tomarango

So, i'm no expert but no stranger to mechanics either. I'd appreciate if anybody has the answer or has had the following problem:

car in question: 92 prelude Si, h23A.

-When i start the car in the morning it will sit at 1000-1100 rpm.
-When it gets to normal operating temperature it will rise to about 1600-1700 rpm, and sometimes it will surge up to almost 2000 rpm at a light or in traffic. Then again but not that often and not for long it will sit back at 1200 rpm.
-I took of the IACV (idle air control valve i think it means????) and cleaned it with carb cleaner. The car worked ok for less than a day then went back to doing the same.....
-and when i press the pedal to the floor when it reaches like 3000rpm it starts like choking and losses power, like it wasn't getting air or fuel i don't know.....
-Would it be the throttle position sensor or the stepper motor / idle speed controller, or the IACV, or the vacuum lines?

Pleas =e i really need help with this! Thanks! By the way this page is really good, lots of information.........

SoCalBA8

Start by checking the obvious. I know the EGR Valve has something to do with idling, so make sure that is clean and properly adjusted. Here is a link that I found with a quick google search: How to: Clean your EGR Valve. Next you can check your fuel filter to see if it's clogged, then your soft fuel lines to see if any of them are collapsing, then start checking everything that has to do with air flow: intake or stock air box, intake tube, catalytic converter could also choke your acceleration and bog power. Could even be loose or cracked vacuum lines. Just make a check list and start going through them one by one. That's my best suggestion. Good luck.

minilogoguy18

^Wrong, only the IACV and when cold the FITV control idle, EGR is for emissions. Since cleaning the IACV helped some but it went back you could try to replace the gasket for the IACV, it worked for me. Vacuum leaks can cause a fluctuating idle but first take the carb cleaner and spray around the IACV and if it stumbles it's that gasket.

Clogged cat is more than likely the problem with the power loss, have someone rev the engine good while you look under the car to see if the cat starts to glow red hot then you'll know. Shouldn't be anything fuel related if you do in fact run the recommended premium unleaded, my car has always ran it and last I had the injectors out they were clean and I never changed the filter, pump or ran any additives.

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New Formula Red 93 BB2: JDM OBD1 H22a/T2W4 Accord Euro R transmission

tomarango

thanks for your help guys, i'll start doing all checks tomorrow, today i bought some spanners but bought SAE instead of metric....arggg gotta go back to the shop tomorrow to exchange them......good luck!

SoCalBA8

I'm sorry if you believe I posted wrong information about the EGR Valve. If you read through the thread in the link I posted, they explain how the EGR can affect idling and power as well as, but not only, emissions. Hence I thought it to be relevant and correct information.

minilogoguy18

I've never seen a car with a bad EGR valve or clogged ports have a jumping idle, power loss for sure and a stumble on acceleration but nothing like what a bad IACV or bad vacuum leak can do.

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New Formula Red 93 BB2: JDM OBD1 H22a/T2W4 Accord Euro R transmission

tomarango

today i removed the IACV again, cleaned it well with carbie cleaner. I also removed the fat air intake hose from the throttle body and sprayed a whole heap of carbie cleaner in there. It did get some dirt out!.
Then i removed the distributor cap and cleaned in there too.
After that i removed the sparkplugs which are like 2 months old but they were full of carbon (anybody knows the reason?). Since it was at night and i gotta use the car tomorrow i gave them a nice clean and put 'em back in.
The drove ok from work to home, revs stayed at 1100-1200. didn't go up to 1800 like they've been doing the last couple of weeks.....but i'm sure tomorrow it will go back to normal, which means it will be bad again.
When i put the IACV back on i started the car and when the revs went up hi i started tapping it with a hammer (i suppose that the stepper motor is sticking or something) and sometimes the revs went down again.
As for the lack of power and the clogging at 3000rpm i still don't know what it might be.....but i suspect a sensor feeding the ECU bad info. Any clues?
Thanks to those who have taken the time to read and replied for helping and putting a little bit of they're knowledge out here. It doesn't matter if something is not completely right, putting our ideas out there makes us think, associate and create new knowledge or come to conclusions........

minilogoguy18

You must not be reading, check for vacuum leaks and replace the IACV gasket, not gonna post the same thing again. A bad sensor would trip a CEL and nothing should have been on the plug wires, you need to look at it again and make sure oil isn't filling the plug tubes, it will ruin the spark plugs.

Carb cleaner isn't great to spray all over also, it eats up gaskets and seals, if you need to clean use brake clean.

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New Formula Red 93 BB2: JDM OBD1 H22a/T2W4 Accord Euro R transmission

tomarango

hi, thanks! indeed the engine light is on. I'm gonna go ahead and get an IACV gasket and replace it. Also, how do i check for vacuum leaks? All the little hoses seem to be in place. Is there a different way to check other than visual inspection?
I short circuit the blue plug and the 4ws light (mine is 4ws) blinks 6 long and 2 short blinks, over and over. by my undestanding that is fault code 62, but the charts don't have a number 62 on them either 61 or 63 which are oxygen sensor faults.......
Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

jaydeem

let mwe know how this goes please. I have the exact same fa#@$ problem and its killing my gas!!!! I changed the ivc but no change and the other one was clogged as a mofo thanks bro!

burnttigger

sometimes a stuck pcv valve can do it. to test remove the vacuum hose that goes to your pcv and plug it with your thumb. if it begins to idle normal like the way it should then it's your pcv thats stuck open. needs to be replaced. they only cost like 4bucks. hope this fixes the prob.

tomarango

Like i wrote before, the code that comes up on the 4ws light when i short circuit the blue plug is: 6 long blinks and 2 short blinks which from my understanding would be fault code 62 which i thought would be the oxygen sensor. I bought a new one, $$$$$100 bucks down the gutter, it didn't fix a thing. Please anybody who's had the same problem help! it's drinking fuel like it was a truck. Idle is high and it doesn't rev above 3000 rpm when it stars like choking.

tomarango

Thanks man, i'll try that!!!!!

minilogoguy18

Ok, now it's almost annoying, are you reading ANYTHING I'm telling you? Your power loss problem is more than likely a clogged cat, fix it and quit listening to all this random info that isn't helping you. It's so retardedly easy to check, just have someone rev the engine while you look under the car, the cat will start to glow, if not possible air filter clog.

PCV valve will not cause such a thing and if yours did it be the first I've ever heard of, a stuck PCV valve will just cause oil burning.

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New Formula Red 93 BB2: JDM OBD1 H22a/T2W4 Accord Euro R transmission

tomarango

Hi Minilogoguy18,
Thanks for your help. I did what you've told me all along. Today i disconnected the cat from the back of the exhaust manifold so the car ran without the exhaust system. I had hope that it would fix the problem but it didn't. Still choking at 3000rpm, won't rev past that.
I also checked the PCV valve and it was perfectly fine.....
Next step will be to check the air filter clog but it still looks new. Still i'll disconnect the air filter box and try to run it like that to see what happens.
Its becoming annoying not to find the fault but i hope that this will help others to not waste time or money doing what i've done.
Please let me know of any other ideas of what it might be!!!
Thanks in advance!

tomarango

Hi, finally a breaktrough!!!!!
I started today by disconnecting the egr valve to see if anything got better but no, no change whatsoever.
I had lost hope and then i remembered someone mentioning reseting the ECU. I took the ECU fuse out (i don't think that this is needed) and disconnected the battery. Then i let the car sit there with no battery power for like 20 minutes to reset the ECU (20 mins might be exagerated but i tought that the ECU might reset better, but just taking the power off for a few seconds might do it).
When i turned on my car after reseting the ECU all my problems were gone. It's got the power back, idles smooth.........
so after all this, reseting the ECU was the answer. But i did put a new oxygen sensor in and this might also be helping........
So hopefully somebody can benefit on this experience. thanks to all who helped!

minilogoguy18

We're you ever getting a CEL? Might want to make sure that the bulb in the dash is working because it sounds like a code was stored.

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New Formula Red 93 BB2: JDM OBD1 H22a/T2W4 Accord Euro R transmission

tomarango

Hey minilogoguy,
Yeah man, i was getting a CEL all the time. it appeared when the problems started. And before they started i used to get a CEL sometimes when i was going uphill in a high gear and low revs..but it would dissapear again when i turned of the car....i think that that one might have been a lazy o2 sensor. My car now is running better than ever, hopefully it stays that way. Changing the o2 sensor and changing the fuel from 91 to 95 or 98 octanes also made a big difference! thanks for all your help man, appreciate it!

jaydeem

Can I still have an idle problem even with no CEL? When I turn the ignition on all the lights on the dashboard light up...even the cel...freaking idling problem!! ..im going to try resetting ecu

tomarango

yeah i think you can. try the IACV valve which has solved the problem for other people. read all of what people have said to do and try it on your car, good luck