Hello Gents... First off, thank you for all the helpful words of wisdom you have here. There are tons of guys out there, like myself, that are running back and forth between the garage and their computer to diligently read these posts and perform the necessary surgery.

So, the car is a 02 TL type S with 90K. Got it about a month ago, idling problems kinda from the start but not too bad. Would go between 400 and 800 regardless of P, N, D1-5, etc. while stopped. Never any problems at speed. Put about 1000 miles on it, then would stall occasionally after revving while in park or stopping abruptly. Read the posts... cleaned the IAC valve, then replaced the IAC valve altogether, just did plugs and air filter today. Now it accelerates like a jet but dies even easier. Any advice for the young grasshopper?

 

hmm, so you did the IACV and that didn't help. interesting.....

not that i necessarily believe the EGR would cause all of your problems, but have you cleaned out the EGR ports in your intake manifold anyway?

i had the same problem but replacing the IACV fixed that for me....

maybe a bad tps sensor...i dunno. anybody else have an idea?

 

Well the IACV is exactly what I would have suspected first.

How about something simple like a clogged air filter?

Corroded battery connections?

And did your car have a recall for the ignition switch? If it did and it hasn't been taken care of yet you might as well let Acura replace that.

Good luck!

Bob

 

I had the exact same problem with my 2K TL about 3 months ago. It would suddenly start to idle rough and then stall. I'd start it back up and rev it a little and sometimes it would stall again. Anyways, I put some Lucas Fuel System Treatment into the tank, filled it up and drove it until the tank was gone (took about a week and a half). I haven't had a problem since!

 

Dirty injectors will cause wierd running and Seafoam or Lucas are good starts to the fix
1 can to 1/4 tank of gas for full strength cleaning

Another oddball thing is our front and rear motor mounts are vacuum assisted- and when they go bad the engine gets a vac leak- bad idle- runs funny till throttle applied etc

 

Have you registered the car yet with acura?
www.acura.com ownership experience
Make a free account by VIN - its acuras warranty computer
it will say if transmission ever replaced and more
Also call acura and register - ask for history on car
1-800-382-2238 x5

Often when the trans goes out- it needs motor mounts- dont worry, trans covered till 7year/109k miles

 

Well that's something I never would have guessed. Thanks for the info.

 

very unlikely since it runs thru a solenoid.

But i would try some seafoam thru the gas tank. I would also clean the Throttle Body. It needs some air to always pass thru it. If it has carbon buildup it could be causing it.

 

Thanks for all the info guys. Will get to work this weekend and let you know the results!

 

So now the car, once throttle is applied- runs well, like better than new car well. However, when you come to a stop, it still dips down to about 100-200 then between 700 and 400. I have seafoamed the gas tank and deep creeped the intake, throttle body, etc. I replaced the IAC again just to make sure. I has not died yet upon stopping so that is a plus but it still wonders at idle cause lights to dim and the car to shake some.

Some interesting points... When I pull the connection off the IAC valve during idle, the problem goes away and a high idle ensues. There is also some sort of deep resonance coming from the engine that is highly magnified by the plastic air box. Finally, and this is kinda strange. When the yo yo idling does occur, I can hear a clicking- sounds like it is coming from somewhere up close to the firewall on the drivers side or more towards the airbox- definitely not the IAC valve itself.

I will check on the warranty as well but I would not imagine the would replace my tranny unless it was failing, thus no new motor mounts. Anyone had this done before? any tricks to get the work done?