barbeau82

I've had my 6speed for almost a year now, a few months after I got it the dealer told me i was idling too low, so they adjusted it and all was well.
Now, about a month ago a new problem started, aside from the moisture in the headlight (argh!)
Driving in town with the A/C on, each time I put the clutch in when coming to a stop or to coast, the revs drop to approx 500, sounds like it'll stall and then picks back upto approx 750. This is only when the A/C is on though. So I'm wondering if its a mix of the clutch on the A/C and the idle control sensor. NOW, a new trend has come along to when I start the car with the A/C on (mistake I know, but I dont always remember to turn it off before the car), it starts, chokes a very slight bit and then runs fine.......well, until the a/c issue
Obviously I need to take it to the dealership, but would anyone have an idea as to what it may be?

jproy

I have the same car. I had this problem as well. If you have more than 30000 miles on the car you more than likely have huge deposits under the aluminum upper intake manifold cover. You should completely remove your upper intake manifold and take everything but the carb apart, unless you know what you are doing. I had to use a coat hanger and tooth brush to remove the deposits in the channels under the upper intake manifold cover plate. It is the one that covers the IMRC butterfly inside the upper intake. This is very easy to do. there is a passage from the block up through the upper intake manifold to the channels in that plate on the top of the upper intake manifold that gets clogged and causes those same symptoms. You must also make sure the hole from the block to this part of the upper intake manifold is not clogged or dirty. This is a little known problem on all Honda Acura V6s. While it could be your IAC, I think this is your problem. After I disassembled, cleaned mine by scrubbing with seafoam and the tooth brush, reassembled, my car no longer has this problem. Like I said mine did exactly the same thing. If you need any help let me know. Jim

gr4mm4t0n

and since you have the manifold cover off, install thermoblock spacers. also, clean the throttle body valve, carbon will build up on it too and make it stick.

barbeau82

Sounds like it could be it, I have 37k on mine
Yeah, I've always been curious, what's with the thermoblock spacers?
Also, about how long would this take to do. Granted I wouldn't mind doing it myself, but I have class 12 hours a day, 5 days a week, not including the lovely homework, but I wonder what the dealership would charge....also, anyone know if it would be considered warranty work?

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

Dirty IAC, & misadjusted idle speed. The idle is supposed to be bumped up by the ECU when the AC is on. The normal 750 or so idle speed is with the ac off. What does it idle with the ac off? then with the ac on? Since the idle speed shouldn't need adjusting, the dealer messed with it for no reason.
Get some gum out carb clear. Take off the intake tube & spray the inside of the TB. Let it sit then start. Do this a few times. The car will run rough untill it burns off the cleaner. There's no need to take the upper IM off. You can also take the tb off & then bench clean it.

jproy

fuzzy,
I ran two bottles of seafoam through the intake like you said before I removed my intake and it cannot clean the channels I am talking about because they are engine block gas vent passages. The seafoam will not flow through there. I soaked these clogging deposits in seafoam for three hours and the seafoam didn’t even change color. It took a coat hanger and much force to scrape out these deposits. Trust me, they won’t budge without mechanical force. It is semi burnt oil. This is a known problem for people who drive there car hard to red line often. Oil particulates get caught in the venting gasses at high sustained RPM, burn and attach to the passages.

barbeau82,
If you are a total slap dick, it shouldn’t take you more than two hours to do this. If you aren’t a slapper, hour to one and a half. It is very easy as well. The thermoblock spacers from Outlaw Engineering isolate heat transfer from the block to the upper intake manifold. This in turn increases the intake air density by reducing the intake charges temp.. They are $98 from Outlaw E. Do a search on the web and go to there website. Even if what I told you is not your problem, I'm sure it is, your UintakeM needs cleaning in the said areas. For those who think I am full of “it” ask a top level Honda or Acura mechanic who has been on these cars for ten years or so or just pop off your IMRC butterfly cover plate on the upper intake manifold and take a look, can’t hurt. Save your typing fingers and just take a look, you may thank me.

barbeau82

I'm no slpdick, other than when lookin at porn. I know my way around a car. Yet with 12 hour days of Officer Field ARtillery school, I have no time but the precious weekend of Saturday to do any car work. hell, jus spent 5 hours today washing/claying/waxing/leather conditioning. The crappy ass honda dealer in Lawton, OK, their servie dept is closed on the wekends and the closest Acura dealer is in OKC, 95miles away. I'd rather drop the whip off and pick it up the next day or something. Besides, the dame passenger side headlight had moisture inside it (warranty claim!).

jproy

Get the headlight done under warranty. I do not think they will take care of the upper intake manifold as warranty is only for iminant failure parts or failed parts. Acura doesnt care if your three year old car idles a little rough when you arnt at the dealership. While it is worth a try and they may take care of it, I doubt it and think you will be the one who has to handle this one. When my car had 37,000 mile on it and was under warranty, I took it in for the same thing and was told nothing was wrong and they couldnt do anything. Good luck and let me know if I can help.

barbeau82

Fuck that, I got it certified until 100k, if its a known problem, I'll give them shit for it. Honda/Acura dealer or not, build up in the intake manfold is a design problem, not user problem.

jproy

barb,
Like is said it is not a commonly known problem. This means that the dealer is probably not going to acknowledge what I have told you. They will blow it off as they did to me when my car was under warranty with the same problem. Even if they did acknowledge what I have told you, they will most likely not do what is necessary to remedy the problem. Please Pm me and I will give you my contact info so you and I can go over this on the phone so we are on the same page if it comes to that. I will be glad to help in any way but I think this is something you will have to get on yourself unless you have free legal services.

fuzzy02CLS

iTrader: (2)

I know about that, but at 37K miles it shouldn't be that built up. I drive hard & had 2 6mt's. I did have a some idle issues that were solved by taking the tb off & just spraying the IAC valve with some cleaner.
When I installed the thermo blocks on my car with 50K miles on it, the intake was clean. Not much build up at all on it.
It could need cleaning, i'm just saying try the simple things first instead of the all out method.

jproy

fuzzy is right. Theoreticaly, at 37000 it should not be that built up. try the simple things first. make sure you get that cleaner on the IAC and hit it with a tooth brush if you can becuse I actualy did that to when I cleand mine while putting in the Thermoblock spcers.

I know that what I described above is strictly situation specific. For me it took 75000 miles for blockage to occur. I drive at at high sustained RPM under full load very often, however. My Acura/Honda mechanic who does whatever I dont want to do myself to the car, expalined to me that some cars can get blockage as early as 30000 miles and some will take 80000. the only symptom of the blockage is the sluggish idle as described in the first post. So your problem is most likely your IAC or blockage. Try the IAC and throttle body cleaning first.