Hello, this is my first post here. I'm new to the Honda thing but am having fun so far working on my 06 Element. Motor runs like a top but between shifts, the rpms hang before dropping. I searched for intake leaks but didn't find any. Thoughts?

 

This is by design. Its an emissions thing. I also hate it.

https://www.carthrottle.com/post/rev...heads-hate-it/

 

Bummer. Sounds like Kpro is the solution. Along with removal of all the intake emissions stuff. The article mentions the ECU keeping the throttle slightly cracked open to avoid air/fuel ratio spikes, but my Element is drive by cable and I wonder what is specifically responsible for this condition on my car. Thanks for the article. Good read.

 

Not 100% sure how the K24A1 does it, but I've seen other cars use the idle air control valve, or a little damper on the throttle.

 

Id been having this issue on my 03 Cr-v and it drove me nuts. The idle would either stay at, or climb to a higher rpm during shifts. Mainly upon warm up of the vehicle, once it warmed up it became a lot less severe. While you don't have the idle air control valve on your year I believe, you might still have the intake air thermal bypass valve. This little valve is connected to the block on a coolant outlet, has one hose running from the intake hose, and the other from the intake manifold. It is heat activated, basically designed to help bring the engine to operating temperature faster, by sucking in more air. Once the coolant heats up it closes(no electronics involved, all purely mechanical). Your valve may be stuck open at all times, continuously sucking in extra air, and confusing the computer. Honestly it is not a necessary function. Proper replacements are damn near impossible to find on the cheap, and require a lot of effort just to replace. I ended up capping the stem that runs to the intake hose with a vacuum cap, and the idle hang/climb went away. This is a bandaid fix, but one that is effective, can be permanent, and honestly probably your cheapest /easiest option to start with, as an assortment pack of vacuum caps cost about $2. Takes about 5 minutes to cap of the valve, and the hole on the intake hose. Another thing you could do is check for air in your coolant. If you recently had the system open and possibly got air in your coolant, Hondas are known for being really finicky with that. Check that the system is properly bled.

 

Thanks Polka, I'll try this. The K24A4 does use a IAC valve. Its located on the bottom side of the throttle body.

 

No problem! And my apologies for the misinformation. On the crv's I was under the impression that the k20a4 converted to drive by wire throttle bodies around 2005-2006, eliminating the iacvs, which I imagined would be the same on the element. If you do in fact have an iacv still, spraying a little bit of carb cleaner in the iacv port on your throttle body might help as well. Cheers, keep us updated!

 

Is it recommended to remove the IAC valve and clean it, or does removing it not really allow adequate access? Your right about the drive by wire. For the Element, I believe 07 was the first year for it. One of the reasons I got an 06, I'm gonna turbo it and Brian from Hasport recommended avoiding the drive by wire.

 

You could remove it, and very gingerly clean it with a soft bristle brush. There's not much room to really get into the mechanism though. But yours doesn't necessarily sound stuck considering your rpms eventually drop. When mine was stuck, the car wouldn't idle, stall out constantly, I had to throttle it just to keep the car running between stops. That's why I was thinking spraying a little bit of carb cleaner in there might be the better option instead of tearing out your throttle body just yet, to see if anything changes. If it's just a little sticky the carb cleaner should do the trick.

 

I know this thread has some legs but I am having the same issue on my 2004 5 speed. The idle is ok most of the time, but at times, usually after it has sat for about an hour, I'll start it up and it will be ok until I start to drive. When the clutch is pressed in the idle shoots up to 2k or so. I blip of the throttle and it comes down to normal. I have cleaned the IAC and tried replacing it with a used unit that was also cleaned. It was all over after the swap, put the original back in. No CEL's and a check of OBDII data shows the throttle plate returning to idle as well. At a loss on this one.