Honda Accord High and Surging Idle

[redneck007]

All,

My 2002 Accord V6 EXHonda sat for about 4 months with very minimal driving due to beer flu. The battery went dead and the speedometer needle actual went the wrong way and got stuck below the stopper when I jumped it. It also surged alot while driving after being jump a few times. Gas was treated and there was a full tank since I typically drive 500 miles a week spread across three cars until March last year so each vehicle gets about 300 miles every two weeks.

I went and got a new battery, which fixed the speedometer needle problem and the car doesn’t surge nearly as bad while driving but still do a little bit as speed under 30 mph. It still idle high once the car warm up, as high as 3000 rpm but mostly 2000 rpm. Engine speed drops to 1100-1200 rpm once I put it in Drive. At stop with engine in drive, engine speed is 1100-1200 rpm and slight surge in between. Once I get to highway speed, it seems fine and engine speed may be 100 rpm higher than before at 60 mph but that is not alarming. The alarming part is if I take my foot off the gas, the car will maintain 40 mph speed until it encounter a hill. If I put it in Neutral or Park, engine speed will rev up to 2000 rpm amd sometime 3000. It did settle to 1500 rpm yesterday after my friend sprayed cleaner into the throttle bottle intake by removing the air filter and the plastic air duct housing.

What could be wrong? It has check engine light on and I don’t remember the code but recall it may have been something with MAP sensor snd that what caused me to try to clean the throttle body via the spray cleaner but I doubt that did anything or even if that was done right since I didn’t see the MAP sensor. Should I do the idle learn procedure? 5 mins seem like a long time to be abke to hold the engine steady at 3000 rpm.

Thanks

 

[JMJNet]

Transmission?

 

[redneck007]

Transmission?

It drives fine when at highway speed. I have refill gas three times since starting using it again just to prevent additional problems and to justify keeping it on insurance. So it has seen 500-700 miles since and mostly 10 miles trip and a few 40 miles trip. Car doesn't jerk or clunk. Mileage is over 200k and ATF was changed every 20k-25k during first 150k so it is not part of the notorious 1% of V6 that has transmission issue. and it drives fine at highway speed. I checked coolant, ATF, oil and all fluids are good on level snd condition. Last ATF change was 30k miles and oil was changed about 7k with mobil 1 oil and filter.

 

[mk378]

It has check engine light on

Read the code then. Usually offers a good clue to what the problem is.

When the car goes faster than you'd expect without pressing the gas, remember no engine can run without air. Either the throttle plate isn't closing, or there is an air leak. Is it drive by wire or throttle cable?

After the battery has completely died, you may need to let the ECU recalibrate. The procedure for most Hondas is to start the engine cold and let it idle for 20 minutes without touching anything.

 

[B1974]

When was the Mass airflow sensor last cleaned? I would start with that. But it could also be a leaking intake manifold gasket.

 

[Jim_Truett]

No mass air sensor on a 2002 Accord. They are speed density. The MAP sensor is the small three wire sensor on the top of the throttle body. The problem is most likely the idle air control valve on the bottom of the throttle body. They get a little stiff and sticky after they sit when they get older. Ususally can be rectified by removing it and cleaning it with carb cleaner and making sure it rotates fully and freely. But of course pull the code from the ECM and see what it is telling you.

 

[mk378]

Another thing to consider is that when a car sits unused, mice and squirrels move in to eat the hoses and wires under the hood.

 

[vw7674]

there's a thing called the IAC (idle air control) gizmo. Yours may be frozen, cooked, or locked in place, hence the no 850 rpm idle
& floating down the road 40mph with your foot off the gas. I'd check that first & last.
I do not know if the 2002 Honda has an actual throttle cable, jammed frayed cable could cause the same.

 

[MRC01]

I'll triple the mention for the idle air control or IACV. The symptoms are consistent with that. I had a similar issue on an old Subaru. Cleaning the IACV helped, but didn't fix it. In my case I had to replace it. They're expensive ($500 or so), but I found a non-OEM aftermarket one for half that price made by "Standard Motor Products". That was 4 years ago and it's still working fine.

 

[zorobabel]

What are coolant temps when this happens?

 

[redneck007]

Thank you everyone. The saga is ongoing.

Coolant temp is normal. Coolant is Honda blue stuff and is about about 4-5 years old and 30-40k miles. I am very particular about mechanical functions and settings of my vehicles abs know this one is right where it should be.

Idle control is my main guess after not seeing mass airflow sensor when opened the air filter and air duct to spray air cleaner fluid down that vent. I only did about 3-4 light squirts since I can’t tell if that was a right thing to do.

I looked up mass airflow sensor on Amazon abs saw I’ve fit $45 but didn’t narrow down the exact vehicle so I need to determine if it hmhad one or not. Cant find my hanes repair manual to look it up.

I Need to look up the cost of idle air controller. I think Eric The car guy mentioned it as possible culprit for Honda surging idle problem.

1) I’ll reset the battery tomorrow abs key it idle for 20 mins to see if that works.

2) I’ll take it to a home garage mechanic to see if h knows. My friends a lot if his own work but use this gentleman before whenever he is stuck.

The goal is to get it past state inspection (no emission needed) as I just don’t use vehicles much due to full time telework for at heady 6 more months and likely at least twice a week after that. It has been a big time abs money saver, even after factoring in the commuter subsidy my

 

[yst]

After battery

All,

My 2002 Accord V6 EXHonda sat for about 4 months with very minimal driving due to beer flu. The battery went dead and the speedometer needle actual went the wrong way and got stuck below the stopper when I jumped it. It also surged alot while driving after being jump a few times. Gas was treated and there was a full tank since I typically drive 500 miles a week spread across three cars until March last year so each vehicle gets about 300 miles every two weeks.

I went and got a new battery, which fixed the speedometer needle problem and the car doesn’t surge nearly as bad while driving but still do a little bit as speed under 30 mph. It still idle high once the car warm up, as high as 3000 rpm but mostly 2000 rpm. Engine speed drops to 1100-1200 rpm once I put it in Drive. At stop with engine in drive, engine speed is 1100-1200 rpm and slight surge in between. Once I get to highway speed, it seems fine and engine speed may be 100 rpm higher than before at 60 mph but that is not alarming. The alarming part is if I take my foot off the gas, the car will maintain 40 mph speed until it encounter a hill. If I put it in Neutral or Park, engine speed will rev up to 2000 rpm amd sometime 3000. It did settle to 1500 rpm yesterday after my friend sprayed cleaner into the throttle bottle intake by removing the air filter and the plastic air duct housing.

What could be wrong? It has check engine light on and I don’t remember the code but recall it may have been something with MAP sensor snd that what caused me to try to clean the throttle body via the spray cleaner but I doubt that did anything or even if that was done right since I didn’t see the MAP sensor. Should I do the idle learn procedure? 5 mins seem like a long time to be abke to hold the engine steady at 3000 rpm.

Thanks

First thingh need to do is run the idle learn procedure. Do not complain about long time, learn would not be complete at shorter time. It is dificult to run steady 3000 rpm, do it as you can. Some time you need more than one run.

 

[wolfox03SS]

+1 on idle relearn after a pooched battery.

OP keeps talking back and forth about it's either a MAP or MAF equipped vehicle. Please find out for sure. We can help you better, because they behave differently depending on any unmeteted air entering the intake.

Which drags us to one salient point:

If it has known idle air motor/pintle issues? Unplug the throttle body from computer, no need to disconnect battery. Unbolt it from your intake and do a bench clean inside-out, upside-down, frontways-to-backways with Throttle Body Intake Cleaner.

*Not* with carb cleaner. Most butterfly plates and bores on modern fuel injection since the mid-90's are special coated with a very slick material. Carb cleaner just eats this coating out and ruins the throttle.

If you used a carb cleaner as you also described? Yeah. Start sifting through the couch cushions and sock drawer branch of savings and loans and pick yerself up a new throttle body and idle air motor.