Team Integra Forums banner

Idle problems on deceleration - 96 4 door

3K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  DCinSin 
#1 ·
Hello everyone. I'm new to both this forum and Acura / Honda's. I picked up a 96 4 door special edition integra about a month ago to replace my PT cruiser, and I'm loving it. However, I've scoured the forum and can't seem to find an answer to this idle problem. Well, I suppose it's not really an idle problem because idle is fine... but I don't quite know what else to call it so here goes :)

The car's idle will dip very low when coming to a stop, and will sometimes stall the car. Basically if I'm sitting in the car with the clutch in or out (in neutral), and I rev the rpms to about 2000, the needle will drop, stop at 1000 for a split second, and then dip to the below 500 rpm range. It does this whether it's warm or cold, and it doesn't do it all the time. It generally bounces back to the proper idle (700), unless of course the engine stalls (which it does but rarely). Normally it just gets really low, the car gets quiet and shakes a bit, and then it goes to proper idle where it will sit until I give it some gas and let the rpms fall again. The problem happens with the AC off, and probably with it on but I just haven't tried it with my AC on.

I haven't had the car very long, so I'm not sure if this problem was recently created by things I've done to the car. But here's a list of things I've had done to the car so far:

Motorvac, valve adjustment, ngk spark plugs + wires, new rotor + distributor (problem existed before rotor + distrib), injen short intake, obx stainless header... I think that's it.

I'm thinking my next step is to clean the idle air control valve and see if that helps at all, but from my research it seems that the car would idle higher if the IACV was malfunctioning, or that it wouldn't go back to a proper idle and stay there.

Oh and I also tried to clear the ecu. I pulled the two fuses (15 + 7.5), waited 3 minutes, put them back in, and then let the car idle for 10 minutes. Didn't fix anything.

So what are my options here? Could this be a failing throttle body position sensor, bad plugs...

Anyways, all help is appreciated! Thanks!
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I just had this problem on my new engine I installed, I cleaned the IACV. Solved the problem instantly. I would rev my engine to 3k, than it would drop to well below 500, and depending on how long I was at 3k, it would either bog, or stall out. Cleaned IACV, reset ECU, adjusted idle speed because my car wouldn't start with the clean IACV at the old idle speed. I then reset the ECU, and now everything is good. Hope this helps.
 
#5 ·
So I cleaned the IACV this morning, and it appears to have solved the problem, or so I hope. I drove the car this morning and immediately it was doing the idle problem, but after cleaning the IACV it hasn't done the idle drop at all.

However, I think in general I have some issues with my idle. After I cleaned the IACV, I decided that I wanted to maybe turn my idle up a tiny bit. So I had the car running (warm), and unplugged the IACV. Immediately the car shut down. Any guesses on what that could be?

Another thing I found interesting was that the IACV wasn't very dirty. only a little bit of sludge came out of it, then it was just clear after 3-4 sprays. Here's a pic of the engine bay and the IACV:

 
#7 ·
Well, after a couple of days the problem has returned. So I'm thinking it's definitely not the IACV. My next best guess is the throttle body. It looks like the previous owner adjusted it countless times, and adjusting the idle screw does very little. As soon as I unplug the IACV the car sputters off.
 
#8 ·
I've traced the idle drop to some sort of electrical problem. If i turn the headlights on, the idle drops. An putting the brake on also seems to trigger it as well, so this would be why I notice it when I'm slowing down. I'll keep the thread updated with the fix once i find it.
 
#9 ·
I hate to say this but I had a similar problem Cleaned the IACV worked for 2 days then reurned with a jumping idle replaced throttle body and anything that is attached to the throttle body with a used Throttle body. Still the problem. Think ok maybe coolant problem. So bought a new radiator hoses and thermostat fixed the problem for about 1 week. Then after that I started the car one morning to find out that my idle is now at 2500 rpm(Yikes) had someone compression test my car and voila blown headgasket. IMO get a compression test before going any further might help you in the long run.
 
#11 ·
Thanks for the replies guys. The valves are adjusted fine, but I think I've discovered that the car has a blown headgasket.

So here's how it went down:

I had the car inspected, and one thing they found was that the engine coolant was really watered down. They figured that there was a radiator leak and that the guy was filling it with water. Anyways, I recently had the valves adjusted, wheels aligned, and coolant flushed. Ever since the coolant flush, I have noticed a very sweet smell coming from the exhaust. Well, as I was working on the idle adjustment, I suddenly clued in that white exhaust was coming out of the muffler. And the car was most definitely warmed up. So yes, I think the guy who owned the car watered down the coolant a lot so that the smell and white exhaust would be harder to detect. Looks like a new head gasket.
 
#13 ·
i cleaned my fitv today and i still have the idle problem still! the car bogs out when its cold i have to tap the throttle from it bogging. when warmed up it idles at like 200rpms. when at a steady speed the car like jumps down 200 rpm and causes everyone in the car to sway foward it embarrasing.it does that over and over. im gonna clean the IACV tomorrow but i dont think that will do any different. i hope so tho.
 
#15 ·
I think I might found the problem for my car i went to go clean the AICV and the hoses went even conected to it. i coundnt even find the two hoses. i took the AICV off and the gasket was falling apart. I went to honda dealership and order the gasket and two hoses but i need to know where the two hoses run to..
I asked the guy at parts he wasnt much help. can someone help me PLEASE!!! here is a pic of my beat up AICV


<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t67/borninsin86/DSC02143.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top