Intake Manifold Air Leak Symptoms?
 

Okay, so I replaced the starter motor on my '03 Accord EX auto this weekend, and had to remove the intake manifold to get to the starter. Anyway, when it came to re-assembly today, none of the parts stores in town had a new intake manifold gasket in stock, and being a Sunday it would be Tuesday before I could get one ordered.
The old gasket looked fine, so I carefully cleaned up the surfaces of both the gasket & manifold and reassembled.
Well, the starter cranked the car up fine (yay!) but the idle is bad, it steadily surges up & down rapidly at around 1000rpm.
Could this be the old gasket leaking? I did'nt damage any hoses or electrical connectors as far as I can tell, but coolant did squirt out during reassembly, wet electrical maybe?
Also I had to disconnect the throttle linkages, could that be at fault?
Anyway, thought i'd give you guys a shot before I ordered a new gasket tomorrow. Thanks for any advice.

BTW.....I did not bleed the cooling system, I read where that could cause fluctuating idling?

Get a can of brake clean and spray it around the gasket, if the idle drops its leaking.

I would also bleed the cooling system.

Problem solved. I had missed an electrical connecter beneath the air filter hose.