Requesting a diagnosis on a 2k idle. - Honda Prelude Forum

incredipaul · 06-09-2007, 09:00 AM

So this week I spent $417 on new clutch cylinders (master and slave) and now my brake pedal is fading. Super. Thats gonna be another $265 or so according to the shop.

That is what I do know... now onto the latest.

Twice now my idle has been up to almost 2k. This has been in stop and go traffic and on hot days. I'll come to a stop and I can hear the engine is running at 1700. That can't be right can it?

Its a 1995 VTEC with 180,000 so it is getting up there.

I'm half tempted to sell the Lude and buy my dad's new wife's old Accord. Got that? Yeah I'm still confused myself.

Please offer any advice or insight you may have.

incredipaul · 06-09-2007, 09:10 AM

Forgot to mention that the high idle is only happening after the car has been driven around for a little while... I'd say about 15minutes... and my temperature gauge reads two bars, right in the middle where it shoudl be.

Tola · 06-11-2007, 08:25 PM

Your throttle cable or throttle plate is sticking. I go through this every summer, yet I'm too lazy to fix it. All I do when this happens is stick my foot under the gas pedal and lift it up when I'm at a stop. Take off your throttle cable and clean it off, then re-grease it with lithium grease. Take off your intake, and spray some of that throttle body cleaner stuff on the TB, that should completely fix this problem.

As for your clutch and brake cylinders... I think the shop is screwing around with you. There's no way it should cost that much for the clutch cylinders to begin with. Part are under $100 and they can't have taken 3-4 hrs on it. Get out of there now! Find another place man. Sorry.

Don't sell the lude. Learn to fix these simple problems yourself. You will regret it if you sell it, especially for an "old Accord". My 94 VTEC has about 205k on there now. I love this car, even though you can feel its age.

incredipaul · 06-17-2007, 09:11 AM

Thanks for the reply! And the tip too. Next chance I get I will take care of that pesky cable.

I like to do as much work as possible myself, but unfortunately the lude is my daily driver. When it breaks I need it done asap so I can get to work.

You know I have my suspicions about that shop... one time they insisted that my car took six quarts of oil. The next time I did it myself and five was just fine. Though I wasn't as specific the first time around. That $417 also included a couple of gaskets for my exhaust manifold and an hour of labor just to put them in and fix the leak. I usually take my car to a friend of mine, but he was between shops at the time. Checking the price with him usually gives me an idea of what I'm up against. He told me the brake cylinder and install would be about $300 where he works now. Can this be accurate?

Yeah I'll probably never sell the Lude. I do love it... but it needs struts bad... if it would stop breaking I'd get some already.

EDIT:

You're in Philly! I live in South Jersey and work in the city... can you reccomend a shop?

Tola · 06-17-2007, 10:45 AM

I can't really comment on how accurate the pricing is. I just go by how much a part cost and approximate install time. In the case of a brake master cylinder, the part itself is just under $100 and I don't think it should take more than an hour, so maybe $200 max? I don't really know.

I can't recommend you a shop because I never take my car to any shop other than to get an inspection or alignment. And I hate having to bring it in for that as well.