My car idles realy badly. What could be the problem?

I am trying to fix up an 86 Honda Accord DX that I just recently
bought. It idles really badly and I don't know what the problem might
be. When I stop the RPM bounces from 1,300 to 200. It also frequently
dies in the process of fluctuation. As a result I have to throw the car
in neutral when ever I come to a stop and keep the engine revving at
about 1,500 RPMs. Do you have any ideas of what the problem could be?

 

Does this occur only after the car has been running for
around 20 minutes?

If so, I would suspect the ignition coil.

Is this Accord carbureted or fuel injected. How many miles?

See also the free online manual for your 86 Accord at
www.autozone.com . It should have an idle troubleshooting
matrix.

 

I am trying to fix up an 86 Honda Accord DX that I just recently
bought. It idles really badly and I don't know what the problem might
be. When I stop the RPM bounces from 1,300 to 200. It also frequently
dies in the process of fluctuation. As a result I have to throw the car
in neutral when ever I come to a stop and keep the engine revving at
about 1,500 RPMs. Do you have any ideas of what the problem could be?

These are some of the causes for this problem:
Vacuum leakage.

Defective EGR valve.

Air Filter clogged.

Fuel pump not delivering sufficient fuel.

Leaking head gasket.

Timing belt and/or pulleys worn.

Camshaft lobes worn

Problem in Engine Mount Control System.

You may want to take the car to a mechanic and have him or her hook it up
to the Diagnostic Computerized Engine Tester. In some cases, this is
cheaper than spending hours of time and / or replacing parts that are in
perfect working order.
Jason

 

Is this Accord carbureted or fuel injected. How many miles

The 86-89 DX and LX Accords had carbs. I may be wrong but I think the only
model which featured FI were the '89 SE-i's.

 

I don't know about in the U.S., but I also remember the LXi and EXi here in
Canada. The 'i' in these model designations indicates fuel injection.

 

Intermittent vacuum leak?

JT

 

That would be my first call as well.

 

I once had this problem in a 90 accord. I found that the fuel pump was
defective and there was a vacuum leak. After about 500 miles the engine
blew and the car was scrapped. Never got to pinpoint the exact cause, but
my accord also had stalled/studdered revs at random times during
acceleration (kinda sounded like a machine gun, on/off rapidly). My first
thoughts were fuel injectors and oxygen sensor. Replacing these did
nothing. I never got to repair the fuel pump or vacuum leak.

 

An 86 is more likely to be carb'd, so the fuel pump isn't as much of an issue,
but I'd definitely suspect a vacuum leak from this description.