Hi all. I have a 1991 Accord wagon with 300k+ miles on it. This is the problem.
When I am stopped and my car is in either reverse or in gear (d4), the revs will drop very very low (100 to 500 rpms) and even stall out (with lots of shaking). It usually does this when I have parked it in a parking space and right as I am moving out of it. Or when I just start the car up. The car does fine in P or in N, no idle problems there. It also happens when the gears (R and D) move the car on its own (without me touching the gas) from a dead stop that the revs go crazy (drop straight down).


To try to fix this I've cleaned the IACV (it was VERY dirty) and I tightened the FITV and cleaned it. I've also bled all air out of the coolant system and adjusted the idle screw (this did not really help, it just masked it over). I also cleaned the EGR valve and planning to clean the ports (cleaning the valve helped the idle and made it run way better, but no cigar). The only other possibility that I heard it could be is a vacuum leak or maybe a new cap/rotor? It has new plugs and wires.




Thanks

 

Is this happening when the car is both warm=normal op temp and cold?

 

It seems to happen intermittently sometimes. At times when I start it and it cold it wont do it, but mostly it does. The same applies for when its warmed up; it will sometimes do it and sometimes not, but the majority of times it does it.

The car also shakes / vibrates a lot when it does it. I had the front motor mount replaced for this but it did not fix the violent shaking.

Cap/rotor? Maybe its an electrical thing.

 

If any tune up items are out of or close to being out then Yes. I missed that only the wires and plugs were changed in your first post.

 

Okay. I changed my cap, rotor, ignition coil, spark wires and plugs. I am starting to think that it could be the distributer itself or a vacuum leak. Or it could be the alternator. Or it could be the fuel pump. Or it could be a dead cylinder (I do have a cylinder that is not firing). Though this dead cylinder should not make the car idle and stall out like it does so I am ruling this out (could I be wrong?).

Its either a fuel or a spark or a compression problem (or maybe electrical?).


If someone could further add to this that would be very appreciated, thank you.

 

Didn't see this bit of info in your first post..........

Mind telling us more about this?

 

Well I just found out recently that whenever I unplug spark boot #3 the car's idle doesn't do anything. I checked if it was the fuel injector but it was not. That's pretty much what happened.

Then, I found out I have oil in my distributer so I am going to have to replace it.
Could a bad distributer cause a cylinder to not fire?

I figure that its must be a bad distributer which makes it idle and stall out so evilly because whenever i press on the brake pedal at idle it acts like its going to die. And its not the alternator or battery either cause those are relatively new.

 

Someone please mind telling me what's wrong? My distributer had oil inside of it. It was leaking from the inside.

So is it rather my distributer or the cylinder?

BTW is a piston ring job a difficult task?

 

Oil in distributor means the internal shaft seal is dry/hard and passing oil. It can be replaced w/ difficulty. A new distributor may be a simpler fix.

A dead cylinder could be valve damage, spark plug, spark plug lead, or distributor tower. A timing light on the dead cylinder wire will confirm whether plug is flashing. If no light flash, the spark is not occurring.

If spark is good, suggest pulling plug and checking cylinder compression. If you can't build compression, a leaking valve is likely. Cylinder head rebuild and new head gasket is fix.

good luck

 

Thank god for your timely answer, I needed it.
I may as well get a new dizzy (that's such a funny way to say it lol), this car is pretty prehistoric with 333,000 miles on it.


You talked about valve damage. How can you test for that? My cylinder head was replaced last year. If it is a compression problem it must have to do with the rings.

TY