civiccowboy

I took my car to my mechanic to have the head gasket replaced. It ran fine getting there. Now after replacing the head gasket, the car wont idle. He used his scan tool and replaced the MAP sensor and the IAC valve. The car still wont idle. It just sits there surging. I am wondering if there is an intake manifold leak or maybe the cam timing is off by a notch. Any ideas?
PS- I did a search for this problem, but couldn't find anyone who had it happen after a head gasket replacement.

Boilermaker1

iTrader: (16)

definitely sounds like a post-throttle vacuum leak. Make sure all the injectors are seated again, the IM is seated on the head, all the ports in the IM are hooked up to their respective hoses, etc....

5.0Thunder

Ever figure this out OP?

Wankenstein

Being that post is from 10 years ago there's a good chance he's no longer around. Is your engine having similar issue?

5.0Thunder

Lmao figured I'd try before poasting a new thread and everybody railing me for not searching..

and yeah, though there are a lot of variables at play here. Head gasket was replaced by honda tech, now idle surging and hanging. Typically an IAC valve issue or intake manifold gasket issue (was not replaced), though the IAC was functioning perfectly before I dropped it off. He's looking it over currently and I believe replacing the intake gasket. If that doesn't solve the problem, I guess I'll be looking for an IAC valve.

Wankenstein

Intake gaskets become dried out and brittle. Often times they stick to either the cylinder head, intake manifold or both when seperated from head/IM and should be removed with a razor blade and solvent so the mating surfaces are as clean and flat as possible. Wouldn't be surprised if the IM gasket is the issue.

ezone

Steel intake gaskets on 7th gens are pretty dried out to start with
I reuse steel gaskets a lot (out of necessity), no prob.

I'd kinda hope it's just a vacuum hose left off or something simple like that, because no cost.

Wankenstein

Damn Honda switching up gaskets on me from 6th to 7th gen.
Sorry OP I ***-umed the D17 uses a paper gasket like a D16 does.
Thanks for correcting me Ezone.

5.0Thunder

Thanks for the comments guys. IM Gasket and cleaned IAC valve fixed it. 155k miles and hoping she keeps going strong for years to come.