Ok its 70 out here in MN finally and my car heats up now (when it was cold it didn't heat up at all) but anyway, today i stopped at my friends house and we drove around for maybe an hour and then i got in my car and turned it on and then i noticed my idle dropped to 1200 rpm, now i'm not used to this so i don't know if my idle is messed up or not... and i don't know if my engine was still warm or not. it usually idles at 800 rpm and sometimes it'll even drop down to about 400 rpm then go up to 800 rpm. so please post if this is normal or not.


also sometimes when i drive the car granny style, shifting at 3000 rpm and sometimes my car bogs and it doesn't go no where when i accelerate... my downpipe from my header is all messed up and i have an exhaust leak by where the downpipe and the cat connects, its realeasing some exhaust through there, could that be the problem? cuz i had a testpipe before and it bogged WAY more whenever i was driving it nicely... so i think if i get a new header that is not messed up then it should work ok and not bog? but could it be my spark plug wires? i haven't checked them if the wires are not sparking the way they should. also i just put in bosch platinum +4's about 2-3 months ago. so i think they are fine. any ideas?

 

Ok I will give this one a shot. If your idle is going up and down a lot maybe you are giving the car to much fuel. It kinda sounds like your spark is not enough for the amount of fuel going in. Or maybe you have fuel puddling on the values. At low idle's or stopped you get to much fuel on the values then when you take off the car bogg's down on you. I would check into that.

 

if you have an exhaust leak before the oxygen sensor, you are letting exhaust out, but you are also letting fresh air in (exhaust flow pulses), and the oxygen sensor will see alot of oxygen in the exhaust causing it to send a false rading to the PCM. that will make the fuel trim go very rich, which can cause bogging.

thats my idea of what coule be happening.

 

its after the o2 sensor, my o2 sensor is at the end of my downpipe.

 

well the bogging problem sounds like it could be related to either the leak, or a spark problem. Usually it wont bog THAT bad unless its a BIG leak. In your first post you said the idle dropped TO 1200? is this correct or did you mean it dropped FROM 1200? and when you say it drops from 400 then back to 800, is this just once in a while and randomly or does it happen constantly?

 

when my engine is all warmed up to normal temp when i push in the clutch it'll drop to 400-500 rpm then bump up to 800rpm and chill around 800rpm.. i had a test pipe that leaked WAY more and i bogged WAY more, like i couldn't hear my muffler, all i heard was my leak from my test pipe... i have a hi-flow cat now and it helped A LOT but i still have a leak and it happeneds only when i sit for 1-2 mins in one spot.... almost like the exhaust at idle doens't push it through the cat conveter enough cuz of the leak so when i try to go my cat conveter is clogged so when i push in the clutch and rev up to 4-5k its fine after that, like i pushed all the exhaust out and now its fine.... but i dunno, it bugs me very much, so any help on this would be appreciated! thanks!

 

well since it drops to 4-500 rpms then jumps up to 800 like you are saying it seems the idle control is alright, the idle doesnt seem like its that bad if it just drops once and then jumps to 800 and stays steady, the bogging is what bothers you more right? when it bogs, is it ALWAYS at certain rpms or randomly, and does it feel like the engine is just dead for a second or describe it more how it bogs.... sounds like either a spark/fuel prob, or loose wires going to the ignition module, but for it to be loose wires to the ignition module it would have to feel like the car, DIES for a second, and it would be more random.

 

Ok the rpm thing is fine, just my bogging is stupid as fuk, it like almost dies then when i give it a little gas it'll just sit there almost like its actually farting (sound) and if i floor it, it jerks the car and goes maybe a LITTLE LITTLE faster, but it won't go, like i mean if i floor it, it would take about 30 seconds to get to 30mph, so thats why i rev the engine up to 4-5k and then its perfectly fine. i have a fuel pressure regulator and i set it up and down and it still does it, seems to do it MORE when i have the pressure down more, than up higher. 38-40 not as much, 37 or lower it does it more often, but if i have it lower it idles lower, so thats why i think it might be my leak problem cuz it'll build up exhaust in my cat and it'll just sit there and when i rev it up it'll push all of it out and then its fine, but i dunno... maybe you have experienced this more.. it seemed to happen when i had a hole in my stock cat converter, or i had a crack and was leaking out exhaust, thats what started it all.

 

sounds either like you are running rich at low rpms, but I dont think that is the case, or like you said about the leak, then when you get it up to high enough rpms its going to flow better even if there is a leak, but if you have a leak it mainly effects the torque which is the low rpms so it sounds like that is your problem, I hope it is....

 

also.... is the leak pretty bad? because I used to have a 93 integra that had a leak like that, and when it was cold i could hear the leak more, and when it warmed up it would be less noisy and also run better, but then it eventually started doing it even when it was warm so I fixed it and it fixed the lagging problem. remember though, hondas are not torque beasts, so they will tend to lag a lil at low rpms, a little is ok, but not like what you are describing.