnt broken yet, if you werent experiencing a leak or idle problems due to IM gasket then it should not have been cracked loose and had gasket replaced. Can of worms expecially on these old OBD1 hondas/acuras

 

and the IM bolts were loose. Damn i feel like an idiot.

Beecee18 thanks for all your help. If you didn't suggest finding a leak with carb cleaner I probably would of never found that.

She is running smmooooth now.

 

It takes 2 brother, good job on your end also, dont feel stupid, just learn!

$#!T, even better it doesnt have to come apart again!

 

just took her around the block a couple of times and its very smooth...