Hi, I have an 87 Accord LX with carburetor, and I'm going through a patch of difficulty with the car's idling.

I'm not mechanically experienced, I only have basic knowledge, so when I have a problem I take the car to a mecahnic... but he seems to have a lot of difficulty getting the car to idle right, and I'm getting frustrated. I had this problem about a year ago and now it's come up again I would like feedback from those more knowledgeable.

For the past year or so the car has been idling at ~800 in drive and ~1000 in neutral/park. When I started it, it would run up to exactly 2000 to warm up and stay there until I tapped the gas. It idled a little rough, which I figured was just because it's a carb, but I'd just put it in neutral if it was shaking more than I wanted.

A few weeks ago it started losing power and idling very roughly, so I took it in to get looked at... I was thinking it might be a vacuum hose, but didn't say this, and he diagnosed and replaced a vacuum hose, so I thought that was the extent of the problem. When I got it back, it ran great, but by the following evening I couldn't run it because it would stall immediately as soon as the engine reached idle, even after warming it up for several minutes. I figured he didn't put the hose on well and it popped off, so I had it towed back and he fixed it for free, although he didn't actually say what was wrong...

Now I've got the car back, and it runs great - it has a lot more power and acceleration (especially coming from a standstill but still noticable at higher speeds). But I think it's idling way too high - everything runs about 600rpm higher than it used to, so it warms up at ~2600rpm, idles in drive at 1000-1500, and idles in park at ~1600. If I'm at a stop I can feel the car straining against the brakes and when I'm in a parking lot or making a turn I have to ride the brakes cuz the car pushes too hard. The transmission sometimes slams when I shift into or out of park or reverse because it's idling so high. If i hook my foot under the gas and pull up, sometimes it will drop a few hundred RPM, but this isn't practical while driving.

Since it was stalling when I took it back in and now it's idling too high, I'm wondering if it was idling too low before and he overcompensated. I'm not really sure what the correct idle should be, or whether idling the car higher improves acceleration or that's a separate fuel flow issue. I'm wondering what more experienced and knowledgable people think, so any feedback you can give will be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

It should idle at 750 (if a manual transmission) or 700 (if an automatic).

There is an idle adjustment procedure. If you go to the common diy thread on top of the gen tech help forum, there is a link for online shop manuals. In that thread, the honda-tech link has an 86 accord manual which is identical to your 87.

Page 11-21 has the procedure to adjust the idle.

 

Ah, thanks!

It turned out the mechanic had left a vacuum hose unconnected - guess I need a new mechanic. I reconnected it and it doesn't idle nearly as high, but I can probably stand to lower it a bit - don't need to strain the brakes unnecessarily, nor waste gas.

 

3rd gen's do have an issue, common problem with the fast idle unloader......so check the manual on adjusting the idle but if that causes "other" issues then I'd look into that.