Low rough idle & occasional stall

Bob with the wrench

New Member
Hey folks,

This is a problem I've had with my Civic EX '96 for quite a while now (almost a year). I've searched around and can't seem a post that describes exactly the problem I'm having.

Basically, once my car is warmed up it starts having rough idles and would occasionally stall. When I come to a full stop, the RPM would drop to below 500 and the car starts shaking, then if I don't do anything the engine would stall after a few seconds. So I would end up using both feet to hold the brakes and give it a bit more gas.
Additionally, when driving at city speed, the engine would feel clogged as if it's not getting enough gas and the speed would drop to about 15 to 20 miles and refuse to accelerate while shaking. Then a few seconds later it shoots forward as if nothing was happening.

So for the second issue I figured it would be fuel filter and after researching I ended up changing it and that issue was fixed. But the rough idling / stalling did not go away. I checked for vacuum leak with this spray I got from an auto parts store and couldn't find anything.

What do you guys suggest would be the problem? I've seen a lot of talk about the idle valve (electric or mechanic) being a possible cause but how do I make sure that's what it is?
Also if it ends up being the case, how hard is it to clean/fix/replace by myself? I don't have a lot of experience or tools to do major repairs.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and I hope I can get help from you guys.

Best
 

ekman82

New Member
Sounds like the idle control valve could b sticking. Its located on the throttle body. I suggest to remove the throttle body and get a can or 2 of a quality intake cleaner or degreaser and clean all carbon from all components and ports. Then reassemble and see how it runs

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JiuJitsu_greg

New Member
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I agree check iacv. Also check pcv valve.
 


Andys2kcr

Respected
If cleaning the idle air control valve doesn't work. I recommend increase your base idle by turning the idle adjusting screw counter clockwise to raise your base idle. The spec for your base idle with no load on is about from 650 to 750 rpm I believe. Turn off all load on your car and back off the idle screw until your engine run about 730 to 750 rpm. It should help with the stalling problem with higher base idle. The idle screw is on top of the throttle body hide behind a rubber cap grommet. Before adjusting the idle, mark where it is originally at with white out so you can always turn it back to where it was before. I had similar problem with my 98 HX and I cure it by just increase the idle to around 730rpm so when the load kick on like AC and light, car still have enough rpm to not hesitate or stall. Hope that helps, good luck.
 


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