Hey all,

Just trying to diagnose the issue with my car to see if I need to take it somewhere or if I can do it myself to try and save some money. I get a weird idle upon cold start... I will be sitting there for about a Min and the idle will start to shake a little to where you can feel it and the RPMS will drop almost to 0 and then the car sends it back up to the normal warm up idle until it is at normal warm up temp then it seems to stop from dropping. I have noticed in acceleration it seems a little sluggish when in lower RPMS when I accelerate further it seems to correct itself. The CEL does come on but I haven't had a chance to take it anywhere to read the code that it is throwing.

Brief background on the car repairs that I have had done to the car since I bough it October 2009. When I bought it the car wouldnt' go into second gear because the transmission 2nd gear servo was out. So I have replaced it with a Jasper Transmission for the car, still has the clutch that it had before because there was still plenty of it left when I had it fixed June 2010. i also had all the maintaince done to it from Spark plugs, timing belt and exct done to it when i first bought the car. The only issue I have had at the last oil change about 2700 miles ago was that the Vtec Plug/sensor and Cam Plug/Sensor was going out and had to be replaced causing an oil leak that was fixed.

I do not believe that the alternator has been replaced since I bought the car but I'm not 100% sure on that. The car has 128K miles on it and has been running perfectly up until recently when I noticed that if I try to run when cold it will go into first gear and start to accelerate and then wind itself down like it is ignoring the gas that I am giving it, I push in on the clutch and the rpms fall and then climb back up and I am able to drive again.... I was almost thinking that the clutch was going out on it, but I am not sure.

Sorry about the long winded post, just wanted to give us much detail as possible.

Thanks again!
DC

 

Any Monday techs around for this one today? I have it in the shop trying to see what the problem is since Saturday. It's got me worried like something big is going on.... I thought maybe it would be an Idle sensor or a vaccum hose out of place....

 

Take it to autozone and get the code pulled.

 

This is funny but the CEL light is now off, Goodyear is unable to reproduce the issue I was having while idling on a warm up from a cold start. I ask them to try waiting longer to see if it happens.

 

So Goodyear can't reproduce the problem they let it idle for about 10mins from cold start and didn't see it fall once... they only thing that the engine through back was that the 02 sensor is going bad.

 

So I went to p/u this morning and started the car and about 2-3mins in it starts having the issue that it has been. It will flutter during idle to warm up.... It kind of sounds like if your carb is flooded and it wants to stull out but the motor compensates... it does this about 3 times with high idle inbetween and then its fine. What I noticed afterwards is when trying to drive it will go into gear but doesn't want to accelerate in gear like it can't go anywhere..... I push the clutch in and the engine stays running with the RPMS falling till it "corrects" itself again and then goes back to normal.

What Goodyear advised was that it could be an Idle Relearn procedure that it needs to go through or the "IVAC" needs cleaned our or replaced which can cost me about 350.00... with parts and labor.... does anyone know how to do this, or do you need to be a tech to perform? I really just want to save some money on this and learn something in progress as well. Anyone in the Columbus, OH area?

 

As it doesn't drive properly either, it's not going to be the IACV. The IACV only affects idling.

Make sure the "back up" fuse in the box under the hood is OK. If the ECU doesn't get backup power it will need to relearn every time you turn the key off.

I suggest going to a different garage if you need to seek professional help again.

 

With having 127k miles on it, would cleaning the TB and IACV help? It only does it initially and then once it drives and gets past the idle/power issue it has it drives fine. This is really weird... could something be clogged?

 

just a guess, but it sounds like it could be a fuel system problem. have you tried to replace your fuel filter or clean your injectors? Also, how long has the issue been going on? it could be that you put in bad gas or there was too much ethanol in your gas and the car is having a hard time combusting the fuel. you could also be getting bad spark if you put in new plugs and they werent gapped properly.

 

The problem started a couple weeks ago. The First thing I remember doing is adding oil to my engine because it was a little low and Lucas Fuel Line cleaner to the gas tank to try and clean out any gunk that may be building up. I do remember adding some oil when it was cold inside and when I did so the cap from the oil had placed it self in the manifold but didn't drop inside of it as I was dumping oil that most likely leaked to the rest of the engine... after I noticed this after a few seconds I had fixed the issue but this is when I remember the issue happening. I know the spark plugs were replaced at the end of 2009.... had 112k miles on the car and now 127k.