1988 Honda Accord won't idle when warmed up

ah, icing... forgotten about that!

although usually the injection system itself does the diagnosis for you.
"obd" as in obd0, obdII, etc., stand for "on board diagnostic". it's
exceedingly rare for the computer to go "tu" - on a honda at any rate.

 

just there, you sound exactly like a dealership service writer-
as they prepare to replace $1750 worth of stuff to clear a code;
that may have been thrown by a corroded connection.

 

Hm, what would have compelled Detroit to make such a big change? The
last 30 or so years have demonstrated abundantly Detroit's
disinclination for such, even in the face of superior products from
foreign manufacturers and dwindling market share & profits, which is
supposed to be the primo driver of change in a for profit company.

If they had their way they'd still be cranking out carbureted V-8's.

 

Grumpy AuContraire wrote:

So would you prefer a 1919 model if it were available? Complication
isn't by definition bad, but the early years of new technology can be
difficult as it gets its field trials. As for me, I'll take Pgm-FI, ABS,
modern tires, etc., any day. My only problem with modern Hondas (other
makes as well) is that they're so quiet and stable I can easily be doing
80 instead of 60. In times not so long ago, i.e., my lifetime, it was
obvious when you were going faster.

 

I'm prepping my '55 Studebaker President for occasional driving and am
in the final stages of of replacing the native 6 volt components
consisting of the heater and defroster motors. At the same time, I was
looking for a convenient way to connect the electric fuel pump and
there's just no where to do so easily under the hood. The wiring is so
simple that it is really elegant. I'm just gonna hafta reach in and
connect it to the ignition switch accessory terminal.

The only vacuum line on the entire car is to the distributor advance.

Yep... In my twisted upside down view of the world, I refuse to own any
car that has a "check engine" light. Thus, the '83 Honda is the last
year not to have any of the "guess what's wrong" nonsense.

JT

(Who believes that 'puters belong on laps or desktops, no in carz...)

 

<chuckle>

Just today, I dragged my '83 Civic up the road to fix an annoying
problem of it wanting to stall out whenever I put the lights on or ran
any accessory except for the radio.

After a couple of hours of tracking down the fault, it turned out to be
two vacuum lines misconnected.

Now, I can drive at night without having to fiddle with the gas pedal
when stopped for lights etc.

I luv that little toidbox!

JT

 

You can keep your "modern" stuff and I'll continue to prefer the
simplicity of the late 1950's and early 1960's.

BTW, my ol' Avant would do around 160 and it was solid as a rock and it
went exactly where you pointed it.

And, my old cars are appreciating...

JT

 

i drive industrial vehicles at work and i realise that most of the
engines in these vehicles are diesel-powered, oil-cooled, no
computers, compact in size and yet puts out decent power with good
fuel efficiency, they can take a good abuse and yet requires virtually
no maintenance, other than scheduled oil and filter changes...

corporate america knows what's best for them.. but us consumers are
f*cked... haha

 

wrote in

And none but the barest governmental diktats.

"Corporate America" had cars getting ever /simpler/ for the consumer over
the decades.

It's the government that's to blame for complexity, specifically the EPA
and NHTSA. You can call what they do good, bad or indifferent, but it is
undeniable that their mandates have introduced enormous and hugely
expensive complication into cars.

 

a lot of this "complication" is not that expensive. well, it is at the
consumer end, but not for the manufacturers. at their kind of volume
levels, a complete fuel injection package, with catalyst and all
sensors, is probably less than $500. that's not exactly a significant
burden on a vehicle retailing for over $15k.

 

Guess again, Detroit's cost to produce an entire V8 engine was $150 in
the late 60's/early 70's (I'm remembering this from an old Car & Driver
article), so $500 just for the FI system is decidedly non trivial.

 

that might be a useful comparison if you used this century's money
values, not last.

 

The EGR valve is stuck open.

 

<ignoring the snark factor> Not too hard to adjust the dollars - suppose
the $150 in 1970 dollars is $500 in 2008 dollars, it's still a very
significant cost factor.

 

$150 1970 dollars is about $1,500 in today's money.

It has been estimated (forget where I read this; might have been Forbes)
that the cost of meeting the myriad regulations and mandates adds up to
many thousands of dollars per car.

 

retail, not wholesale. listening to detroit bleating about costs is
like listening to the riaa say they're incurring $1.5M loss for the
copying of one cd.

 

Don't fret too much... They, (the guv'ment), still has not insisted
that onboard porta potties be provided for each vehicle manufactured.
After all, they do have thangs like airpressure checks etc.

How friggin' lazy have we gotten?

<grrrr>

JT

 

Even at $1,500, the incremental cost of $500 is a big deal. (Thanks for
looking it up, BTW)

 

on a $15k+ car??? that's 3%. and that cost, for the manufacturer, is
more than recouped by fewer returns under warranty. for the consumer,
it's significantly greater as it allows almost total avoidance of all
that b.s. tune-up rip-off we used to endure.

 

I disagree - auto manufacturers are very cost sensitive and that's an
enormous incremental cost (for the engine, not the entire car).