88 Accord won't idle well at all.

My '88 Accord LX, 4 cyl, carb does kind of the same thing. Rough Idle.
Runs/cruises fine otherwise when you're stepping on the gas. Won't stall on
the rough idle, but it wants to, seemingly. 133,000 miles, auto, carb, and
otherwise is doing the trick.

Why buy new if used can still do? I got the car for free.

FL Hondadriver
From: "...." <>
Subject: Re: 88 Accord won't idle, and stalls when warm
Date: Sunday, October 08, 2006 3:38 PM

Is that little solenoid gizmo in the back of the carburetor working. It
holds the throttle open a little bit then snaps it closed when the ign is
turned off. (yeah it's an antipollution "improvement"). It it is not
getting power when the car warms up and the choke clicks off the engine
will stop but, run perfectly if you keep your foot on the gas or floor it.
Good luck.
Norman

 

Still sounds like vac leaks in both cases. I guess it's possible the
idle ports
are clogged a bit. You need to check all the devices that run off vac
for
diaphram leaks, etc. Also all those vac hoses.. Get some carb cleaner
and
spray the carb out real good. Spray it into the little bowl vent pipes
so it fills into the bowl. Then goose the engine good to run it out,
while still giving a shot of cleaner into the carb while running.
I assume the idle speed is probably set normally, but something is
whacking it out...Most likely when you fix the problem, the idle
speed will be back up to normal. If not, reset it to specs.
One example...That vent shut off diaphram at the front of the
carb on the drivers side is a real common leaker. It gets gas fumes
that eat the rubber up. I bet both of you have that about crapped out.
And thats just one leak.. Could have more. Is the engine vacuum
sensistive? IE: mash the brakes and see if the car almost dies out,
if power brakes.. There is no IAC on the carb models. That a FI thang..
I'd check the PVC and EGR valves though. IE: a stuck open EGR
valve can sure whack out the idle.. The PVC should click when
you pinch the hose off, but if it's old, I'd just replace it. They are
cheap.
MK

 

Check out this post...
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.autos.honda/browse_frm/thread/2c3047a2154bcaf3/a6820f4283f8bcf1?lnk=st&q=smog%2Fnox+read+this+fix&rnum=1#a6820f4283f8bcf1

It describes one very important cause of vaccuum leaks in 86-89 carb
hondas.

 

Yep, thats the one... Mine was leaking, but was intact enuff to still
hold it open when driving. A vac leak though... I took the spring out
of mine, applied some good adhesive to seal the diaphram leak,
and put it back together. I plugged the vac line, and don't use it
anymore.
Your case with the smog was very similar to mine. I too flunked the
NOx at the high speed test. I had a free retest.. Sooo. I decided,
well the cat is working fairly ok, but maybe a new one will give me
that extra edge to squeak by. Well...Nope, I actually got a worse
score on the new cat, but I had diddled with the mixture, and might
have been more lean.. Also, I had to wait a good while for the 2nd
test, and didn't have a hot car for the test. I did warm it up, but I
guess the rpm's were not high enough to really get the cat hot.
The 2nd pass, I flunked both the low and high
speed NOx, but my HC and CO kept getting lower. Actually, CO was
0.0 every test I took. Sooo. %$@&^%...
The tester did give me a free 3rd test though, as he thought probably
the car was too cold. I think he was wondering how I got 400 ppm
more NOx with a new cat, vs the old one... Me too... The new cat was
basically a waste of money, and although it seems to do better at HC
cleanup, it's NOx reduction actually seems worse than the old stock
cat.
But I was running real lean, and thats no good for NOx reduction.
So I got to poking around, and found that I was getting too much air.
After messing with this car for a while, I'm coming to the conclusion
the feedback CPU is not working right on my car. I don't think it's
metering the air right. I think it's on all the time, and is does stay
kicked in when I run the rpm up. It's supposed to die off above 3k
or so, as far as I know. Also the voltages to my ac idle up aren't
right..
But.. I had to pass the 3rd test to get the inspection out of my hair..
Sooo... I installed a duct tape metering device in the air suction
line,
with just a small hole. Enough to give me a near proper mixture, just
a tad rich according to the O2.. I also put more premium fuel in it,
and decided to retard the timing a bit before I took the test. I kept
the
car hot before the test. The results.. I passed finally, but just
barely..
My NOx scores were near the edge, and equally so for low and high
speed. Using my overall scores to judge, my car is still running too
lean. So I still have more work to do to get it all right. I'm starting
to
think the "puter" under the seat is flaked out. My door lock module
on the other side is out too... Maybe a flood? It is a "salvage title"
car..
The only deal is the interior is real clean... ?? Who knows..
BTW, on the first tests I used the proper propane method to set the
mixture.. It was too lean to pass NOx with all that air... Once you
revved the motor, it leaned way out.. You could watch the O2 nosedive..
I fattened it up a good bit, and thought I would maybe be too rich,
but nope, my test scores still seem to show lean running even with
my "air restricter"..
The car is running pretty good. Idle is real smooth, but it always
was..
It's running better at high speed with the fatter mix. Less misfires..
I think it needs a new brain though... I'd like to get it going right..
I guess I have a year to mess with it before the next NOx torture
session
rolls around..
MK