99 Honda Civic Ilde Problem

Hey guys it's winter here in Canada and when it's cold
or even below zero my 99 Civic likes to idle low (so low that it
shakes and the lights dim alot unless I pump her some gas).
A few times it's even stalled on me... This happens after driving
for 10 to 15 minutes even... it's fine from start. Another thing I should
mention is that after it stalls... and I restart it... it's fine... idle's
fine like
nothing even happened... wtf?

Anything simple I can check or replace before the Honda
guys rip me off bigtime??

Thanks!

 

as i told a guy earlier its cause u may wanna leave it running for awhile
cause it is prob frozen in some parts or really freaking cold that the
engine is just soo cold it will do that....maybe try synthetic oil maybe...

 

If you have been using your car for over 10,000 km's do not use synthetic
oil!
Contains too many detergents and will harm your engine!
Maybe it is time for a tune up?
Where in canada do you live?

 

Oops. Put synthetic in mine at 250,000kms.
Still purring at 293,000, in Ottawa's harsh climate.

 

The concern with the high detergency of synthetic oil comes from the risk of
seals leaking if they have hardened and are depending on deposits to
complete the seal. Normally this is in cars over 10 years old (although in
very hot climates seals may harden in as little as 5 years) and with a
history of infrequent oil changes. I have succesfully changed over engines
with more than 200K miles - my 1985 Volvo and my daughter's '93 Accord (at
210K miles). The Volvo spent most of its life in Phoenix but got regular oil
changes.

On balance, higher detergency is good for the engine as it prevents deposits
from building up. It isn't a good idea to change an engine to synthetic
*before* 10000 km because synthetic can lubricate too well, interfering with
proper break-in. This is apparently less of a problem with modern engines.

Mike

 

Well I use regular oil... it only happens after the engine "temp guage" has
warmed up to normal running temp. I've tried gas line antifreeze and
water remover... but she stalled on me last night on the way home...

 

Try changing the PCV by yourself, and run two tanks of gasohol thru it.
You didn't say if you've had the battery disconnected lately, but maybe
you need to do a 'ECU reset' by pulling the radio / back-up fuse for ten
seconds. Do a search for the full story.

'Curly'

 

I think that the whole oil discussion may be going down the wrong track. I
recently solved a similar problem in my 95 Civic. It turned out that I had
a vacuum leak in my idle air control valve (I believe it might be called
the "Electronic Air control Valve" EACV in a 99 Civic).

When you first start up, there's an additional valve, the fast idle valve,
that opens to provide extra air to the engine until it warms up. Which is
why you're OK off a cold start, and only have problems after the engine
warms up and the fast idle valve closes.

I got a replacement valve, and my car has never run so well. Maybe your
problem is something different, but if the Honda guys tell you it's your
EACV, I'd believe them.