2000 Honda Accord EX V6 Coupe Idling & Stalling

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

Last week I got back from a two week trip and came to turn on my car (95k miles) and I quickly noted a flat. Put the car in park to check it, and all of the sudden the engine is revving–1500rpm up to about 3500rpm and back down, over and over again. Put on my spare and headed to the shop. The whole way there, about four miles or so one-way, the car could hit 40mph without me on the gas. I turned the car on/off about five times, still having the same issue. In total, I drove about 25 miles with this issue, then, all of the sudden it seemed to be solved.

My mechanic seemed troubled by it when he took a look. No one could diagnose the issue, just had the air leak that caused the flat on a Saturday afternoon fixed, but I haven’t taken it back to them because the issue isn’t happening anymore.

This comes on the heels of taking it in and having the fuel relay fixed because of the well-documented issue with this car stalling on start with warm temperatures. That fix was supposed to take care of things, but the issue still persisted following the fix.

Any ideas?

2

Here’s one idea. There’s a gadget on the intake side of engine called the Idle Air Control. This is a small electrical-motor-like-thing (sometimes it is called a valve rather than a motor) that does the same thing as you do when you step on the accelerator pedal. But it does it automatically, on command of the ECM. For conditions when the engine is cold, or the AC is one, to increase the idle speed a bit automatically. Prevents the engine from stalling in these conditions.

Like any mechanical gadget which moves to and fro, it can get dirty and stick. And when not used for two weeks, it is more likely to stick. Now that you are driving the car everyday – well, I guess it’s a “use it or lose it” situation – now you are using it daily, it has become unstuck and will probably remain unstuck for some time. Suggest next time you have some scheduled maintenance, ask your mechanic to check and if necessary clean the IAC.