Hello Again guys, back with my bi-monthly report on the 3rd gen.

Well good news recently. Good old 1989 accord LX is still going strong, getting used about 3 times a week on average. Because no other problems surfaced for the last few months, I decided to go ahead and replace the carb with a reman unit. That process went well: the idle is stable (no longer just goes all over the place randomly), and all of the choke controls finally actually work correctly so there is no period of really bad idle after starting. Now I can move on to two other goals I have for this car:

-fix the cold idle. Currently, the idle speed is not raised by the fast-idle cam when the car is cold. The test I did for this so far was to remove the vacuum lines from the fast idle unloader and plug them, and hold the choke closed while fully opening and closing the throttle. This test engages the high idle correctly. However, with everything connected again, when cold starting normally (pump twice to floor and start), the idle is extremely low and the engine usually dies without throttle. I believe this indicated the unloader is working correctly, but possibly that 'thermovalve A' is not working. I have yet to do extensive tests on this yet, but from what I can find online, it seems that pretty much no one sells this thing (the thermovalve) so if it turns out to be bad, I may be on my own to repair it. This is my second priority, but I would like to know if anyone knows what is inside of these things or if it is possible to take apart and repair?

-fix the 'idle control system' a.k.a. thing that raises idle when in gear so that idle speed remains steady. This is my first goal to take a crack at. Unfortunately the reman carb did not come with a replacement for the 'idle boost throttle controller' - a twin diaphram vacuum controlled unit on the driver side of the carb which is supposed to increase the idle speed when the car is either in gear or the AC is on. For the AC, I am completely neglecting that control because the electronic part of the AC has been hacked by me anyway (long story) so the solenoid no longer even does anything. I am more interested in the 'in gear' control. So far, there are two problems I have seen. First, the diaphram itself: when applying vacuum to the ports (either one) the vacuum is not held at all. The diaphram pulls with a small amount of force each time I pump the pump, but nothing more. I am sure this means that the rubber seal is bad. I have taken it apart and I can not find viable damage on the seal but it is pretty crusty. Is there anywhere to buy these small rubber parts to repair this? Can I attach it again using some kind of superglue or something? The rubber is not brittle but I guess there are some small tears in it or something.... The second problem is the signal I am actually getting from the vacuum line that leads to the solenoid. The manual seems to indicate that, out of gear, I should be getting no vacuum, and in gear, I should be getting vacuum. Well, when measuring with a gauge, out of gear, I get "-500" on my gauge, while in gear, manually revving to same RPM, I get "-400". There seems to be vacuum in both cases, and the vacuum actually decreases when in gear. Clearly not the ideal situation! Any suggestions about what else to replace to try to troubleshoot this would be appreciated. I suspect the problem may be electrical...

I know you all think most likely I take things too far. This is basically not a critical request here, I am just documenting the progress and hoping for some suggestions. I try to take another look at this each weekend. I would love to get the old car at some point back to its former glory.