I have a 97 Accord SE, 2.2, automatic, a/c, 155k miles.

Any time a load is placed on the engine at idle (i.e. a/c compressor turns on, turn on headlights, cooling fan kicks on, etc.) the RPM drops considerably and takes several seconds to recover. If there are no loads placed on the engine at idle, it purrs along just fine.

I have looked through a few other posts and this doesn't sound like an RPM surge issue. The RPM is never higher than around 750 except for the first minute or two after starting the engine cold. In that case it idles around 1500 RPM, but settles down fairly quickly to normal without any surging.

Any ideas where I should start looking to fix this?

Thanks for the help!

 

Look into cleaning the TB and also the IACV. There are some write ups on this; https://www.hondaaccordforum.com/for...threads-40780/

Found at the top of this section. After the cleaning I'd let the car "re-learn" idle.....info on how to is also in the same sticky.

 

Look for the one about setting the "base idle". Do that & then have it re-learn the idle.

 

So I finally got some spare time to try to fix my idle issue... I followed the directions on this forum to clean the IACV, throttle body, and to reset the idle speed. No luck. The idle speed lags just as badly as it did before and my car idles at around 1500 RPM until it is warmed up.

Any other ideas before I spend a lot of $$ to replace the IACV? Is it possible there is some kind of lightweight lubricant that might keep the IACV from sticking? (Or is that a really bad idea...)

Thanks for the help.

 

Was the FITV cleaned/adjusted?

 

I read that '96 and newer Accords don't have FITVs. Is this bad info?

 

The 98+ accords don't have a FITV. Your 96 has one bolted under the throttle body.