acid1216

I have a 2000 Accord DX with over 187,000 miles on it. Within the last couple of weeks I've experienced a rough idle and problems starting the car. The idle doesn't really jump up and down drastically, but it does get low (<800 rpms sometimes) and the car will begin to shake a little because of the rough idle. Tonight it did it while I was pulling in to a restaurant. I noticed it doing it, listened to it, and shut the car off. When I came back out about 45 minutes later, the car would not start right away. It took me about a minute to get it started. However, I just started it up a minute ago in my driveway and it came up just fine. Could it possibly be a sensor issue, or is it something more serious like the fuel pump? I changed the plugs, plugwires and distributer cap this weekend, and I thought that had fixed it, but it has apparently gotten worse.

I drive for a living and this sort of thing worries me. It happened last Friday night while I was in Montgomery, AL (I live close to Tuscaloosa, ROLL TIDE!!), and it even almost stalled out on me while getting on the freeway.

Sorry for my long story, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

JimBlake

New plugs & wires was a good idea, at that mileage.

Since that didn't help, how about the fuel side? You could try putting some cleaner (Techron or ??) in the gas tank, unless you've been doing that sorta regularly. The fuel filter is in the gas tank, it's not really a normal replacement thing (someone who owns an older Accord is probably gonna suggest it).

A couple weeks is probably more than one tankful of gas, right? So that kinda rules out bad gas. Unless you ONLY go to one gas station?

It got cold lately. How about moisture (condensation) in the gas tank? Try a bottle of gas dryer?

Normally a sensor issue would trigger the check-engine light. Make sure the bulb isn't burned out by watching it light up when you first turn on the car.

Normally fuel pumps just quit working altogether. It's pretty unusual for them to cause this kind of thing. Even if it is the pump, it should be even worse driving down the highway.

acid1216

It drives just fine going down the highway, and I have gone to more than one gas station. I also regularly use STP Gas treatment and last Saturday I used a bottle of Heet gas additive/water killer. Maybe it could be a distributor issue. I recently replaced the cap and rotor, but maybe its something else. I dont know if this is related, but whenever I rev up the engine (cold or warm) the car stalls out when I quit revving it up. I only have problems at slow speeds and when stopped for whatever reason (red light, traffic, etc.).

JimBlake

Distributor issue should be like other sensors, it should(?) trigger the CEL.

What did the old spark plugs look like? Check against this...
http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/techinf...q/faqread2.asp

Take off the intake duct, check out the throttle plate. Get some TB cleaner & wipe out the bore where the throttle butterfly closes. Dirty crud preventing it from closing completely? Then check & clean the idle valve (IACV) on the back of the intake manifold.

I just looked for a picture but Majestic's site is messed up. I choose throttle body & it shows me the radiator fan. I choose intake manifold & it shows me coolant hoses. Maybe later...

Also check your PCV valve. It should be like a little plastic elbow stuck in your valve cover. Take it out & see if it's plugged with crud. Shake it, there's a little plug on a spring, it's supposed to rattle. Or just buy a new one, they're like $10.

e3NiNe

is the rough idle only at dead stops and never while moving?

Tis the time of year for dead batteries. I had the same thing, but my dash cluster would dim and brighten constantly.

acid1216

I just talked to my mechanic and he thinks the idle valve could be dirty. He said those things get gunked up and cause those kind of symptoms. It doesnt do it while actually moving, it only happens when slowing down and stopped.

As for my battery, it's a 60 month Interstate (the best battery ever!) that's about 18 months old. It starts up fine when cold, except when I shut the car off when the idle is rough like Ive been talking about. Last night it took a few minutes to get the thing going, but it did eventually start.

Hopefully its just the valve and also hopefully it can just be cleaned and not replaced. Could a dirty fuel filter cause these symptoms?

JimBlake

A dirty fuel filter could do this, but like I said your car doesn't have a normal fuel filter. It only has the pump inlet screen which is kinda like a mesh bag around the pump, inside the gas tank. You'd have to get a lot of mud in the tank before that's a problem. Still, you can keep it in the back of your mind as everything else gets ruled out.

I'm inclined to believe the dirty idle valve, since driving around is OK. If cleaning doesn't do it, those valves sometimes just go bad.

acid1216

I appreciate everyone's input regarding my problem. If I had gone to a Honda dealer and asked these questions they would have taken an arm, a leg, and maybe even a kidney to answer them. This really is an awesome and easy to use forum that really helped to put my mind at ease. I get a little stressed out sometimes when it comes to my car.

qsd_Dan

"I just talked to my mechanic and he thinks the idle valve could be dirty. He said those things get gunked up and cause those kind of symptoms."

I may be too late, but you can shoot some throttle body cleaner in the orfice of the IAC while idling. I've cured your problem doing this many times.

Eazy_B97

I am currently having a similar problem with my 2000 Accord EX. When stopped the car revs up really high and tries to jerk forward.. It doesn't happen all of the time, only once in a while. Mostly when it's been in alot of stop and go, or acceleration type of traffic. We've had it into the shop twice now to be fixed, but it hasn't done the trick. Yesterday I was driving and had this happen worse than ever before, the car started shaking and I thought it was going to stall. I turned the corner, and it was jerking a bit, but then the engine continued to rev up and down, but there wasn't any acceleration when I hit the gas pedal. About 10-15 seconds later it kicked back in and I got my speed back up. When you start the car, it surges up to about 3000 RPMS then drops down to about 800 RPMs 4-5 times then settles down.

Has anyone else had this or a similar experience happen to them? For the initial poster, did you get your issues fixed?



Our car has similar mileage, inbetween 187K and 188K.