I recently bought a 98 civic ex for my daily commute. I’ve had it for almost 3 months. Recently, it has started to stall occasionally when I come to a
stop. I then have to put the car in park and turn the key to start it again. After that it seems to run fine. It has started to do this more and more frequently
and I worry that eventually it just wont restart. I’ve also noticed that the idle is sometimes very low so that even when it doesn’t stall it feels like it has.
Any ideas?
Start the car and apply the brakes, if starts to run ragged it may be a bad vacuum hose. See if you can notice any particular pattern that causes the issue.
The problem might be with the Idle Air Control valve.
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=46700&cc=1315633
The IAC valve controls the engine idle speed anytime the gas pedal is released.
One way to check for a bad IAC valve is, when you pull to a stop, brake with you left foot and at the same time slightly step on the gas pedal. If this prevents the engine from stalling the problem is most likely the IAC valve.
Tester
I’ve been driving a 1998 Civic since 1999, and when I had working air conditioning, I occasionally had the same problem. I never had any luck diagnosing the problem, but spraying some carburetor cleaner down the throttle while the car idled once or twice a year seemed to treat the symptom, which appeared to be caused by the engine idling too low. You’ll need to give it some gas to keep it running while you clean the throttle.
here is a pic.
It Runs, good deal, try mechanic in a bottle.Add some Techron Fuel system Cleaner in the tank,To the near proper proportions, and use a spray can of “throttle body cleaner”(sometimes you have to wrap a cloth around a long screwdriver very tightly, soak the rag and clean inside the intake)and spray inside according to instructions.Clean the IAC valve(carb clean).Keep us posted.TPS is cheap enough, replacing that will ease your mind that it is not the problem.