Hello- I bought a 1989 civic DX with 1.5L 16 valve motor almost a year ago. Had been a summer only car for the last ten years in a very small town with limited mechanic availability. I put over 4,000 into it before realizing it needed a new head gasket and then wound up rebuilding the whole engine. Before this I had changed oil and tires a few times but did not have much mechanical experiance at all. Luckily my husband had a friend with a shop who led me through the rebuilding process. Before he got involved, I disconnected most of the (mysterious to me at the time) wires and hoses and gizmos per the very general instructions of the Haines manual. "Clearly label, then disconnect all vacuum lines, coolant and emission hoses, wiring harness connectors, ground straps and fuel lines. Masking tap...works well." Some of those things turned out later to have sensitive adjustment positions, like the two throttle cables which I impatientely removed the only way I could figure out, which was to completely unscrew the adjustment. 8 weeks later, the car is reassembled and runs, mostly, great. I'm at 160 miles on the rebuild and it has started to run rough for a few minutes after a cold start, and then it smooths out when warmed up. Before the rebuild the mechanic I had visited thought it needed a new IAC valve. I cleaned it really well during the rebuild and hoped to avoid a new one.Also, the car now shifts at extremely high RPMs. I'm thinking the two things are only related in that I touched both the throttle cables and the IACV. I have removed the IAC valve to reclean, but it's still pretty squeaky clean- maybe its still bad even though it's clean? ANd does anyone have suggestions for issue#2, the high shifting? The Haines manual recommends any issue that cannot be solved by adding more fluid be taken to a auto shop. My mechanic mentor is not familiar with the throttle cable that attaches to the AT that I completely unscrewed to remove. You guys have been a great help to me through out this by reading other peoples posts, I'm hoping you can come up with something for this too.

 

First - throw out the Haynes manual.
Pick up a Helms or a Honda Service Manual.
Well worth the extra money.

Is this car an automatic and/or does it have cruise control?
Trying to figure out what the second cable is going to your throttle body wheel.

 

Yes it's an Auto. I have wanted at times to burn the Haines, but it is better than nothing, which was the other option when I was getting started on this. I will look for another option on line. Other information on the rebuild: new pcv, oil temperature sending unit, & coolant sensor. I just put the recleaned IAC back on and started it and it was a little better. I'm in Alaska, there are no new or used IAC valves in this state it would seem, and partsgeek won't ship to Alaska, so I'll have to ship it to my dad in WA and have him send it to me up here. I'm thinking I will have to bite the bullet for the IAC valve, unless there is anyway the rough running after starting could be related to the cable at the automatic transmission which is probably mis-adjusted and the reason for the high rpms at shifting.