Hey guys, I know that I've posted on here about this before but once again, my car has been giving me trouble starting for the last couple days. Normally, once and a while it will catch, run at a very low rpm for about 10 seconds and then jump to its normal idle (usually cold so appx 1500 rpms). Anyway, the last couple days its been worse, almost stalling out before revving up, and then today it just plain didnt wanna start. I talked to one of my friends who is a service advisor at a nearby Acura dealer, and he thought that it might be the plugs/wires/cap/rotor but I just replaced them about 8,000 miles ago... My only thought is that they were Advance Auto Parts brand and not Honda and he as well as the Honda techs I've talked to say that Honda's are very picky about that stuff and tend not to like other brands. I dont think he would tell me that if it wasnt true, and I cant think of anything else it could be at this point because the battery is brand new and i just ran a thing of fuel injector cleaner through my gas tank. Any ideas on what could be causing this? My friend offered to get me the parts for less than I would normally pay, which was really nice of him, so I'm probably going to end up doing that sometime in the next week or so unless you guys have any other ideas... ugh... Thanks in advance for any input guys.

- Craig

 

Do you happen to retrieve any CEL trouble codes with a scan tool?

 

Nope, the check engine light hasn't come on so I didn't even think about checking for codes. But I don't ahve a code reader anyway...

 

try to advance or retard ur timing... see if that helps ur idle any bit... also take off ur cap and make sure theres no white on the metal points.. its basically corrosion... good luck.. if u have too hit the gas a lil bit when ur starting...

 

CHECK UR VTEC SOLENIOD OR VACUMM SENSOR IT MIGHT BE THAT

 

what would the vtec solenoid have to do with starting the engine? and where would i find the vacuum sensor? do you mean the pcv valve? that was something that i did not replace when i did the tuneup so if i end up doing it again, it might be worth while to do also. thanks.

 

At this point, it also may be worthwhile checking whether the idle speed needs adjustment (see picture).

[IMG]local://upfiles/25538/7F789AFD52E8463EABB2BCF1E7038337.jpg[/IMG]

 

I had the idle checked when I had the valve clearance adjusted last May or so. They said that they "re-learned the idle" and I was hoping that between that and the tune up the starting issue would go away, but it hasn't... I checked under the distributor just now and noticed a little corrosion on the contacts, not a huge amount but there was some on them... Could this be the problem, and should I just do what my friend said and get the Honda parts? Thanks guys.

- Craig

 

Can you keep it going by stepping on the gas lightly? If so it's probably your idle air control valve, try cleaning it.

If the cap/rotor/wires are really bad it would run poorly after it started too. But I would still suggest putting Honda ones on in any case, they are much better.

 

Ok, so I just cleaned the idle control valve. I was suprised to see that the screen was pretty caked with black crap. When I ran it after it seemed to come back down to idle a little more normal than it had been, so hopefully this will fix it and its not some other problem. I'm thinking that I will end up getting the plugs/wires/cap/rotor from Honda anyway, just to be safe. So lets hope this works *crosses fingers* lol. Thanks for all the help guys! Ill let you know how it turns out.

- Craig