I will give a short run down

-1988 CRX DX (DPFI), completely stock, 180,XXX miles.
-bought the car, wouldnt run for **** had CEL for the TPS, and also the TDC sensor in the distribuor.
-Replaced the TPS with a used DPFI throttle body, and replaced the Dist. with a reman from a parts store. Corrected both issues.
- Drove the car for a few months with no issues, has a small skip sometimes, but all in all fine.
- Started idleing rough, so I replaced the Dist. Cap, Rotor, plugs and wires with both NGK

However is is still dying at idle, yet it is not all the time, it is really random. Sometimes I will drive the car to work (60 miles) and not have a single issues, then 8-9 hours later I will drive it home, and every time I stop it does at every stop if I dont keep on the gas, with no CEL at all.

I am going to clean the IACV to see if that has any effect, does anyone else have any suggestions?

 

Sounds like a classic low idle problem. Clean the IACV, as you mentioned, and replace the PCV valve. If the idle speed is still low, then adjust it as per the service manual.

 

Yeah I took the IACV off to clean it... and there was no screen lol... I have never owned a DPFI car before, so either the screen was clogged and came out, or it could be an after market unit. I am going to sea foam it, change the PCV and put some sea foam in the gas and oil, and drive it this week, and change it, and the fuel filter, and see where it stands.

 

Update:
So I found a dist screw missing out of the cap, I guess I didnt tighten one down when I changed the dist out, replaced it, tightened up the throttle cable, and it was like super loose, cleaned the IACV (No screen though) added some coolant, was a little low.

everything was going good, the car had a normal idle at 800ish RPM, until I got stuck in traffic, and it fell down to 2-300, idle surging, up to around 500 RPM, then dying, unless I kept it reved up. It seems like today though once it started a few times I could just tap the gas and it would level back out. I am thinking possibly fuel pump now? I need to pick up a gauge and see what my fuel pressure is when it is doing it.

 

CEL codes?

Clean the IACV, replace the PCV valve, and bleed the cooling system.

 

If it idles up and down you might have a vacuum leak.

 

No CEL's, already cleaned the IACV, and bought a new PCV valve tonight, although it didnt happen at all on the way home from work....

I was thinking today, could the fuel pump be going out? Cause like I said today it seemed like it would start, then I would blip the throttle, and it would smooth out again, almost like maybe it was losing pressure, then hitting the gas just put out some extra pressure?

 

A bad fuel pump is not a good fit with your problem. Fuel pumps rarely fail in our Civics.

We refer to the "gas pedal" but this is a misnomer for our Civics because the pedal does not control fuel flow. Instead, it is a throttle control that regulates the amount of air flowing into the cylinders.

Do these:

1) Install the new PCV valve.
2) Adjust the idle speed to spec.
3) Make sure the throttle cable is not adjusted too tightly - there should be some slack in it - and clean the throttle body.

 

I'm curious if he has vacuum leak ... How do u fix that then?

 

to fix a vacuum leak you replace or tighten whats leaking. with the cars being so old a vacuum leak could be caused by a dry rotted hose. or sometimes a hose will become disconnected and then you reconnect it.