Well first of all, I'm a newbie here! Hello all!! I'm glad to have found this site!! For some of the vets here, I am aware of the search button too ! But when I did a search on this subject, I would only find topics on the newer accords. Please possibly link me to some older posts or help me out if possible! Maybe some keywords to search for! Thanks

I have an 89 Accord DX, 212,000 miles. I live in Atlanta, GA. When I start the car in the morning to get it nice and warmed up, the idle would steadily raise until it gets to around 3k rpm. Then it would just sit there until I hit the gas pedal to release it. Then it would idle around 750-1k, depending on how it feels. I'm not sure what to look for under the hood to deal with this situation, so any help would be great! BTW, it's a carbureatur (I know, bad spelling)

 

the "choke" is all gummed up w/ fuel deposits. Run some spray carb cleaner (your going to have to pop-off the air filter cover & remove a few bolts to get to the inner carb). Follow the directions on the can & DON'T look down into the carb while your doing this. That thing can back-fire right into your face. Use googles if you have some lying around. Do this when the car is running...

Also too, you'll want to run some Gumout or STP carb cleaner for the gas-tank. All this stuff shouldn't set you back more than $5-6 dollars at Target or any automotive store.

edit: before you spray into the carb, take an old cloth and wipe the inside of the air-filter canister to clean out the gunk. No use having dead bees / leafs going into your carb...

 

I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that I did those already. Last night I put some carb cleaner in the gas tank. but I guess it's been a few weeks since I squirted some cleaner in the carb. However, I didn't spray it while the engine was running. Last time I did that, it did like you said and backfired on me! Can you say peed my pants? LOL So I guess I'll go get some more cleaner and spray out the carb while it's running. Thanks RB!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RotaryBzzzz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">(your going to have to pop-off the air filter cover & remove a few bolts to get to the inner carb)</TD></TR></TABLE>

When you say "inner carb" do you mean just as far as the screen on top of the carb? Or does it need to be broken down further? Thanks again

 

yeah...i like to uncrew that screen (two 10mm bolts i think) and get down deeper. I think you get a better cleaning b/k you can hit all angles.

It could be your throttle cable is alittle sticky too. It might be alittle gummed up right where the cable levers onto the carb.

It helps to have someone giving the car gas while your doing this....you'll sometimes bog down into a stall. I'd basically be spraying but "ducked & goggled" to avoid gettin' hit!

 

Sounds kinda normal to me. It's spelled carburator...

We're all used to injected cars, so I'll explain this one. When it's cold the choke closes & the fast-idle cam holds the throttle open a bit. If you don't touch the gas pedal, the throttle spring holds it against the fast idle cam. So the choke opens up but the fast-idle cam is 'stuck' until you tap on the gas pedal. That part sounds exactly like you're describing, so I don't see what's wrong.

Other than that, the only other thing I can think of is dismantle the carb, clean it good, put it back together. I've never had a carburated Honda, but ask me about a '72 Datsun 510... You used to have to do this as routine maintenance, & I believe http://www.ahmotor.com has carb rebuild kits for some Hondas. It'll probably have some new gaskets & an accelerator pump.

 

Thanks for all the great info guys! Really basic stuff! I love it! Hopefully it helps out on my emissions test I'm gonna do tomorrow!

 

Ok, cleaned out the carb the best I could without taking it apart. It runs a little better now, but still does the high idle bit. Also, even after it is warmed up, say after a drive to work, I would start the car up again and the RPMs would shoot clear up to 3000 for a few minutes. It would stay there whether I'm driving or not. Is there a stuck valve or something? I'm just not sure what items to look for. Thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by spoon611 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... Is there a stuck valve or something?</TD></TR></TABLE>Probably. 1989 is new enough there must be a cat, O2 sensor, & some kinda control solenoids or something. See if you can get your hands on a repair manual, maybe at a library??

(Sorry, but I'm not gonna buy a shop manual for a car that I don't own!)

 

Well i got a 1991 acoord lx and when mine idled like that it was the spark plug housing unit i got it fixed and it was perfect