Engine Idle Speed Problem.

DarkangeL · May 3, 2010

Hey all,

I checked out a Civic Ek3 this past weekend. After a high revving short drive, I stopped the car alongside the main road, and the engine's idling speed went down to about 200 revs and seemed like it was about to switch off. It happened a second time when I drove back.

Any ideas as to why that happened?

Edited May 3, 2010 by DarkangeL

evergreen · May 3, 2010

DarkangeL said:
Hey all,
I checked out a Civic Ek3 this past weekend. After a high revving short drive, I stopped the car alongside the main road, and the engine's idling speed went down to about 200 revs and seemed like it was about to switch off. It happened a second time when I drove back.

Any ideas as to why that happened?

what is the tranny? Auto or Manual? and other details pls.

Ripper · May 3, 2010

DarkangeL said:
Hey all,
I checked out a Civic Ek3 this past weekend. After a high revving short drive, I stopped the car alongside the main road, and the engine's idling speed went down to about 200 revs and seemed like it was about to switch off. It happened a second time when I drove back.

Any ideas as to why that happened?

before my ECU and Delco went kaput...had similar issues. Not necessarily after high rev drives but even during normal drives the revs went really low at times stalling the car. Luckily i didn't suffer too long and the car full died and after taking it to the agents they found the ECU and the Distributor coil to be faulty...

Yours might not be the same scenario but can be a possibility...

A simpler cause can be bad plugs, plug wires, clogged fuel filter etc...the usual suspects

Also dirt throttle body can get your idle control valve to not operate as smoothly as it should.

this might help a bit

DarkangeL · May 3, 2010

evergreen said:
what is the tranny? Auto or Manual? and other details pls.

It's a 1995 Ferio with the 3 stage vtec engine. Manual tranny. The owner said he cleaned the throttle body recently.

Plus there was a light switched on on the dash while I was driving the car. It wasn't the engine light... was a little red light with a circle symbol and lines on top... The owner said that it was caused by a loose wire. Sorry about the vague description, but I was too busy navigating through traffic at the time and then I totally forgot about it...

Ripper said:
before my ECU and Delco went kaput...had similar issues. Not necessarily after high rev drives but even during normal drives the revs went really low at times stalling the car. Luckily i didn't suffer too long and the car full died and after taking it to the agents they found the ECU and the Distributor coil to be faulty...
Yours might not be the same scenario but can be a possibility...

A simpler cause can be bad plugs, plug wires, clogged fuel filter etc...the usual suspects

Also dirt throttle body can get your idle control valve to not operate as smoothly as it should.

this might help a bit

Thanks for the vid Ripper. To be honest, I have no idea what an IACV is, but every little bit helps.....

Btw, whats a Delco?

evergreen · May 3, 2010

DarkangeL said:
It's a 1995 Ferio with the 3 stage vtec engine. Manual tranny. The owner said he cleaned the throttle body recently.
Plus there was a light switched on on the dash while I was driving the car. It wasn't the engine light... was a little red light with a circle symbol and lines on top... The owner said that it was caused by a loose wire. Sorry about the vague description, but I was too busy navigating through traffic at the time and then I totally forgot about it...

Thanks for the vid Ripper. To be honest, I have no idea what an IACV is, but every little bit helps.....

Btw, whats a Delco?

the usual suspects are idle air control valve (IACV) and the plugs, injectors and the thottle body. or the worst case scenario could be the ECU.

all these primary culprits can be sorted out at a lesser cost. and a good tune up would sort it out.

im not too sure on the symbol yu are talking of...any more details?

MkX · May 3, 2010

DarkangeL said:
It's a 1995 Ferio with the 3 stage vtec engine. Manual tranny. The owner said he cleaned the throttle body recently.
Plus there was a light switched on on the dash while I was driving the car. It wasn't the engine light... was a little red light with a circle symbol and lines on top... The owner said that it was caused by a loose wire. Sorry about the vague description, but I was too busy navigating through traffic at the time and then I totally forgot about it...

Btw, whats a Delco?

The symbol you described is similar to the hand break light..

shanX · May 3, 2010

I have noticed same prob in mine. I bet, fuel filter is the primary culprit in mine.

shanX · May 3, 2010

MkX said:
The symbol you described is similar to the hand break light..

lol, thot the same

DarkangeL · May 5, 2010

evergreen said:
the usual suspects are idle air control valve (IACV) and the plugs, injectors and the thottle body. or the worst case scenario could be the ECU.
all these primary culprits can be sorted out at a lesser cost. and a good tune up would sort it out.

im not too sure on the symbol yu are talking of...any more details?

I have no idea what it is. I can't find any references. Its left to the speedometer, on the top. Tried to find it though an owner's manual I downloaded, but that would probably take me a month or so..... In any case, I'm not going for the car, so no worries. Thanks man.

MkX said:
The symbol you described is similar to the hand break light..

Yeap. It is similar to the handbrake symbol.

Pericles · May 5, 2010

You have a problem with an EK3? But I thought Madhu believes that Honda will never let you down which is the basis for recommending the EK3.

Ripper · May 5, 2010

Pericles said:
You have a problem with an EK3? But I thought Madhu believes that Honda will never let you down which is the basis for recommending the EK3.

heh heh...hate them fanboys!

DarkangeL · May 5, 2010

Pericles said:
You have a problem with an EK3? But I thought Madhu believes that Honda will never let you down which is the basis for recommending the EK3.

Ripper said:
heh heh...hate them fanboys!

Lol, ok. I've read enough threads to know what you guys stand on Honda fanatics is.

My patience has run out on Civics actually. It's just nearly impossible to find a well maintained, non riced, manual tranny Ek3, that's below 1.8 million!

Am searching for a P11, or a Starlet GT now.

Edited May 5, 2010 by DarkangeL