92 accord Erratic behavior runs bad

92 accord lx auto 4cyl

I have searched this forum and can’t seem to find anything that is related to my problem, so I will try to describe what problem I am having.

When starting the car cold the following happens every time. Starts right up, fast idle but rough, after a minute or two will start to surge or hunt for idle speed between 800/1200 rpm. Still running rough the car will drive with little power for about a mile but can be force to high rpm. At this point the car will lose all power, it doesn’t matter what you do with the pedal 1200 rpm max. It will still idle but rough and will not rev. Sit on side of road and wait. After about ten minutes of this fun the car will begin to pick up rpm and can now be driven again. The full rpm range is available but the car continues to run rough. My daughter would describe this as follows, daaaaaaaaaaaaa da da da daaaaaaaaaa da da daaaaaa da da da da daaaaaaa and so on.

I have had the car to two independent garages with the following failed diagnosis and parts I have had to pay for, fortunately I have not had to pay for any labor. Both shops claim no stored codes even though the engine light has displayed a few times then gone out. Compression test reveals 130 across the board. Injector clean, rebuilt distributor, plugs, wires, cap, coil, pcv, fuel pump and filter, air filter.

In searching these forums I have found similar problems that point to the Air Idle Control, could someone tell me the location and description, I know it is located on the manifold but so are a lot of other things.

On a brighter note, thieves broke out the passenger window and stole the car. It was found about a mile away still running.:rofl:

Still having problems? You can read codes in your driveway without a scanner. Go to figure 7 here:http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/0c/fb/0c/0900823d800cfb0c.jsp

Has anyone checked for a vacuum leak around the intake manifold/chamber area. Could have a bad gasket between the manifold/block or manifold/chamber attachment. You could retorque the bolts or spray carb cleaner around the gasket area and listen for immediate rpm change. Vacuum leaks are infamous for causing erratic idling/running problems. Here's the area I'm talking about:http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/0c/f4/9e/0900823d800cf49e.jsp
Click on figure 8 or 9 to blow them up.

Thanks RIP for your responce. Unfortunatly I have saturated the mating surfaces between the chamber, manifold and block without positive results.
The guys at Autozone sold me some carb cleaner for this job that contains diesel fuel, the thought being if the diesel was sucked into the intake it would also make the car smoke as a secondary signal that I had a leak (damn no smoke).

I have given up on my local mechanichs and have been tinkering on this in my drive (can't afford guessing mechanics any longer).:confused:

I had already pulled up the carpet to look for codes on the ECU and only found a red light that comes on when the ignition is turned on and then goes back out, no flashing. Installed a jumper that turned on the check engine light but no flashing, just stays on solid.:banghead:

Wierd, at first I kinda thought IAC as well, but that wouldn't really explain the loss in power for 10 mins. I would start by cleaning/replacing it. Also fix any vacuum leaks you can find. See if htat solves the problem. IAC is on the front of the intake manifold. If you can't find it, download the service manual here (http://spoonhonda.com/downloads.htm) and look through it. (90-93 service manuals should be the same)

Fresh start please. the car has been in the back yard for three months now and my wife is going to make me junk it if I cant get it fixed. Any new Ideas out there.

Okay, just got my car back from the local honda guru, his diagnosis is as follows. Blown head gasket-may need head and or block. he gathered this diagnosis without a test drive in about two minutes. When the mechanic called me he figured all of this out buy noticing pressure on the upper rad hose and bubbling from radiator and that I would probably need a new engine. So this gut is either a genius or a con trying to make money. I had him reinstall the rad cap and leave the car alone, I will pick it up.
When I went to pick up the car I searched out the owner and told him what I thought about his mechanic. Without boring everyone with his excuse for why the mechanic said what he did, I will give his explanation of the diagnosis. Coolant getting in the combustion chamber and shorting out/drowning out the plugs. He told me to decrease the spark plug gap to .020 and that would stop the plugs from shorting out/drowning out. I no longer have an intermittent problem, runs like ass very consistently now. I did look at the combustion chamber with a bore scope while I had the plugs out and numbers 1 & 3 pistons were stained green on top.
So I guess I really do need a head gasket, I am just worried that it won't fix my poor running problem. I did find out during this little venture that once I drive the car about 15 miles it begins to run fine (standard plug gap). The weather has been such that I can't make much about steam coming from the tailpipe, it's been cool and humid and all cars are putting out steam/condensation.
Thinking about running without water for a minute or two since it is moisture that is supposedly causing the problem with standard gap of coarse, or experimenting with a little wider gap. Ideas? Anyone?

You can start it cold and drive with about 50% of cooling system capacity without hurting anything, but will make the point of whether it is related to combustion contamination...or you could drive it warm, let it cool down overnight, disable the fuel pump and relieve the rail pressure and crank it over for a few seconds, then pull the plugs out and see if a couple are coolant fouled...

A fast build of pressure in the hoses is what I look for when I suspect compression to cooling jacket leakage too..I suspect he's right, I look for hoses blown up hard with pressure before temperature even begins to warm...a sure sign of trouble..

You should never see green in a cylinder...usually with a slow leakage the piston and plug will be white (color of burned coolant) but if you actually see coolant in there, you have a HUGE problem, either head or possibly intake manifold gasket problem...