Hi all,


Nice to find this forum,...seems like cars this old are somewhat of a relic these days,.....even the Honda Dealers seem to only train their technicians mostly on models from 1995 - up, or does anyone know what industry training standards are these days? I occasionally take my Honda to the Dealer for oil changes or other mechanical services, since I get seasonal coupons, otherwise there is a great local shop with a veteran mechanic who was trained on Hondas back in the day, so he seems to enjoy working on my car. I bought this car from a friend about 7 years ago, it has about 180,000 miles on it,...I keep it up the best I can, and as I can afford.


I've been having a problem with the idle recently, and did some time back as well, but my mechanic fixed it somewhat, and told me it had to do with weather/temp. changes, - I assumed he first checked to see if any underlying conditions were causing the hi idle, fix those first before adjusting the idle more directly thru a screw or a certain size hex-key. Here's the thing, he showed me where the place to adjust the idle behind the carburetor/airfilter chamber, but its hard to reach sort of, and I cant find exactly where to fit in the hex key (like an allen wrench) to make any adjustment,....does anyone know what it is he showed me, what that is called, and how adjusting it affects the idle? I cant find any diagram showing that area very well. I know I should probably ask this question in another thread, but just putting this out there, if anyone has any tips or insights. Thanks!


I think the gold on my Honda is the original color, its kept pretty well since one of the previous owners treated it with some sort of sealant coating.

 

I actually have the book on your car. I so would love to have one of those one day. What engine are you running and I'm assuming its carbureted? If it is a carburetor It's most likely the idle adjustment screw and he is right sometimes you will find yourself adjusting it season to season due to temp changes that will affect how it runs. I've had to do that on my '79 Chevy Van time to time. With your situation you can find out what it takes to turn it and get a screwdriver with flexable extension from just about any parts store. At Oreilly's they are right at the counter for 5-8 bucks with bits. That will help alot but you'd need the right size bit. It helps if you cant see it use a smartphone to take pictures of it in a tight space since its slim. Like I said any info you need I've got the book but I need to know what engine :3

 

Here's some illustrations from the book. This should be the locations of all/most of the adjustments that you will need to know about for that. Let me know if you need any other info especially electronic diagrams, got alot of those.
http://imgur.com/a/pGkL3

 

Welcome to HAF.

A 3rd gen , this has to be my favorite gen Accord (86-89). Never had a 3 dr in this gen but I think I've owned every other trim. door level.

The idle on the carb'd ones can be tricky. My first question is "what did they do" to fix it the first time? Trust me - no disrespect to your tech - most tech's will just "hack" the idle on these because it is a bit involved to fix it the proper way. Most of the time, Thermo valve A (a three way ported Vac Switch - PVS) goes bad and from there the hacking begins.....plugged vac lines, bailing wire, ect are used to attempt a "fix".

 

Thanks Foxi,


Wow, I've been looking for diagrams like that or some clue, but one thing is the mechanic showed me the hex key for what he was adjusting, so that what I've tried to use for that particular 'adjustment spot', but its so hard to see back of the carberator/air filter cabin. Looks like the throttle stop screw could take a hex key or you just switch it, but looks like that's the area he showed me. But not sure of the place in that area u can also adjust with a screwdriver. The graphs are helpful, but one is cut off a little. Gonna try tinkering with what I can see and give updates on this.


Oh, I might also add, not sure if this has anything to do with the higher idle,...but the shop put in 10w40 oil at my last oil change - whoa! the owners manual calls for 5W30 universally year round, especially better in the winter, thinner oil, so don't know why they did that, maybe on accident, not remember to look up the model requirements? I could have told them in advance my preference as well, but forgot. Not sure this would have anything to do with idle, - I've been putting in some 5W30 as some leaks a bit to top it off, thinning it out a little somewhat.


Another thing, is when its idling, or I'm in park....the idle goes down a tad if I turn the steering wheel to the extreme either way, but goes back to its usual pace when I return it in center - anyone know what causes this? OH, another thing, I was putting the wrong cheap power steering fluid in my tank as it got low, the cheap dollar tree stuff without reading the fine print in the back that said its NOT recommended for Honda. doh! So I got the HOnda compatible stuff from Autozone...and have been using that now. I hope that will mix in with the old stuff ok, without me having to empty out the older fluid? Thanks for your help!

 

Thanks poorman,


Well, hes an older guy and trained back in the day on Hondas, so hes somewhat familiar with my model, so I'd assume...trusty guy....but hes getting up there in his 70's, so not sure if that affects ones long term mechanic skills, or if forgetting things becomes easier? I don't know.


It seems best to first trouble shoot and fix issues that may be causing the idle going high, before just doing a quicker fix of twisting a screw or some other adjustment lever. I don't know what they did last time, but it helped...then sometime later, this problem came back. Now I have to wait a while for car to warm up....then when fully hot and idling,....I'm at 1,500 rpms? - its in between the 1 and 2,...that's better than near or just over the 2 which has done in the past when the idle jumped higher for some reason. So looks like some trouble shooting is due, or I can specify that if I take it in again. Otherwise, I'd love to have an old mechanical guide for this model, and tinker with things myself, although Im not a super mechanic, but kinda green, but interested in somethings if I can fix or adjust myself.

 

The drop in RPM when the steering wheel is turned will be just the drag of the power steering pump on the engine. This is normal all of the cars I've had and worked on have always done this.(Various Brands) As for the graphs I can send you some actual scans of the pages in my book if you'd like. As a side note when I had my '99 Honda Accord LX, back when I lived in MS, do to being in the southern climate I used 10W-30 Mobil Oil in my 2.3L Vtec. I never had any issues with it and it ran slightly better with it than the 5W-30 being a higher mileage car. It kinda filled in the gaps from years of previous wear and tear. The previous owner put a cheap power steering fluid in and needless to say I wound up replacing the pump shortly after I got it. Generic Master Pro (Oreillys brand) honda approved fluid worked wonderfully with the new pump. I had a friend who had a 2.2L with the same pump and used dealership Honda fluid. There wasn't really a difference in usage or wear as far as we could tell. If you see any moisture around the valve cover do yourself a favor when you become more familiar with your car and replace the gasket. It's not too hard and it will make a world of difference in the way it runs. I did that before the first oil change :P

 

1984-1995 Honda Accord/Prelude Idles - Album on Imgur Everything on Adjusting Idle Speeds and Fuel Mixtures for 1984-1995 Honda Accord & Preludes. Chilton Total Care Pages 2-19 to 2-25.

 

Thank you, this really helps

 

Any other info you need just ask and I'll scan it in.