Rep Power: 0

I've had this problem for right around 2 years.
After my car sits a while (overnight/4-5 hours) when I start my car it idles normally for oh...say 15-20 seconds, then you can feel "bumps" in the idle and observe the RPMs dipping slightly. When I see this I know that (and yes I've tried it) if I give it some gas and push it up to about 2.5k or 3k it'll bog down low, back around 1.5k or so. This usually clears up if I just let it run until it reaches regular operating temp.
But, as you could imagine, if I go through the scenario and just take off without a warm-up (not giving it hell or anything, just normal everyday responsible driving) it will absolutely bog down to the point that it almost dies, and actually ...it has died. It's not just a single bog...It'll Bog real big, then a smaller bog, and an even smaller bog still...and then just a teeny weeny bog,...then after that I'm home free. I have had 2 backfires recently through the whole stint (but those were under stress, I was backing uphill).

The very first time it ever did this was about 2 years ago (Everything stock at this point) I was driving around running errands for work. I got out of my car for a few minutes, went into a house and looked around (maybe 6 minutes go by)....go back to my car and try to start it and it wouldn't start...it would crank but it just wouldn't ignite. I waited a while maybe 10 -12 minutes (an eternity it seemed) I tried again and it fired right up....but ever since then it has had the stalling/bog problem.

I've also noticed it's kinda sluggish on acceleration

I've had the timing belt, TDC sensor, water pump (that whole assembly) replaced, replaced 02 sensors, yanked out a crappy ruined CAT and swapped in a 4-1 header. I always keep my oil on the mark and always change the filter and oil at 3,000+/-. I've changed the spark plugs 3 times at least. I've also added a CAI.

I have a check engine light on, BUT i checked it with a code reader and the only code it's throwing is for my catalytic converter (which, of course, isn't there anymore).

I've heard "fuel filter, bad gas, spark plugs, plug wires, faulty fuel injection"...on and on and on.

I need help... This problem will not clear up and it's a day to day nuisance. Any suggestions?

 
Rep Power: 257

A bad, clogged (or removed) cat can cause these symptoms, since the car likes some back pressure. Has your cat been removed for the entire 2 years you've had these issues?

 
Rep Power: 0

nah not the full 2 years... this problem actually started when I had the cat on. I thought the problem was o2 sensors, had em changed and it still happened. Then I discovered that it was starting to crack in the manifold, which prompted me to toss the cat and throw in the header, but I did run it with the busted cat for a couple of months. lack of $$=lack of choices =( I'm thinking that this problem may have been what doomed my catalytic converter. My suspicion is a leaky fuel injector...causing a flood or something and when I start the car it has to burn off that excess fuel. I guess my best bet is to take it to honda but like i said before....

 
Rep Power: 0

Man... I have the same problem right after i took out my cat and same after i went turbo. For me I just rev mine to 4k to clear it out and make things faster for those times im late for work. Did you even get it to work right? I tried mechanical o2 sim, and without. Same thing happens tho!

 
Rep Power: 0

bump for the guys who can't fix this! lol

 
Rep Power: 0

"After my car sits a while (overnight/4-5 hours) when I start my car it idles normally for oh...say 15-20 seconds, then you can feel "bumps" in the idle and observe the RPMs dipping slightly. When I see this I know that (and yes I've tried it) if I give it some gas and push it up to about 2.5k or 3k it'll bog down low, back around 1.5k or so. This usually clears up if I just let it run until it reaches regular operating temp."


Guys! I am From Hungray and have also exactly same problem with my 01' Civic (1.7 non-vtec)!

My hint: all my 4 injectors were pull out and cleaned, was blown out with high pressure air, what brought out not a small quantity of dirt including sand!!! Thats why we thought that the injectors got damaged what causes the mentioned symptom. Since then I have an extra set of injectors - thanks to speedfoos! - but due to lack of time (resp. my long trip abroad) I was not able to try them yet... I think checking yours injectors is worth a try...

If anybody has same problem (what seems series problem) and knows the solution please share it with us!

 
Rep Power: 0

Just tried that as soon as i got home today, check them with a noid (however you spell it) light and then cleaned them out with some air and starting fluid. Everything looked okay but still the problem persist. Cleaned the TB and IAC valve (pretty damn dirty) and even threw some sea foam in there. SAME THING! rawr! Running out of ideas here, gonna check out a performance shop tomorrow and hit up the mechanics. Oh, and another set of IK20's!!

 
Rep Power: 811

so you took off the TB and IAC and cleaned them all? did you reset the ecu and do the idle learn? cause if you didnt there is no way it would idle right esp after cleaning. drive the car to operating temp, turn off, then disconnect negative battery clamp for a few seconds, put back, start car, close hood, let car idle 10 mins without using any accessories or pressing gas. turn off car. should be fixed. also you can pull the FI ECU fuse in the box near the battery instead of disconnecting battery.

 
Rep Power: 0

Can a 'not learned ECU' cause the symptom written in the 1st comment in this thread?

I am certainly not touching the TB / IAC valves, neverthless I will do the mentioned idle learning...

 
Rep Power: 811

on my auto at least, if i dont do the idle learn after disconnecting battery, the idle is all screwed up. rpm doesnt stay the same, and it jumps around, sometimes almost stalling. so yea its possible, but you really need to take off the throttle body and iac sensor and clean those up too.

 
Rep Power: 0

Sorry, forgot to reply. Thanks for the input gearbox! I totally forgot to do that especially with the new o2 sensors and turbo. It did clean up my low and sparatic idle but still didn't do anything about the cold start problem. I took off the fuel management too thinking that it was giving too much fuel but same thing happened. I learned how to cope with it though. Just mash the throttle down when u start to bog (while moving) and use the ebrake to control the speed just incase theres cars infront of you lol works for me haha

 
Rep Power: 0

Did you do the 'idle learning' what gearbox suggested? Yesterday evening I did it (beacuse sometimes in the summer my power supply was run down, and If I remember well the problem is exist from that time) consequently the idle is much smoother as was before, also this morning the cold start problem neither happened! Of course it still does not mean that the problem is solved, in some days we will see... by all means do the 'idle learning' is not useless!

 
Rep Power: 0

Yea i did the idle learning. Still pretty gay though how i bog out of the driveway lol Makes me wonder if i should try putting in a high flow cat. This is probably the only irritating thing i have wrong with my car.

 
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bump lol i still have this problem! Bugs the **** out of me now!

 
Rep Power: 213

One possibility may be that when you are starting your car up it is going straight into closed loop mode (PCM reading and correcting according to the 02 sensor), and on a cold start (rich condition) this might throw your 02 sensors off resulting in your rolling idle/bog. Under normal conditions when your car is started it is in open loop (preset fuel maps that completely ignore 02 readings) until your cat reaches a predetermined temperature which is called lighting off the cat, which in your case is when the car heats up and starts running fine. Most scan tools will tell you when your car is open/closed.
Have you had any issues with misfires or your engine coolant temp sensor?

 
Rep Power: 235

if it was an old american made car i'd say it was your choke. but it's not... so i'd probably listen to the guy above me.

 
Rep Power: 213

Hey man, thought of something else... your evap system might be stuck on.

 
Rep Power: 0

haha, wow I stepped away for a while and come back and have a treasure trove of suggestions, I'm gonna print you guys off and when I have a good weekend run down the list and see what I can do.

I did have a hiccup last night while I was at a friends house helping with a his GSR swap. The day was coming to a close, starting to get dark and cold so I turn my car on, turn it around and turn on the lights and heater. I know it idled for at least an hour until we could find some other sufficient light source to work under and then I shut it off. Well my friends gf started getting cold, i let her get in my car to warm up with the heater. She started it up and sat in there a little while, so the car was warmed up to normal temp but she got out and told me the thing was blowing cold air on full blast heat. We all dropped what we were doing and came to check it out. I got in, cranked the fan up all the way, sure enough cold air. I gave it gas...and yay! my temp needle knows how to climb and I'll be damnd if he wasn't on his way to touch the H. We were all checking under the hood and noticed that the coolant reservoir was almost filled to the top, and I stick my little finger in there and it was luke warm at best. Thermostat stuck shut and engine was gradually pumping out all the coolant out of itself. I'm so glad she said something.

We shut it off and let it cool back down, sat for maybe an 1 1/2 hrs+. Came back and turned it on let it run a second and...it started bogging...bogging bogging bad and nearly died, very lopey, and as the engine kept running it levelled out and quit and ran perfectly fine. Classic example of my original post. Coolant reservoir stayed right on the money, heat ran fine, I ran it at about 2500 for about 5-10 min. needle never rose past where it's supposed to be, by all accounts nothing was wrong....the only problem....fans never came on automatically. They came on immediately when the A/C was turned on, but just never responded to engine temp.

I know doubt have a fan switch out and thermostat on the fritz, but...I was just puzzled why it didnt' overheat the second time around. Maybe the thermostat got stuck shut? Dunno, but a sticky thermo needs to go away...which just brings us back to square one, the bogging on cold start problem still exists...along with a sackful of other issues...lock mech. on the door died too. And now I wonder about the health of my water pump after running nearly dry.

The car is kickin' my A$$.

Just thought I'd come back and give an update. Thanks again guys for all your thoughts and suggestions, appreciate it.

 
Rep Power: 0

It's been a long time and I apologize, but to Gearbox, I tried the idle learn and it didn't clear it up, I do it anytime I have to unplug the battery for anything. Thank you though.

 
Rep Power: 0

I had almost the same problem but i got CEL, sorry i forgot what the code was but it came down to bad ignition coil, they replaced two and it actually solved it "whew"

 
Rep Power: 213

If your car over heated but was blowing cold air out... u must of had a hick up somewhere along the line in the blend door (it wasnt opening to let air flow over the heater core). Im pretty sure they run off a transducer (turns vacuum into an electric sig.) A thermostat stuck shut would definitely cause the overheating but it should also cause extra hot air to come out with the heat on. Are you sure it was the rad fan that turned on with the AC, or was it your condenser fan? I think there may be a chance that ur thermo is getting stuck open also causing the car to run cold/rich resulting in the misfire problem ur having.

 
Rep Power: 0

I had the "cold air from heater" issue last year. It would keep pumping all the coolant to the reservoir. I replaced the radiator cap and thermostat and bled the system and kept having the same issue. While I was bleeding it, I kept having these very tiny bubbles coming up to the radiator cap while is was idling. I figured this was a head gasket issue that was leaking air into the cooling system from the cylinders. The problem went away after I had my head milled and a new gasket installed.

I would maybe do a compression test, you may need a new head gasket and send your head to a machine shop. Just my $0.02