I had an Accord sitting for just over a year, put a battery in and now the idle surges between 1200-1500 constantly. Happens in Neutral also, but when in Park and Reverse the surging goes away but idle is a bit high at 1100 rpm. I checked the radiator and it is still topped off, because I heard that could cause the problem. I talked to mechanic I know and he said the problem could be a part that cost almost $1000 (Idle air control valve). He told me with the car sitting so long some other thing might go wrong like a radiator belt busting and with 161000 miles, he told me better to junk the car. Problem is the car in unregistered with no Safety Check right now, so I can't legally drive it to a shop for a check.

Any suggestions?

 

That mechanic is out of his mind trying to quote you $1000 to replace a $300 part. It's actually only $234 if you buy it yourself, even cheaper if you get it from rockauto and use a 5% off coupon code you can find anywhere on the internet. It's in a tough spot to get to but even the stealership won't charge you $1000 to replace it.

http://www.hondapartscheap.com/auto-parts/2000/honda/accord-sedan/lx-trim/5-speed-manual-engine/engine-cat/throttle-body-scat"
part 6

http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/h...ac)+valve,6072

You need to do some work to find out where the vacuum leak is. It's possible you just have a vacuum hose that's cracked and letting in air. There are howto-s on youtube for trying to find a vacuum leak. It's possible the iacv is bad but you want to be sure.

 

It's a V-6. I can't find my Honda tech manuals. Could you give me a better link on where the valve is? The link you gave doesn't work.

Thanks.

 

i fixed the link but it was for a 4 cylinder, here's the one for yours and its even cheaper
http://www.hondapartscheap.com/auto-parts/2000/honda/accord-sedan/exv6-trim/4-speed-automatic-engine/engine-cat/throttle-body-v6-scat