Fixed Idle Issue...Now car is skipping!! :(

[kerim]

ey man, try the idle sensor i think its called, mate had a similar problem on his dc2 where it just kept revving up and down, changed that and it was all good, give that a go

[FastFwd]

ey man, try the idle sensor i think its called, mate had a similar problem on his dc2 where it just kept revving up and down, changed that and it was all good, give that a go

Do you know where thats located?

[kerim]

not 100% sure but i think its behind the head, probably have to take it to a mechanic to do though

[FastFwd]

Just an update: took off whole intake manifold and throttleboddy, pulled everything appart. cleaned it all spottless. checked the throttle sensor etc and everything i did still doesnt work.

But now its idling fine, not going up and down but its idols past 4000 with the idol sensor in or idles just over 2500 with the sensor out Not just unplugged but completely removed....so to drive it ill just remove the idle sensor for the time being. I also by passed my turbo from the water lines and ran a stock tube from the head to the intake manifold as the pictures above...and still didnt work. soo yeh i dont think it has anything to do with that.

I think its electric or something. Dunno if any of you's know the POWER FC much but if someone could tell me if theres an Idle changer or something on that. let me know

Cheers

[JohnL]

Just an update: took off whole intake manifold and throttleboddy, pulled everything appart. cleaned it all spottless. checked the throttle sensor etc and everything i did still doesnt work.

But now its idling fine, not going up and down but its idols past 4000 with the idol sensor in or idles just over 2500 with the sensor out Not just unplugged but completely removed....so to drive it ill just remove the idle sensor for the time being. I also by passed my turbo from the water lines and ran a stock tube from the head to the intake manifold as the pictures above...and still didnt work. soo yeh i dont think it has anything to do with that.

I think its electric or something. Dunno if any of you's know the POWER FC much but if someone could tell me if theres an Idle changer or something on that. let me know

Cheers

If it's 'idling' that high with the butterfly properly closed (you did check that I assume, but have you checked the butterfly spindles and their bores? these can wear causing air to leak and erratic idle problems) then there must be an air 'leak' somewhere past the butterfly. If we assume that all the gaskets etc are fine, then the 'leak' is coming from a malfunctioning component, or a component that is being 'told' to do the wrong thing.

It has to be a device designed to allow air to bypass the butterfly to allow that high an idle. The only thing that comes to mind is the IACV. Have you tried disconnecting it, or blocking it's air passages?

[FastFwd]

OK......Last night i unbolted the the throttlebody, removed the Idol control unit, and everything else attached to the throttlebody. Cleaned it all up like new and put it back on. This has stopped the Idling up and down issue..i think but now the idol wont stay under 5000. when i take the idol control wires off it will drop to about 4000. drove it round today and it ran like shit....doesnt even have any power.

So tonight i pulled off the IACV like JohnL has said...i found a link which helped me out... http://www.team-integra.net/sections...ArticleID=1174

Did exactly what the steps said...well i probably should have left it to dry for about 20 mins...i put it on in about 5 after thoroughly cleaning it. anyways put it all back started the car up....idols at around 4000, then when it gets warm goes down to about 2800 but when i plug in the IACV wires it goes upto almost 5000 again. and now my car is skipping like crazy...barely drivable. F$%K i should have left it.... I can usually fix most things but this is driving me up the wall...think i might take it to a mechanic. gonna have to tell him everything ive done

[FastFwd]

Also guys...on my power Fc i have found the idle control settings...they are currently set at 970rpm...put them up and down just to test and nothing happened. soo i put it back to 970rpm.

[JohnL]

OK......

Did exactly what the steps said...well i probably should have left it to dry for about 20 mins...i put it on in about 5 after thoroughly cleaning it. anyways put it all back started the car up....idols at around 4000, then when it gets warm goes down to about 2800 but when i plug in the IACV wires it goes upto almost 5000 again. and now my car is skipping like crazy...barely drivable. F$%K i should have left it.... I can usually fix most things but this is driving me up the wall...think i might take it to a mechanic. gonna have to tell him everything ive done

OK, so disconnecting the IACV connector doesn't stop it happening, though it does make some change. Whether the IACV is faulty - or is perfect but being 'told' to do the wrong thing at the wrong time, to make sure that the 'leak' isn't happening through the IACV (whether the IACV is faulty or not), try fitting a 'blind' gasket at the IACV / plenum faces.

Making such a gasket is dead easy, take the IACV completely off the motor and make a paper gasket using light cardboard (or prefferably proper gasket paper) that will block the inlet and outlet ports in the IACV. The only holes in the 'blind' gasket will be the two bolt holes, so no air can pass into or out of it. Refit and start up.

If the fast idle problem goes away then the problem must at least be associated with the IACV, but may or may not be the IACV itself. At this point you would need to swap the existing IACV for a known good unit (without the blind gasket), just to see if changing it fixes the problem. If it does then your IACV must be faulty, but if it doesn't then your IACV is probably OK but being 'told' the wrong thing by the ECU, which itself may be being told the wrong thing by some sensor....

If fitting a known good IACV doesn't fix it you might be looking at the ECU, but more likely one of the sensors informing the ECU. This still doesn't conclusively mean there might be no other point at which a leak might exist, possibly a leak inside some sensor on the engine side of the butterfly(?).

You can drive the car with the IACV disabled in this way (with blind gasket fitted), but idle will probably be low and definitely low when you use air-con or other auxilliary loads are on the engine. You'll also probably find you have some drivetrain 'snatch' that wasn't there before, which is a bit of a pain but doesn't really hurt anything.

[EuroDude]

Did you try adjusting the Throttle Idle screw?

[FastFwd]

OK, so disconnecting the IACV connector doesn't stop it happening, though it does make some change. Whether the IACV is faulty - or is perfect but being 'told' to do the wrong thing at the wrong time, to make sure that the 'leak' isn't happening through the IACV (whether the IACV is faulty or not), try fitting a 'blind' gasket at the IACV / plenum faces.

Making such a gasket is dead easy, take the IACV completely off the motor and make a paper gasket using light cardboard (or prefferably proper gasket paper) that will block the inlet and outlet ports in the IACV. The only holes in the 'blind' gasket will be the two bolt holes, so no air can pass into or out of it. Refit and start up.

If the fast idle problem goes away then the problem must at least be associated with the IACV, but may or may not be the IACV itself. At this point you would need to swap the existing IACV for a known good unit (without the blind gasket), just to see if changing it fixes the problem. If it does then your IACV must be faulty, but if it doesn't then your IACV is probably OK but being 'told' the wrong thing by the ECU, which itself may be being told the wrong thing by some sensor....

If fitting a known good IACV doesn't fix it you might be looking at the ECU, but more likely one of the sensors informing the ECU. This still doesn't conclusively mean there might be no other point at which a leak might exist, possibly a leak inside some sensor on the engine side of the butterfly(?).

You can drive the car with the IACV disabled in this way (with blind gasket fitted), but idle will probably be low and definitely low when you use air-con or other auxilliary loads are on the engine. You'll also probably find you have some drivetrain 'snatch' that wasn't there before, which is a bit of a pain but doesn't really hurt anything.

JohnL thanks for your reply, I think im on the same steps as you. i didnt actually make a gasket but i thought if there may be a leak in the IACV then i probably should ensure that its not there. soo i used some silicone gasket maker. Put that on and waited bout 5-10 before i started the car. the gasket GOO has worked for me before in similar situtions so that would be the same effect as your Motor cardboard idea (but yeh i know what u meen by the cardboard, used that stuff before).

But i think yeh it must be something with the IACV...thats really the only thing changing when i plug and unplug the Sensor from it. Going to take it to my uncles (mechanic) tomorrow and ill pick up another IACV from a wrecker on the way and give that to him.

[FastFwd]

Did you try adjusting the Throttle Idle screw?

Eurodude, i dont want to sound like a asshole by saying this and dont take this in the wrong way. But do you really think if ive done all the things ive done to check whats wrong you would have thought at one point i would have tried the idle screw. So your answer is YES!!

[JohnL]

JohnL thanks for your reply, I think im on the same steps as you. i didnt actually make a gasket but i thought if there may be a leak in the IACV then i probably should ensure that its not there. soo i used some silicone gasket maker. Put that on and waited bout 5-10 before i started the car. the gasket GOO has worked for me before in similar situtions so that would be the same effect as your Motor cardboard idea (but yeh i know what u meen by the cardboard, used that stuff before).

But i think yeh it must be something with the IACV...thats really the only thing changing when i plug and unplug the Sensor from it. Going to take it to my uncles (mechanic) tomorrow and ill pick up another IACV from a wrecker on the way and give that to him.

I'm not sure I follow what you mean about the "silicone gasket maker", you need to block off some substantial holes (IACV ports), and I'd have thought that even with a few minutes to cure (which would take a fair while longer with a big slug of silicone) the silicone goo would tend to get 'sucked' into either the plenum, the IACV, or both? If you sucked it into the IACV then you could bung it ip pretty comprehensively I suspect...

Do you mean you deliberately bunged up the IACV by filling it with goo?!

Just a thought. Have you checked the rubber gasket between the IACV and plenum? It could have a leak either to atmosphere around the edge, or from port to port (i.e. air could pass between one port and the other without being metered through the IACV).

Personally I won't let silicone gasket goo anywhere near my engine. I'm told that if it gets into the combustion chamber that it's burnt gasses can 'poison' the cat converter and impair it's function or even make it not work at all. From personal experience I know that it can get 'loose' inside the engine, not a good thing, though in a modern engine it would get caught by the oil filter before doing any damage... probably. It might possibly block the oil pump ports if there was enough of it...

When I used to work in a motor museum we had some come loose inside the engine of a Bugatti Type 35B, caused some issues as the oil filter was non existant (we didn't put the silicone in there, it was somebody who worked on the car before us).

My favourite gasket goos are; 'Aviation Gasket No3', or 'Blue Hylomar', both are 'non-hardening' and dissolve if they get into the oil but not if they stay in place at the gasket. Silicone is fine for gearboxes...