ACURA RSX 2002 Code P1129 labor time expected?

[vee]

My RSX sat in a driveway for a year while I was in hospital. A few things needed doing. It was having a surge Idle for the 1st few days. it throws up a code of P1129. I put some fuel injection cleaner in the gas tank took it to a dealership that confirmed the p1129 code, no other problems. said they stuck their finger over the air intake vacum and were able to stablize the idle. since then on cooler weather start up no surging in park or neutral, no more stalling at red light. Still a bit of hunting when it gets near 2000 RPMS. Acura recommends changing the IAC valve. WOAH! if I need to do that, can someone tell me what a reasonable time for labor should be ?

I am planning to do a cross country trip so i Need to be sure it runs. I can make small repairs, but not sure If a non mechanical girl should attempt messing around in a fuel injection engine…
I have installed new battery and expect to put in new spark plugs.

Thanks for advice and info.

Topic

[Rob]

Im thinks like an hour or 2,,,, I ont think much more then that…. I would call around some auto part stores and ask them on the price of parts…
if you think the shop is going to rip you off… call a fue other shops and ask them how much it would be to replace it on your car… they will ask you your year and model and what engine you have aka if you dont know give them your 8th digit of your vin#…. and they should be able to tell you a price over the phone on labor and parts…
labor is uselly around $60 an hour but deponds on your location
you also might have a vacuum leak around there not a bad value… see if you have any hose cracks… you can check eric videos on finding vacuum leaks just becareful carm cleaner is flamable

[vee]

Thank YOU for the response. I did watch videos. and I assumed that since the mechanic showed me he could stablize idle by putting his finger over the IAC vacuum part that there were no leaks. Is this an incorrect assumption? a few places have told me between 1.5 hours and 2. it sounded like a lot to me.
I defo learned a lot from eric’s videos. it helped me be a better shopper. BTW, the heat in the car works fine but AC not so much as if it were discharged.
lemme know if I am wrong about the deomstration that finger over IAC intake hole making idle settle down is sign ther eis no leak please.
Thks

[Rob]

[quote=”rsxgurl” post=172012]Thank YOU for the response. I did watch videos. and I assumed that since the mechanic showed me he could stablize idle by putting his finger over the IAC vacuum part that there were no leaks. Is this an incorrect assumption? a few places have told me between 1.5 hours and 2. it sounded like a lot to me.
I defo learned a lot from eric’s videos. it helped me be a better shopper. BTW, the heat in the car works fine but AC not so much as if it were discharged.
lemme know if I am wrong about the deomstration that finger over IAC intake hole making idle settle down is sign ther eis no leak please.
Thks[/quote]
if he demo it infront of you its probly true…. but I would personally check for crakes around it myself and see if you see any, because if by pushing on it he is sealing the crack then that could be just it not req a part… but something to check…
now for the 1.5-2 hours…. now you have to think you saw where the part is… what you have to do is figure out how long it would take you if you had all the knalage and tools how long would it take for you to do it yourself… that would tell you how long it should be… thats what I think it as… how long will it take me to do it myself if I was a pro and doing it every day

[vee]

that is really helpful, thanks a bunch! your theory makes sense about pushing down…this may explain why car no longer stalling on slow down— he pushed something when putting back together… Will let all know what happens next. me thinks with my crappy tools and no experience it’s two hours. after watching eric’s video on repairing the brake switch, it was 10 minutes to see the pb , taking apart the cover and 10 mn to fix the pb. thank you DirtyEric 🙂 I fixed brake switch with a nut and bolt- saved mechanic fees and part fees.:)

[Ken]

Hey, welcome to the forum!

I’ve removed and cleaned a few IACV’s in my time working on Honda’s, it really depends how accessible the part is, for instance on my Integra is in a tight spot between the intake manifold and firewall, not easy to work with, or get tools on bolts, the work itself is straight forward just a hassle, I also highly recommend getting a pick set designed for removing hoses, there is coolant that goes through some IACV’s (to keep them from freezing) and the lines tend to fuse, especially on your 14 year old RSX.
Let us know if you need more help!

P.S. Took me about 4 hours to remove, clean, and reinstall the IACV on my 90 Integra (The grandfather to your RSX 🙂 )

[vee]

So the local acura dealers estimate the time of this repair ( replacing IAC valve and it’s gasket connected to throttle body) anywhere between 1.5 and 2.5 hours. the local mechanic estimates his time at .6 hours… I am familiar with grandfather integra… but I just am not good with computer operated cars as I learned on a regular carburator! LOL
i’ll try the mom and pop shop, who by the way alleges there are no adjustments that can be made on the part. ;/

[Author]

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