Low/Rough/Surging Idle

[rwong410]

First off, I did do a search and it came up with the same answer, clean the throttle body. Now, the problem is, this occurred AFTER I cleaned the throttle body.

I took off the intake pipe and sprayed Throttle Body Cleaner inside, on the butterfly. Then, I opened up the butterfly and spray in the area of the IACV and a little bit more into the throttle body itself.

I put back the intake pipe and everything and let the car sit there for maybe half an hour or so. Then, I started it back up and I have this surging idle from 1000 rpm - 2000 rpm. I put it into gear, and immediately the rpm drops to a little less than 500 (I believe normal operating rpm is 750ish?). I drive around to the store, buy something, and when I restart the car again there is no more surging idle, just the very low rpm and extreme shaking.

Now, my question is, are these issues caused by the fact that I didn't use a brush to brush off the carbon that the cleaner loosened OR the fact that I left the cleaner inside the throttle body for half an hour and didn't start the car OR something else?

 

[kevinbo03]

I don't know for sure but I would guess:

the fact that I didn't use a brush to brush off the carbon that the cleaner loosened

 

[finch13]

The idle is controlled via the Idle Air Control Valve on the back of the intake manifold by what the coolant temperature sensor and MAP sensor are telling the ECU. You need to unbolt the IACV and clean it out thoroughly with carb/brake cleaner and a nylon brush. It would also be wise to clean the passageways leading to it on the intake manifold.

Here's what an upper intake manifold looks like after 188K miles:

And clean:

You can see the ports to the IACV here. They're the 2 larger ones, the 3 smaller ones are for vacuum lines.

Just spraying carb cleaner isn't going to do jack, you would need to empty about 2 bottles to really dissolve it all away without brushing. The cleaning I did took about 4 hours to do including all the work in getting the manifold off and on. But it did allow me to get 515 miles to the tank a few times

 

[finch13]

Also, I had to left the car run for a good 5 minutes to burn off the excess carb cleaner, it gave a nice white smoke Seafoam effect.

 

[CG6Lemon]

can joo post a diy for this plz? i really appreciate it.

 

[finch13]

can joo post a diy for this plz? i really appreciate it.

In all honesty I don't think you'd be able to figure out where 2 coolant lines, 2 vacuum tubes, 3 sensors would go, plus the gasket, 3 bolts, 2 nuts, throttle cable, and cruise cable would be reinstalled. It's not the average DIY job. I've thought about posting a DIY, but I feel the people who would try it would fail and the people who could do it already know how. No offense.

EDIT: But, if the 6GA community really wants a DIY for it, I will make one. Cost of viewing the DIY = positive rep for me from each person

 

[CG6Lemon]

ILL DO ITZ. LOL IM NOT AS NOOB AS U THINK.

edit: or am i?

 

[jbisselwhiteac6]

Hey I have this problem sometimes with my v6 put it only occurs maybe once a week would this work for me

 

[finch13]

It's the first thing I suggest for idle problems, but other things can cause it too. This is the most common thing and carbon buildup is a nasty problem of Hondas, especially the EGR ports.

 

[rwong410]

In all honesty I don't think you'd be able to figure out where 2 coolant lines, 2 vacuum tubes, 3 sensors would go, plus the gasket, 3 bolts, 2 nuts, throttle cable, and cruise cable would be reinstalled. It's not the average DIY job. I've thought about posting a DIY, but I feel the people who would try it would fail and the people who could do it already know how. No offense.

EDIT: But, if the 6GA community really wants a DIY for it, I will make one. Cost of viewing the DIY = positive rep for me from each person

Yeah, I'd probably fail. Hence, the spraying of the TB cleaner with just the removal of the intake pipe.