Is the idle speed normal, about 750 rpm when warmed up, 1200 rpm cold?
I’m going to have to double-check that and get back to you–which I will.
The thing that bothers me is that I SWEAR it didn’t feel like this before. I’m just confused as to how it can go from not vibrating to vibrating a lot, but yet there’s nothing wrong with it.
If the idle speed is high, above 950 when warm, I’d suspect a vacuum leak. Depending on where the vacuum leak is, it can cause the fuel/air mix to be different from cylinder to cylinder and that will lead to a rough idle, but no misfire codes. There could also be a leak in the exhaust system before the second O2 sensor which would cause the PCM to dump in extra fuel, but that should give you a P0171 or P0174 code. It wouldn’t give the code if the extra fuel was less than 20% of expected though.
Something similar happened to me. I had my head gasket replaced on my 1998 Civic, and after that, it ran poorly when first started. I took it back to the shop that did the head gasket several times, as well as other shops for diagnosis, and they couldn’t find what was wrong. Eventually, the problem got so bad that another shop was able to diagnose and replace the idle air control valve.
…so I suggest you do the same. Get a second, and maybe third, opinion, and if they can’t find what’s wrong, you’re just going to have to wait until it gets worse to get it properly diagnosed and fixed.
Unless you can afford a replacement car, I recommend you keep doing maintenance on this car. Otherwise, you might trash an otherwise decent car.
Major work performed on a new to you car pushing 200K miles can sometimes be just the first of several major projects that will need to be done to keep her running and driving acceptably.
It can also be a sign that you have one relatively inexpensive part that didn’t get replaced during the major work that needs to be replaced.
You won’t know until you get second or third opinions.
The idle speed appears to be normal–but I feel as if the car is ‘spiking’ whenever I accelerate after idling, like at a stoplight. I’m not laying my foot very heavily on the accelerator, either.
I’ve made up my mind to replace the car. I just want to be sure that it’s safe for some short term city driving.
I don’t know if this makes a different–but I just wen tout to get something from it, and I notice there’s a stain on the ground underneath the passenger’s side.
What is the color of that liquid?
Does it have an odor?
Is it oily, or does it seem more like water?
Just went out again. It may have been an overreaction my part. The stain is dry to the touch. I spent some time on my hands and knees smelling the ground to see if I could pick up any scent and couldn’t.
It’s very cold where I am today–but I don’t think a stain of oil or some kind of fluid could set in a few hours, could it?
Go to a different mechanic/garage and find out if they use newest up-to-date computerized testing equipment. Have a compression test done on the engine or simply enough get a fuel pump/injector diagnosis. Since you do not really know how many miles on the engine it’s a crapshoot. And 2000 miles a year. Car is laying around too long not being driven.
I don’t think VDC is the one with a problem .
Go to a different mechanic/garage and find out if they use newest up-to-date computerized testing equipment. Have a compression test done on the engine or simply enough get a fuel pump/injector diagnosis. Since you do not really know how many miles on the engine it’s a crapshoot. And 2000 miles a year. Car is laying around too long not being driven.
Indeed, I am not…
maybe you are not used to driving a perfectly good car?