Idling Drop during traffic & a/c is On

**brushless** · March 19th, 2018 08:39 PM

This might be bumping an old thread, but, I searched high and low in tsikot with regards to the 2000 Civic's IACV. I can't find any solution to the dropped in the idling when the aircon is on or when the headlights is on or when you turn your steering wheel. Sometimes the low idling is so bad that the engine wants to shut down. But, it goes up again quickly to normal idling. When you are slowing down in traffic and the rpm goes down, it dips again and the engine shakes as you shift gears. But, it goes up again to normal. It's really frustrating having to deal with this.

Anyway, I've finally found a solution to this. Go to any mechanic who knows how to clean the throttle body and the IACV. Once he has finished cleaning and assembling everything back again, you have to reset the ECU, otherwise, the bad idling will still be there. You do this by disconnecting the negative terminal of your battery. Wait for 15 minutes. Connect your negative terminal again and start the engine. But, do not step on the gas or turn on anything. Let it run for another 15 minutes. After that, turn off the engine and start it again immediately. This will reset the ECU and you need to drive your car around as the ECU reprograms and learn the new configuration.

Everything now is working fine. No more shaking and the idling now is very stable and no longer drops drastically even when I turn on the aircon at full blast, headlights, hazard lights, wipers, defogger, stereo, cabin lights, brake lights, steering and power windows all at the same time. I thought it was a bad alternator. I checked the battery and the alternator with my multimeter, I found nothing. Everything is working fine.

I hope this will help someone trying to solve this low idling problem. Thus, my post for your reference.

**mda** · March 19th, 2018 08:46 PM

+1... cleaning throttle body works for older vehicles. Had an old car namamatayan immediately after a cold start. Casa quoted 40-50k for a new TB set. Pinalinis lang namin... hindi na namamatayan.

**brushless** · March 20th, 2018 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by mda

+1... cleaning throttle body works for older vehicles. Had an old car namamatayan immediately after a cold start. Casa quoted 40-50k for a new TB set. Pinalinis lang namin... hindi na namamatayan.

Damn! 50k? lol!

I only paid P400 for the cleaning labor. The rest I researched in google and there's so many possibilities offered why the engine idles so badly. Some say it's engine mount, bad alternator, faulty battery, bad compressor, corroded contacts, etc. No clear solution. Headache! I thought cleaning alone would solve the problem, but, it did not. The problem is still there. So, I thought, just for experiment, why not reset the ECU and see how it goes. I got the instructions online on how to reset it. Followed it step by step and the next thing I know, problem gone! HA!

**mda** · March 20th, 2018 10:34 AM

Must differ from car to car...

A quick clean of the TB fixed the problem. Wala nang ECU reset/learn. Baka mas bulok lang yung kotse namin haha.

**brushless** · March 20th, 2018 10:44 AM

Originally Posted by mda

Must differ from car to car...

A quick clean of the TB fixed the problem. Wala nang ECU reset/learn. Baka mas bulok lang yung kotse namin haha.

I agree it would differ. I just don't want to go through all that hassle trying to troubleshoot until your hair falls off from pulling it, lol! There's one guy who fixed his problem when he got so frustrated he revved his engine till it redlined and his power steering pump blew with the hose flying off and it fixed the problem. LOL!