Hello honda-tech, I'm new here and really appreciate the community around these forums and hope you special people could help my very (now) unspecial 2000 honda accord.

First off, I have little mechanic experience, I have a very basic understanding and can definitely follow a guide and figure most things out, so assume I'm a woman. (just kidding ladies)

The hot-rod: 2000 Honda Acccord 4cycl, 2.3 EX Manual trans.

Background: Was given the car with CEL light on 3 years ago, dad told not to worry about it.

The Problem: (PRIOR) - Car would randomly hesitate while cruising (1/day approx), but only when I was barely touching the gas to maintain speed.

-About a few weeks prior, randomly the car would roughly idle at 700rpm when stopped or neutral. However if I shut the car off and restarted it, the problem resolved. NEVER STALL

-Days leading up: IDLE RPMs would randomly drop to even 2-400RPM, very rough idle, Never stalled. Nor all the time.

Nov 3rd- filled a full tank, went home, no issues.

Nov 4th- Driving on the highway, put in into neutral to downshift, rpms dropped to 0 and stalled. Drove home, same problem but would now stall when stopped/neutral about 80% of the time. Drove fairly normal otherwise.

4th-today: Will not idle, may manage to for 5 seconds very roughly before stall. Will roughly accelerate between 1-3k RPM, when its exceptionally rough the CEL flashes, after is not a noticeable difference. NOTE: Starting the car is impossible unless you pump the gas.

Prev Codes (Nov 4th): (300,301,303 (misfires)), P0122 - Throttle position sensor low input, P0420 - Low Cat Convert Efficency, P1457 -Evap emissions control - small leak, P1399 - Manufactures control ignition system or misfire

Brought the car to honda, they checked it and told me needed new throttle body (600 bucks for the part + 1 week of wait for special order).

Needed my car fixed in less than week, went to the junkyard found a 2001 Honda accord 4cyc (but its automatic) with what looked like a newer throttle body than mine (my dad believes (hes the 'mechanic') that it was a newer replacement from the condition).

Swapped, and while I do actually notice a slight improvement in acceleration , problem remains.

HAVE CHANGED: All plugs, wires, intake filter, and now the throttle body + fuel system cleaner/water remover (just added to my tank, filled it)

codes from today (Nov 7th, keep in mind it was reset by honda): P0300,301,302,303 (misfires now in cycl #2 as well), P0122 throttle position sensor- low input, P0108 - MAP pressure circuit- high input, P0401: EGR flow insufficient

PCV vacuum is fine, cleaned the EGR valve around 5 years ago.

Next plan of action was to clean the EGR valve and check for vacuum leaks (although I'm not sure exactly what im looking for)

Sooooooooooooooooooooo thank you for joining on this SOL journey, I've set up beverages just over yonder ---> (drinks here), if anyone would like to grab a drink and offer a suggestion, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm a broke 21 year old student, and the last week has been hell without my car and the money already thrown into it. SAS - (save a student)

Thanks in advance all!

 

UPDATE: I just remembered I noticed something very new for my car.

Prior to the problem, when I would rev the engine and hold the RPMS at, lets say, 2k RPM, the RPM needle would BE VERY STEADY and only change with change in throttle.

NOW, when trying to rev and hold, the needle will sway, maybe give or take 100 RPMs, with NO CHANGE in throttle.

Worth mentioning: I have a bit of a gunk build up around the front of the valve gasket cover, after changing the oil one day and running the car I noticed a very little bit of the fresh oil leaking from there.

 

Sounds like a few things going on.

Let's try the 0401 first and see if that will also clear the mis-fire codes. I'd pull the plenum and clean the egr passages inside of it. There is a P0401 thread floating around in here, it starts with a 5th gen car but further down you will find pic's of the 6th gen 4 cyl in it.

EDIT: here, I'll save you a bit: https://honda-tech.com/honda-accord-...-code-2674082/

Go to post #20 and you'll see the pic's of the 6th gen 4 cyl

 

On my way to clean the EGR. Also I believe I can hear a vacuum leak, will be looking for that now as well.

What else do you believe may be happening?

Someone had mentioned changing the main relay for issues like this, its 75 bucks and I'm thinking my next best/easiest fix if the EGR and vacuum dont pan out, whatd you think?

 

Solve the codes.

Yes, if you think there might be a vac leak - verify and fix that as well.

In your case, replacing the main relay is a waste of money. Not sure who suggested that.

 

Well, it was indeed, the EGR valve. It was due to a small piece of metal stuck in it, leaving it opened, go figure. The way my engine was shaking and how quickly things went south, I thought my engine was toast, but now she runs perfect! :D

Any advice for this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negligent_infliction_of_emotional_distress

 

I see this post is over 10 years old, but figured I'd reply in hopes it helps someone else. My car is 2001 Accord 2.3 (F23A1), 5sp. 220k mi. I had almost the exact same problem and fix as SOL4life. In my case the problem came on very suddenly, the car went from running great to a really rough idle while I was sitting at a light, luckily I was close to home, I could kept it running by giving it gas and heel-toeing the brake, but still it died on me a couple times while I was limping it home. After letting it cool down the symptoms were it would start right up and run fine while cold, as the engine warmed the idle slowed down (as normal) but the idle got more and more rough, as it warmed up to normal temp, it died (it would run maybe five minutes on a cold day). I could keep it running if I kept my foot on the gas but it was clearly misfiring (tach needle bounced slightly and quick random pulses in the exhaust sound), when I took my foot off the gas it would shake terribly, try to idle around 200 RPMs and then die. While running the exhaust smelled terrible and it almost sounded like an old V8 or a boat with a loud, uneven idle.
It would stay running with the IACV unplugged, but the idle was bouncing up and down and had sluggish throttle response, I suppose if you were desperate you could drive it with the IACV unplugged temporarily.
I did a lot of poking around, could not find any vacuum leaks, I cleaned the throttle body (though it wasn't too bad), spark plugs and wires looked good, I had replaced the distributor about two years ago, so ruled that out, what little bit of the timing belt I could see looked good (has about 40k on it), I even replaced the Idle Air control valve - $200 bucks wasted!
In my case the CEL never came on, but I did have P1399 code pending (multiple cylinder misfire).
I did not initially think of EGR as causing a misfire or the erratic idle, but once I pulled it I saw the small round valve stuck open with a small piece of hardened up carbon or something, the valve snapped shut immediately, when I removed it. I cleaned the EGR valve and used a stiff wire and half a bottle of throttle body cleaner to clean out both ends of the EGR passages in the plenum and manifold. Put it all back together and cleared the code.
Now it's running great, when I start it while warm the idle will dip down around 500 RPM very briefly when it first starts (I don't think it used to do that, but maybe I never noticed), but there are no drivability issues, the idle is rock solid when I come to a stop and there are no codes and no CEL after driving the hell out of it, so I'm calling it fixed.
Quick, easy, inexpensive fix, if you know what to look for.