V6 occasional stuttering

I did do a search and found quite a few threads on this topic but it seems like there is no real solution???

Our V6 has just over 110K, is in stock form and has developed an occasional stutter when pulling away at low speed. This will happen after the choke is off and is usually when I pull away from a stop slowly. It will start to move then suddenly the engine will almost stall then pickup then stall then pick up... almost like someone is turning a light switch on and off... then it runs fine. No codes, no flashing lights... nuffin.

It's not a tranny issue, it works just fine.
It's not a vacuum issue, checked all those lines and everything seems to be holding a vacuum. In fact the last item I checked (the cruise control) disconnecting that line let the air into the whole system... and the engine had been off for a few minutes, so I think the vacuum is intact.

I did swap the spark plugs and 3 of them were loose (eek), but I put the new ones in nice and tight, so it wasn't that as it did this with the new plugs. The main FI relay was replaced a little while ago, which really didn't do anything.

The negative battery terminal is corroding again, so I have cleaned that off - that is a possibility - leaving that on the table for now.

The other symptom I noticed in the driveway was when revving the engine it would drop back below idle (around 500rpm) and sometimes not recover, so I did turn the idle adjust screw 1/4 turn CCW - not sure it did anything, except take out the RTV holding it in place - leaving that on the table too.

Here's an odd one, Cycling the brake pedal several times in a row at idle made the idle speed go up.

I'm out of ideas

Can it store codes without putting the light on? I may need to take a trip to Autozone for a free read.

I had a similar issue on my V6, to the point I thought my tranny was messing up, but all I did was, take apart and clean out IACV (idle air control valve) you will need to remove throttle body, clean that too, and take off EGR valve and clean that too. Made day and night difference in my car. Better gas mileage too.What you describing about pumping brakes, it's kinda like when you turn a/c on car idles bit higher, because it uses more power, so altinator works harder to compensate that.

Thanks Igor, I did have the IACV out at 90K and noticed it was pretty clean, but did clean out the little bits of carbon that were in there. The EGR port was clogged in the intake manifold at that same time. Had to use a drill bit to get that carbon out. It passed emissions in December 2013, without having to go on the rolling road. They do an OBD check, so I'm guessing there were no codes or it would have failed.

I have a suspicion the cause is electrical, because of the on/off nature of the symptoms. So I'm thinking fuel pump or some connection to the pump or the timing sensors (Hall effect switches for want of a better name). Dizzy means intermittent/partial failure??? We had a Plymouth acclaim that did that, where the engine would die randomly - it did throw a code though.
But getting all these thoughts down is helping (I hope).

Intake tube off
Engine at idle
Can of carb/chok cleaner spay, hold 8-10" from tb straight up
Spray in, short bursts, engine might die, restart

WHOLE CAN

5-10 minutes usually
Go for a quick drive, should be much better unless you have an actual mechanical problem. Most of the time these damn hondas just have other **** break ON then, like cheap *** fuel! The fuel go clog up the IACV, the carb/choke will make the entire manifold/ port/tb/IACV shine like new, so it will stay good for awhile.

Thanks ED6, I can give that a try, but I have a suspicion that I may need to clean or replace the timing sensors, which I think is find 15 on this page

Link to parts page

I agree that stuff breaks on "these damn Honda's". I have come to the conclusion that it's the source of supply for the minor parts that is the cause of all the problems. We have 2 Scion Xb's in our family and nothing is going wrong with them, other than service items. The cute little '06 has 95K and the uglier '09 has 35K. both no problems and I've used the '09 for towing up to Flagstaff (7000 feet) and back. And it says don't tow in the owners manual - (lawyer speak). Why do the XB's work??? 3 words - Made in Japan

I see you have more bikes than me I do recommend the FZ09, even though it has a hard seat, crap suspension and is getting a new camchain tensioner at 1400 miles. It is just so naughty! see if you can get a test ride, just turn the damping screws all the way in before the ride.

If you have no mil, id be very suspicious of a tdc sensor w/o a oscilloscope.

Only honda for this guy, I've thought of a few substitutes, but found none yet.

So it has been a couple of weeks now and I think the stuttering is cured - what cured it of the 3 things I did - I don't know - they were
1. Cleaned up the battery terminal connector that was corroding again
2. Opened up the idle screw adjuster 1/4 turn (CCW). Item 1 in this picture
http://www.1hondaparts.com/auto-par...e-body-v6/?trim=lxv6&engine=4-speed-automatic
3. Put some WD40 on the camshaft position sensor connector and ran the connections together a few times to wipe off any corrosion. The connector end of find 15 here
http://www.1hondaparts.com/auto-par...-cover-v6/?trim=lxv6&engine=4-speed-automatic

xci.ed6 said:

Intake tube off
Engine at idle
Can of carb/chok cleaner spay, hold 8-10" from tb straight up
Spray in, short bursts, engine might die, restart

WHOLE CAN

5-10 minutes usually
Go for a quick drive, should be much better unless you have an actual mechanical problem. Most of the time these damn hondas just have other **** break ON then, like cheap *** fuel! The fuel go clog up the IACV, the carb/choke will make the entire manifold/ port/tb/IACV shine like new, so it will stay good for awhile.

Click to expand...

Just one quick question, is there a reason why we keep the engine at idle when doing this??
Thanks.

yeah, so it cleans the iacv

Cool. Thanks for the info