88 DX Carb problems

[vVSmileyVv]

Hi! First time poster, longtime lurker here. I have an 88 Honda Accord DX that was experiencing erratic idling. I've tried a few things to fix it, so bear with me while I list them.
I fixed a 1/4"x6" hole in the exhaust resonator, helped a little then refused to idle at all.
Went through all the vacuum hoses I could see, fixed them when needed, mocked up new fittings for the weird little j looking piece that plugs into the black box.(sorry no idea what to call these things.)
Changed sparkplugs.
Replaced both fuel filters.
Replaced the PCV valve.
Bought a new mounting gasket, and that's where I am now.

Took the carb off, and noticed no mounting gasket on manifold, just what looks like melted rubber from the black piece under the carb. Then I noticed that neither of the cords coming out the back of the carb were attached to anything.

SO, now I can't find what they plug into, a blue and white wire with a bullet connection on the end, and a red one coming out of the back of the carb. On top of that, do I need two mounting gaskets, one under the black and one on top?

My main question is, where do these wires need to go on the car itself???

Any help would be much appreciated, I can't find information anywhere on this site, or others I've searched.

Thanks!

[vVSmileyVv]

http://i1337.photobucket.com/albums/o663/Icrise/2012-10-17154738.jpg

Here's the two wires, one looks spliced, but came loose, and I can't find hookups for either.

[vVSmileyVv]

Okay, a little more digging, and the red wire goes to the "primary slow mixture cut off solenoid valve." The diagram I'm looking at has a manual choke, but it's where the other wire leads to, so I guess the blue/white wire is my electronic choke?

[vVSmileyVv]

Again, another update, found the female bullet connector for the (?)electronic choke(?). Still can't find where the red wire for the primary solenoid thing goes...

[dieselgus]

If you look to the left side of all the steel vacuum lines that run along the back of the carb, right beside where that assembly mounts to the intake with a 10mm bolt, the plug is attached under the bracket. Well. It should be anyways.

[Dr_Snooz]

Yes. You need two gaskets. What is your idle doing?

[vVSmileyVv]

Fine when cold, after driving for around 10 mins, if I stop, it stalls. Starts fine, can pop clutch to start, no hesitation, no sputtering, just dies.

[vVSmileyVv]

If you look to the left side of all the steel vacuum lines that run along the back of the carb, right beside where that assembly mounts to the intake with a 10mm bolt, the plug is attached under the bracket. Well. It should be anyways.

I'll look again when it's bright enough to see out, but I'm fairly sure nothing was attached there.

[Buzo]

There are a lot of actuators messing with the throttle in these cars but the one I marked in the pic as "minimum idle speed adj." sets your Idle speed after all the actuators have done their function. Adjust this one properly and your car should not die when warm regardless of the status of the rest of the actuators.

The loose wire is the electrical choke and it must be connected to the female connector somewhere below the carb's base, even though the carb has other ways to open the choke (like the choke unloader) its good idea to get this one reconnected.

http://imageshack.us/a/img51/9928/carbh.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/51/carbh.jpg/)

[vVSmileyVv]

Found the female for the electric choke, also found a cut red wire in the wiring harness under the intake manifold, spliced in a wire and connected that back to the primary valve solenoid thing. Put everything back together, and the car runs, haven't taken it on the road, because my 3 year old daughter (thinking she was helping) "organized" some of the parts I had taken off. Namely the air cleaner to air suction connection. I can't find a name for this thing, or even anyone who carries it. Can I just run 1 inch hose between the two fittings, or is that baffle necessary?

Marked number 8.

http://www.myhondapartsstore.com/myhonda/jsp/catimgs/13se001_e0303.png

[Buzo]

I think you can make the connection with a straight hose.

I was going to explain you that the cut red wire drives the "Fuel Cut-off solenoid". It does several things in the car. First it blocks a small fuel passage when the car is off (because its normally extended) to prevent fuel to keep flowing inside of the combustion chambers and avoid a hard re-start. As soon as you open the key it retracts all the way and allows the fuel to flow. Then, when the car is hot enough it helps in fuel economy by intermittently cutting the fuel flow to the engine during deceleration.

Good to know you found the connections for it and the choke.

Since a picture says more than 1000 words, I put this data log of the cut-off solenoid valve I made some time ago.

The x axis is the number of readings during a 15 minutes trip. The blue line is the coolant temperature sensor voltage (top is colder, bottom is hotter)

If you see, the ECU waits for the coolant temp to get warm and then based in the vehicle's speed and rpm, it decides when the fuel can be cut from flowing to the engine - normally during deceleration - so the fuel passage is blocked momentarily and reopened to avoid the engine to die.

Hope it helps to better understand this and other problems.

http://imageshack.us/a/img197/9409/cutoffn.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/197/cutoffn.jpg/)

[vVSmileyVv]

Took a piece of 1" hose and made a quick connection there, seems solid enough, put two kinks running different axes to keep from having a blockage, now I have to road test it. Wish me luck!

Also thanks for the info on the fuel cutoff!

[vVSmileyVv]

Success! Or at least mostly, rpms were at around 2k, got them down to 1100 before the minimum idle speed screw started feeling really loose, and seemed not to be doing a whole helluva lot. Car sounds great, still a small exhaust leak to fix, but that's easy enough with some thermosteel. Hope my misadventures into carburetor land have helped someone. Tried to document as much as possible :)


~Ike

[Buzo]

You did a very good job actually. Just thinking in removing the carb is a nightmare for some of us, you did it and succeeded. Congratulations!

[2ndGenGuy]

Indeed! Nice work!

[vVSmileyVv]

I hope if anyone has any problems similar to this, that this helps! :)