90 Honda Accord 2.2lt f22a4
 

My husband just replaced my motor in my Honda. He put in a F22A4. Replaced timing belt, distributor, water pump and fuel filter. We were driving the car yesterday and it was running fine. When I went to restart the car, it wouldn't start. We got it towed home and it started after it was delivered back to my house. Now it will sometimes start, and after idling for about a minute, the RPM gauge reads zero and the car dies. Any ideas of what might be causing this. Sometimes it will rev up and down but didnt affect the driving at all. When I would go to changes gears it would rev up when I depressed the clutch. Any help or comments would be greatly appreciated. It is throwing codes 41 and 12 on the CEL.

code 41 - primary o2 sensor heater ... replaced that and that code will go away.... code 12 - exhaust circulation system ... which is pretty much your EGR valve... suggest replacing (pricey but easiest way to fix the problem)... and also cleaning out the ports of where the EGR valve sits.... the bogging and stalling might be caused by your EGR valve/ports being clogged up

hope that helps :D

Clean the EGR ports first. It's pretty common for the EGR valve to be OK but the ports are plugged.

Just me, I'm the strange one and mean nothing towards the other posts...the 12 and 41 codes have nothing to do with the car not starting....ok on the very odd chance the egr is open at idle which will stall the engine.....but the ports being clogged and causing a no start?

Based upon your description and a my guess....spark is an issue. There is a very important ground on the t-stat housing....be sure it is clean and tight.

Next, since the car is not running, check for fuel and spark. This link/guide has some very good info: Honda Acura ignition (no spark) troubleshooting tutorial - How to

Yeah, EGR should be closed at idle, and clogged EGR ports simply means they're closed even when they should be open.

So test for spark like Poorman says.

When I had a Accord, I didn't have EGR problems. Is there a reasonable kind of EGR failure where the EGR would be open at idle when it should be closed? The first post sounds like the car will start but will stall pretty quickly.