Car runs like hell.

[Doward]

Well, before I decide to just blow this thing up, thought I'd post on here -

The car ('88 Honda Accord, carb) will not start up on its own. No way, no how. I have to hold the gas down to get it to fire up, and then it runs really rough. It won't idle below 1000 rpm. It just dies at that point.

I pulled the idle solenoid thing out of the back of the carb, and applied 12v to it - it clicks in and out.

Applied vacuum to the power valve, it moves up and down.

All the vacuum lines have been removed. The carb was just rebuilt. I'm going to check the timing in the morning, but it was set at the T (albeit @ 1000rpm, since IT WON'T IDLE)

I've got everything hooked up like it says to in the How To section, of removing the vacuum lines. The car, at 1200rpm, sounds like it's got a vacuum leak - any likely candidates?

Another funny thing - if I hold the choke flap closed, it idles up to 3k, and runs smooth there. If I open the choke flap, the car just dies.

Ideas?

[SteveDX89]

Did you play with air/fuel mixture screw? Sounds like it's running too lean.

['89AccordLX(Rus)]

does the choke close all the way at start-up? If it doesn't, the car will not run well. Your choke unloader may be broken. Also, I think the choke is closed by a spring, you may want to make sure that the spring is still there. My $.02

[Doward]

Choke closes all the way, no problems...

if I hook the one wire up, and it opens all the way, the car dies.

The A/F screw is about 4 full turns out - if I go much further, it's going to come out...

[A20A1]

You mean if you hook the choke wire up it dies...
Try adjusting just the throttle, remove the accelerator cable... and looses the idle diaphragm screw all the way.
- Trun trottle stop and make sure you are opening the throttle, try and get the car to idle at least, don't mess with the choke, then slowly back the throttle down.
- Also check for any vacuum leaks from hoses, Plug any ports not connected to a vacuum line, or that is not being used, also Plug #17 to see if a thermovalve could be faulty
- Plug the inner port on the choke puller, I know someone said to hook it to vacuum but that may be causing problems...

Do you have all 3 ground wires in the engine hooked up...
-Main one from the battery to the trans
-One from the valve cover to the radiator support
-One from the harness to the thermostat housing.

[A20A1]

two things... don't open the throttle too much the first time around... also the choke still being there could cause the idle to rise higher the 3,500, so you may want to have someone else start the car if you can while you make all the adjustments...

Oh and after you plug then inner port of the choke puller then see if connecting the wire still kills the car.