I started my car today, drove it for about 10km, and this happened, so I turned back and went home instead, I didnt want my car to die on the side of the street or make the symtoms worse.

This video explains it all, I just started the car in park, I didnt do any accelerating:

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y21...t=IMGP6139.flv

For those who can see the vid, basically I start the car, check engine light comes on, few seconds later, the car start to accelerate it self, rpm bounces from 1-2k. and the TCS light comes on.

So is the my tranny? or my ECU? or Both?

 

Fluctuating RPMs have been caused by vacuum leaks and clogged IACVs.

 

have the code read and report back

 

x2

 

Sounds like a bad IACV. Have the code read to be sure.

 

x2

 

Mine did the same thing, IACV is the problem..

 

alright thanks so much guys! I will have this problem checked out during my Reading Week next week.

did the both the check engine light and TCS light come on for those of you who had this problem?

One question, is it safe to drive to lets say 30kms there and back from school?

 

no racing!

 

Correct me if I'm terribly wrong, but I'm going to make the assumption that this would only be a problem while you're idling at a light or in heavy traffic. If it's a much bigger problem while you're driving the car than another 30 kms may not be a safe undertaking.

 

i think you shouldnt stand in front of your car while its acting weird it might run you over lmao jk

 

x3 My old civic used to do the same thing and it was the IACV from what I understand its pretty common in hondas... none of my lights went off on my dash though but again its a different car. Definently get it checked out though. Good Luck!

 

Thats your IAC. Take it off and clean it.

 

thanks for the extra affirmations guys!

so is it safe to drive it for about 30kms? should i take the highway or just stick to streets?

 

lol at fsttyms1 avatar...

 

I never really had any problems driving my civic around besides it wanting to accelerate by itself as long as when your stopped you keep firm on the brake so the car doesnt just move forward by itself (which my civic did quite often lol) you should be fine. But definently try to get it fixed as soon as you can.

haha I used to think my civic was just possessed

 

yeah, before i even noticed this problem, as I was driving, I was wondering why i had to add so much pressure, at first i thought it was my brakes.

haah, I can imagine that, I was thinking "was someone playing with my throttle?"

 

You can drive it, but i would avoid as much as possible.

 

Okay, I need to to go to school, im going to use it tonight and friday, after that it is going to my mechanics.

 

your car is very aggressive and wants to race. its completely normal

 

Does this have anything do with the cruise control? I was playing around with it on tuesday and the engine just started to rev up by itself, so i decided to turn it off.

 

Pretty sure that's simply coincidence

 

omg did you snake the sub woofer wire through the front fender and past the door frame like i did? cus it was too much of a pain to go through the fire wall. lol

 

I think it went thru the firewall, not sure, someone did it for me.

 

idk, in the video i saw the wire and it looked like it went into the drivers side fender. there is a small space i was able to fit my wire through and did a little custom work to get it to fit past the door jam under that plastic step plate. involved a little drilling for the getting it under the plastic step plate to get it through a lip of metal under there.

anyways i was wondering if i was the only one who ran the wire the way i did. maybe ill post a picture or 2 to show it sometime later. sorry for being so off topic

 

yup iacv..... had a civic si that did the same thing..... clean it..... and what's that ungodly knocking i hear? doesn't sound to friendly.... valve train maybe?

 

Ya my 89 Accord did that too but only when it was a hard cold from a cold night and it did it after about 3 minutes of running and fluctuated like that until it was normal operating temperature. That's a normal wear problem with Honda's. I never did figure out what was wrong with it.

 

That happened to me when my filter got totally soaked when I accelerated through a larger-than-i-though puddle of water. Didn't realize it until I came up to a red light and the car lurched forward several feet. Scared the poop out of me... Drove to my friends house and it did it the whole way. Let it sit for about 3 hours and all was well after that.

 

When I open the hood I hear some clicking now too when ever the rpms rev, sounds like is coming from the drivers side fuse box right about the CAI.

So I drove to school and back, the problem has settled a bit now, the TCS light went off, and the rpm bounce is not as bad.

 

If you let the car idle and warm completely at an idle, does the idle smooth out? if so, go drive around the block a few times if its really cold outside and see if it returns... If so, thats exactly what happened to me. Its like when the air is too cold in the intake, the idle acts weird.


i'm in Dallas and its 72 degrees today.. so no snow here. I couldnt do that test. too warm

 

Nahh, its not that, its was like -20C 2 weeks ago and my car ran fine. Today was 5C so its not a temp problem.

 

my car did that and i got pissed at it and just bounced it off the rev limiter a couple of time and wa la problem solved prolly not the right thing to do i know but it worked

 

well cars do break at some point, right?. Maybe 2 weeks ago, you didnt have this problem.? I bet this spring or summer, the problem goes away if you dont fix it by then. =) 41F is cold enough to have this problem. just my 2 cents..

<unsubscribing>

 

This problem came back again tonight when I was heading back home, this time it was revving up to 3k rpm and it doesnt stay stable after a while like it did in the video above. I had the IACV replaced a year ago. I am now thinking its a vacuum leak?

 

It could be the IACV again. But I'd start with carb cleaner and spray it around intake tubes and IM.

 

Take the iacv off and clean it.

 

1. you have an ass load of miles, just noticed lol
2. they're right on about iacv. pull it and take some brakeclean to it.
3. what did you use to paint your engine cover?

 

Did you clean it before or just left as is? )

 

I replaced the IACV last year around this time for a brand new OEM one. I guess I will just remove it and have it cleaned.

JDTL-S2002 - my car now has 200 000kms, and i used duplicolor meatalcast to paint engine covers.

 

i had the same problem once... it went away after i turned off my car filled it with gas and the rough idle was gone :knockonwood: