I have been having an issue trying to diagnose this issue. I wasn't quite sure what to title this thread. I do however have the ability to describe the symptoms. Imagine that.

I have been working on my 91 Civic SI Hatch and it has been getting better and better each time that I have replaced something. I have been having an issue since the weather has become hotter. The issue that I have been seeing is that if I run the AC while driving I notice that I get really bad acceleration. I understand that the AC will rob the engine of most of its performance but from what I can tell compared to my friends 96 Civic his handles the AC much better.

When starting off from stop if I don't hit 3 grand RPM the engine seems like it chokes and just barely accelerates. Once I am in second I notice that at around 2 grand RPM sometime the car will buck as if someone tapped the brakes hard or let off the gas.

One I reach my destination, after running into a store for ~10mins, the car will not start (starter will turn) when I come back. I turn off the AC before starting just as a habit. If I wait ~10 mins the car will crank then turn off again. Once I get it started again I can rev the engine for a few secs and it will idle back to normal and be on my way.

While running AC or not while being stopped the car will idle down to 100 or 200 RPM but will not cut off. I have noticed that the car usually idles around 500 RPM as is.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to give as much info as possible. Any thoughts? Thanks for any help ahead of time!