Why does my car keep doing this??..

[Hash_man]

So.. I have an 89 Honda Accord. It is fuel injected, with about 230,000kms... And for a few months now, it has been acting up, every time I take the car on a somewhat long drive.

So, after driving the car for a while, I will park it, and then after about half an hour or so, I will go back out and start up the car.

Here is where the problem starts... The car will start up fine, as usual... and then it will only idle at about 600RPm, and the idle will fluctuate up and down, and it doesnt sound so good.

Sometimes it idles so rough that the car just stalls, and then if I leave it for another 15 minutes or so, it's like this never happened, and the car runs perfect. And sometimes, I can just rev the car up to about 1500-2000RPM for a few seconds and the car will be fine, but sometimes if I try this it just stalls again.

I was on a 3rd gen accord specific forum... and other people there have had the same problem, and can also not figure out what it is.

I have had my car in to the mechanic... who could see nothing wrong, except for build up of shit in the injectors which he cleaned out. The problem still continued to happen after this.

Any help is much appreciated.

[-250-]

Timing, make sure that it hasnt skipped some teeth and or the belt has slipped.

If its not timing then it could be clogged injectors? or bad spark plugs.

[89EF]

i think its the IACV valvae

[RickDaTuner]

well usally when you have eratic idle and stalling at idle it has much to do with a broken vaccum line or a malfunctionug Diaphram, one or more of the components that are used by your car to warm up quicker have failed and you are now experiencing this problem hoe that can give you a plat form to start your search for the answer

[cady0021]

I've had a similar, recurring issue on a '95 Saturn. When I clean out the throttle body it seems to run much better for quite some time, but the throttle body continuously seems to fill up with gunk again.

[Hash_man]

Yes, my mechanic not only cleaned out the injectors, but also did so to the throttle body and such.

i think its the IACV valvae

I was told by one other person that this could also be the problem, but seeing as it is a dealer only part for these cars... I want to be sure of it first, because I am sure it will cost a pretty penny.

Timing, make sure that it hasnt skipped some teeth and or the belt has slipped.

If its not timing then it could be clogged injectors? or bad spark plugs.

Timing is good, injectors were clogged, but are not anymore, and the problem still perssists.... And the spark plugs are fairly new, and seem to be fine.

[Moe Man]

vac lines,MAP sensor,throttle body positon sensor

check all of those

[cp1]

the problem as i see it, is that it is a honda!!!

scrap the whole thing buy an rx and dont worry bout "timing" or "valves" or "pistons" or "maintenence free."

Im just kidding but really i had the same problem with a 87 accord with high clicks... it was garbage... but i used a can of "engine restore" its a silver can container from partsource and did an oil change... and never had the problem ever again... ive always believed that to be caused by weak or old valve guides and when they heat up it causes the engine to work like shit on start up... The ENGINE RESTORE did work wonders tho.

[cp1]

also look into getting a special high mileage oil in there as well it does work better for older cars.

[AutodreamMarvin]

Originally posted by 89EF
i think its the IACV valvae

DING! DING! DING!

it's the iacv, or idle air control valve. you can pick these up at honda for $96(i think)

it happened to my 86 prelude with the a20(same as yours) and that was the problem. yes it is very common to the a20 and it is a very easy fix. i can do it for you if you need it done. just let me know.

[cocoabrova]

Just go grab one from Pick-Your-Part.....You can also use the one from the 83-87 Prelude Si (same motor)

[funkytuqe]

Yah dude, try the IACV. Have you been to 3geez.com?? It is a third gen accord site, they might know.

[Hash_man]

DING! DING! DING!

it's the iacv, or idle air control valve. you can pick these up at honda for $96(i think)

it happened to my 86 prelude with the a20(same as yours) and that was the problem. yes it is very common to the a20 and it is a very easy fix. i can do it for you if you need it done. just let me know.

Thanks man... I may have to go pick one up... I can probably do it in mechanics at school too.

Yah dude, try the IACV. Have you been to 3geez.com?? It is a third gen accord site, they might know.

Been there, tried that, but the people on that site don't seem to be too helpful. People just told me they had the same problem, and then listed what the repair manual said it could be, which was about a million things.

Also on that site, only one person suggested the IACV, but after hearing that from quite a few people on here, I may have to get a new one, and hope that it works.

[frostyda9]

I read somewhere about cleaning the IACV as opposed to just replacing it....if you don't want to spend the $ on a new one you might want to do a quick search on it...