Sporatic Idling in Honda Civic

[The Dro]

Hey Guys,

Topic

[Trcustoms719]

Blocking off the holes and removing the IAC valve just means you won’t have IAC.C:P

[dreamer2355]

Welcome to the forums!

However, adjust the throttle stop screw was a very bad idea. They are set from the factory. You will need your IACV functioning correctly unless you want derivability issues and idle issues.

Here is a link to ETCG idle speech as well as idle video’s for Honda’s –

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/forum/topics.aspx?ID=1134

[The Dro]

It wasn’t the Throttle stop screw that was adjusted, I believe it was the Idle Bypass Screw on the Throttle Body. I will take a look at it again when she comes home to make sure, but it was a screw that allowed more airflow into the intake through the Throttle body. Her car seems to have no issues at this point and has been driving fine and starting with no problems. I obviously want to fix the problem and not put a band-aid on it. I will check out the videos and read the information on the Idle post. Thank you for posting, I’m not sure why that didn’t come up when I was searching the forum. Also, This car does not have an FITV from what I understand since it’s a ’97.

[EricTheCarGuy]

I know the link was posted but I’ll post the ‘idle speech’ again here as the first step is to check for air in the cooling system, it could be that the computer is getting bad information and leaving the IAC open too much so don’t rule that out. In addition the FITV is the LAST thing to check but since you don’t have one it shouldn’t be an issue.
By suggestion I’m going to post my idle speech along with a couple of video links that I hope will help if your having problems with your Honda’s idle. First I’ll give you the link to the Solving Honda Idle Problems video, please remember that adjusting the FITV is the LAST step in the process and you need to back it off at least 1/2 turn after it bottoms out or it will not start properly when cold.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L788jKEVblYThe Bleeding a Cooling System Videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUp … =relmfuThe video response to the Honda Idle videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMj … onseLastly here is the “Idle Speech”There are a lot of things that can contribute to an idle issue, in fact in the end it may still be there to some degree because of the nature of a 4 cylinder engine however here are some things to start with.First start with a good tune up, use NGK or Nippon Denso plugs, don’t change the wires if they are OE, if they aren’t OE you might consider NGK wires as they are very good and less expensive then OE. A quality cap and rotor should be good. A new air filter also helps.Don’t change the PCV valve, if you see an aftermarket PCV valve in there put a Honda in, believe it or not I’ve seen idle issues caused by aftermarket PCV valves, the OE’s last just about forever so you can easily justify the expense.Next a good valve adjustment, this goes a long way to smooth out the idle if done correctly, mess it up and things can get a lot worse though.While you have the valve cover off check the timing belt tension, if you feel a lot of slack this can cause the cam to ‘chunk’ as it spins causing a rough idle. If you think the belt has been on there for some time then you might consider changing it and resetting the tension properly, if it’s not ready for replacement you can reset the tension to take up the slack.DO NOT adjust the idle screw under any circumstances, it is set at the factory and that is the reason it was sealed in the first place. If you find that the seal has been broken and you have a low idle and you have done all of the above then you might turn the screw out a little to see if that helps the idle but only enough to try and bring it back to where it was before it was adjusted in the first place.Last clean the screen in the Idle Air Control valve, this can get clogged up with carbon over time and cause the flow through it to be restricted which can cause idle issues.If you still have a ‘rough’ idle after all of this THEN look to the engine mounts as you want to be sure the engine is running correctly before you go for those as the one in the back is a real pain to replace.I hope this info is helpful as I get a TON of questions about Honda idle problems, thanks for reading.

[Author]

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