Hello guys and girls, I posted a while back about my 88 Accord LX running very badly. The idle is never consistent, sometimes stays at 1800 RPM and other times goes down to 500RPM and goes up and down, I can watch the needle flicker. I still have been unable to fin dthe problem. I am wondering if these cars have throttle body position sensors or a mass flow air sensor? Maybe even the coolant temperature sensor is even making the car run bad? (By the way the motor is carburettor and not fuel injected) Thanks for any help people. I would like to get this car running good again.

Regards,
Steve

 

wavering idle sometimes means that you have a vacuum leak. check all hoses and maybe even replace some of them that are looking a little shady. you may have a bad gasket inside the carb or the gasket between the carb and the intake manifold or between the intake manifold and the block.

 

no throttle body sensors and no mass air flow sensor ( like the toyotas ,,) also chk the PCV VALVE i have seen a lot of them go bad..

is car auto or 5 speed ?? did you ever do an idle adjustment ? does idle stay at 1800 even after engine is hot ?? chk coolant level as well ..

 

How do I adjust the idle....I just cleaned my IAC valve and the engine runs smoother, but about 700RPMS.

 

Where is the PCV valve ?
Coolant level is fine. The idle only comes down when it is warmed up and when it feels like it. It can be at normal operating temperature and still rev high but at some point it will decide to idle normal. Even though when it does idle normal it still goes up and down a bit.

 

Where is the IACvalve, what does it do and how is it cleaned?

 

LX is carburated,, no iac valve,,,,,,,,,,,,
the PCV valve is located behind the valve cover , below the btacket that attaches the air cleaner housing to valve cover, ,, remove those 10mm bolts and nuts, remove the braket, you will see a curved hose going into the manifold, that's where the PCV valve is , squeeze that hose with pliers and see if idle smooths out , if it does replace PCV valve ..

 

Sorry to be a pain but I am not sure which hose you are referring to. There is a hose coming from the top of the valve cover. There is a small vacuum hose with the number 28 on it and there is a small thick hose in the shape af an upside down U, is that hte one you are referring to?

 

it is in the middle of the valve cover i suppose it could look like an upside down U .. squeeze that hose with pliers and see if idle smooths out,,,,if it does , at the end of the hose going into the manifold.there is the PCV valve , replace it.

 

Thank you very much deserthonda. The PCV valve was no good at all, completely wrecked. I replaced it with another one and the idle smoothed out considerably. Thanks so much. Now I just have to figur out why it revs up and stays revving high. Even with the new PCV valve if I hit the accelerator peddle, sometimes it will go to 1800RPM and not come down until I start driving it on the road. I am going to have it looked at soon. I will let you guys know what happens. Thanks once again.

Regards,
Steve