I have a little bit of a rough idle on my 1996 Accord. I am going to be checking for that soon. The thing that I am wanting to fix first is that the car has a hard shake at random times. It only happens when I'm idling.

I notice it most when the ac is on, but it also happens when its not on. Does this have anything to do with the rough idle problem?

I have read a lot of threads about fixing the idle but I wasn't sure if there was something else wrong that needed to be addressed.

 

What do you mean "rough" idle? Vibrations? Or the idle RPM surging up & down?

It might be 2 aspects of the same problem, so I'd fix the idle & see if gets better.

Watch the tach when it happens. Does the idle RPM drop low at the same time?

Also watch the AC compressor clutch - see whether the AC engages at the same time.

 

I cant watch the rpm's because the the tach meter is stuck behind the peg. It doesn't seem to be surging. It feels like its just running rough every now and them.

 

Just me but you just got the car, can you rule out the tune up items - cap, rotor, plugs.

Also give the rear mount a good look - from the factory with the ac on there is vac applied to it.

I'm leaning towards the tune up or IAC......Does the "bad idle" when the ac is off seem to come at the same time the cooling fans cycle?

 

It looks like the the cap is pretty new. I checked the plug wires and they look good except one. One of them seems like they need replaced.

It seems like it is worse when the car is in Drive. When I switch back to Park the Idle seems to get better. It is still not great, but better then when I have the car in Drive.

I will check to see if the cooling fan causes the problem. Thanks

 

Cooling fans and or the AC add "load" to the engine.....so if the tune up items are not up to date or the TB is dirty.....IAC as well....then a drop in rpm's will/can be seen.

 

I hope for your sake, it's not the engine mounts but when I had the same problem with a 2001 Accord, that was the culprit.