2000 2.3vtec running rough after egr cleaning

First let me apologize if this has been answered elsewhere. Here's what happened. I removed the entire intake off my daughter's 2.3vtec accord, to clean clogged egr passage, and to fix an oil leak coming from a bad VTEC solenoid oring gasket. I cleaned and reassembled everything. Upon restarting the car it runs but really rough, and only with the air filter box off, as if its starving for air? An obd scan only comes up IAC fault (idle air control) Any thoughts?

Update, went back through every nut, bolt, and vac hose. Replaced the knock sensor after discovering I had broken the connector reinstalling the metal water pipe on the rear of the engine(between eng and firewall). Removed the Idle Air Control unit and cleaned a lot of
carbon with electronic contact cleaner and reinstalled. Inspected the sparkplugs and found them to be very black and carbon fouled, not wet, dry, but very black. Installed new plugs. Refilled radiator, opened bleeder valve to allow air to escape. Problem still persists? The car will crank and idle pretty decent, but as soon as I press the accelerator it stumbles misfires and will sometimes shut off. If you feather the accelerator just right you can get it to hold a rev, but the car will rev up and down by itself, with the accelerator held in the same position? I'm stumped on this one guys, I need some input?

Did you put the old plugs back?

If you have a distributor make sure the cap is in good conditions and does not have any cracks or carbon deposits in it.

Good luck,
Sam

What rpm's are you going for and are you in park or in gear? In park with no load, today's computers will automatically cut out the spark to keep the engine from over revving and doing damage.

Thanks Sam, yes I bought new plugs. 65comet, I am barely cracking the throttle just around 1700rpm any further throttle input or WOT results in the engine dying.

Dist cap/rotor look to be in good condition, cleaned contacts with a scotch brite pad just to b sure, no cracks, and no oil inside dist.

I guess next step is the fuel pressure.

Good luck,
Sam

I think there's air in the cooling system from removing the rear metal coolant pipe. Top radiator hose is hot, and the bottom is cool, and there's no heat coming out of the vents. The coolant temp gauge reads normal on the car dashboard, but the Bluetooth OBD2 module and running the Torque shows the coolant temp at 200°. Gonna do a proper bleed of the system tomorrow, and install a new thermostat prior to that just in case. I'll keep y'all posted

Fixed It!!! Finally! Embarrassed to say that I had Throttle Position Sensor, and another connector crossed. Lesson Learned! Did have one pain in the a$$ getting the air bled out of the cooling system, but all is well now. Thanks for the input guys...