I recently bought a second 91 accord, for $225, the people said it ran good just stopped driving due to tank straps rusting off so I drove it home on a dolly and installed new straps. Now to the real problem apparently, now this may be due to the car sitting for a while and possibly some weather wear has caused this, but the car won't idle but runs and misses occasionally if I hold the revs at like 3k, if it's drops lower than that it dies. I know the alternator is bad because it started smoking when I was charging the battery for some reason so there's another thing to figure out too, but could that cause it to not idle or run rough? I've heard a lot about iacv and fitv valves and cleaning them and seeing how it runs after that. So I plan to install a new fuel filter and clean both of those valves. In addition there is no coolant in the reservoir and I can't see any in the radiator I read that could also mess up idle due to coolant being used in the iacv? Maybe that's wrong but just trying to state everything wrong possible. When it was running I didn't see any check engine lights or even an alternator light oddly enough. Lots of smoke in exhaust but also no type of muffler or cat so could just be that but I also smell a slight tinge of gas in oil could that be a head gasket problem? Let me know what you guys think and if you have a list of things I could check.

 

Well, there could be a bunch of stuff. I went through a similar but different experience. My attempts to fix the rich exhaust meets gutless idle and struggle to get up to 3000 rpm from a stop thing sent me through a few things... First thing I did was change the IACV. That didnt fix the situation. Sooo, I cleaned out the EGR ports. At that point I had a high idle while cold, and then a hunting idle once it warmed up. Turned out that the gummed up EGR ports were a problem. The IACV was doing what it knew how to do once I cleaned them out.. and in this case, it was reacting to a vacume lead. I did the smoke trick and found the leak. Turns out, I created that leak by being absent minded and not reconnecting a vacume line.. but, I digress.. I reconnected the hose, and still had an issue. Turns out, the idle set screw was set wide open.. well, way more open than it needed to be. So, it might as well have been another vacume leak. I dialed that back down and got it To a place where it would idle comfortably around 750 rpm.

 

So I cleaned the fitv and iacv and filled the coolant reservoir and radiator, now it idles and runs much much better, now I just have to fix the alternator I hate pulleys and belts

 

Yeah, especially when the space is so cramped, and you gotta take off stuff to get to where you need to be. Thankfully, there is an elegant simplicity to a lot of this stuff. Meaning to say that every thing happens for a reason, and there is a good shade tree mechanic space in these cars. I have learned a TON in the month or so since I bought my rough old cb7. Im really excited about getting it to a like new place.

 

agreed. Putting on the pulleys is a bit like a ballet, coordinating getting the parts loose enough to get the old ones off and the news on. But at least it's above the car and not under for the most part. I think the trickiest is loosening the alternator just enough.