89 accord lx erratic idle issue

[Ryan_In_Idaho]

This is my first post so please bare with me. I have an 89 accord lx with 120k miles. It's carb'd with the A20A1 engine, auto.

It is my first car and when i bought it I had absolutely no knowledge of cars, now I have some from trying to maintain this car.

The issue I am currently having is that the idle even though its turned down all the way on the carb is sitting around 1600-1800 in park/neutral. When shifted into gear it will drop down to about 900-1000, but will sputter and sometimes stall out when slowing down or at a stop in gear. I can shift it into neutral and rev it to keep it alive. I've been trying to fix this issue but I can't seem to find what's causing it.

I have checked all the vacuum lines and replaced the carb intake manifold gasket, valve cover gasket, head gasket, and oil pan gasket. It has a new carb. New fuel pump new fuel filters. I cleaned the egr valve yesterday and I'm going to clean the Idle air control valve.

My grandfather seems to think its something with the valves because he "did the ol' dollar on the exhaust trick" and it almost ate his dollar. He thinks low compression is responsible for the idle issues.

Sorry if any of this is irrelevant, I'm just trying to be as specific as possible. If anyone has any suggestions for me please feel free to share your knowledge. I'll be happy to answer any more questions. I love my 3g but damn she seems like a money pit.

[Dr_Snooz]

Is this an old problem or did it come with the new carb? Also, what does the exhaust smell like?

[Ryan_In_Idaho]

This is an old problem. I got the new carb in hopes of solving it. Sorry for the slow response, I should be able to reply quickly now.

[Dr_Snooz]

What condition is your throttle cable in? When was your last tune up?

[Ryan_In_Idaho]

I think the throttle cable is in good condition, except for the clip that used to hold it up broke so I sort of makeshifted something. And my last tune up was maybe 10k ago. I brought it to a shop and they said that the mounting gasket for the carb was leaking. They also said it would be a 400 dollar fix. I'm not to thrilled with the idea of that. Do you know any good places to order parts that are true stock to Honda parts? Most of the gaskets I find are American made parts that are slightly different. Felpro makes a carb mounting gasket that doesn't fit my carb correctly, and thats what most of my local shops are carrying.

[Dr_Snooz]

Well, if the idle speed on the carb is turned all the way down, then the only way to raise it would be to step on the gas, or put the throttle cable enough out of adjustment to affect it. I would check the adjustment of the throttle cable. When that's right, you can play with the idle speed adjustment on the carb. A vacuum leak could definitely also be causing this, so look into fixing that base gasket. Verify the problem first by spraying carb cleaner around the base gasket while the car is running. If the engine speed changes while you're doing it, then you know you have a leak. I have used all kinds of Fel-Pro gaskets on my car and have never had a problem. You can try getting the parts from the dealer, if you're concerned though.