I have a 1987 CRX 5 speed, (carburetor, not fuel injected) that is giving me fits. Sometimes it starts right up, other times it cranks and cranks until it finally starts and runs very rough, smells like fuel, and only seems to run at high RPMs. Once out on the highway, it runs fine at full speed, but as soon as I come to a stop, it stalls. Every now and then it will not stall at idle, but if I let it sit there for a minute, the RPMs will start dipping down over and over again, with each dip getting progressively longer until it stalls. From what I have read it seems like it could be the main relay, But I am having trouble locating the part. So I have 2 questions;

1) Does anyone know what it could be if it is not the relay?

Does anyone know where the relay is, or perhaps have the part number? The guy at the parts house looked pretty green and wasn't much help.

 

Here is the relay I was sold. i replaced it and nothing changed.

 

The carb ones have a really complicated system to adjust the idle mixture automatically using an O2 sensor, a small computer, and a whole ****load of vacuum-operated stuff. It is hard to keep working properly and most of the parts are now unobtanium. It works on the principle of causing a variable air leak into the carb to lean out the mixture. If you don't need to pass a smog test you may be able to bypass it so it just runs rich all the time.

Like any other carburetor car you need to make sure the automatic choke is working.

Fuel delivery is IIRC completely mechanical using a camshaft-driven fuel pump. You can see if there is gas in the carb through a window on the side. There is no main relay like the injected models have.

 

Thank you very much for your reply. I spoke with a man yesterday who told me I probably need to replace the floats in the carb. Can't seen to find them sold anywhere.

Thanks for the explanation on the carb. I do not need to pass smog, but I would like to get it working properly. I am by no means proficient with carburetors, but I'm pretty good at muddling my way through something. Sooooo, what specifically do I check to see if the automatic choke is working?

P.S. I really aggressively cleaned out the carburetor yesterday and lubed some of the linkage on the outside, and it is running better now, but it has been like that (running good and then running bad again), so I'm not convinced it's fixed.