Originally Posted by 3rdCoast, hey im in need of some serious help

[A20A1]

hey im in need of some serious help
Hey i was wanting to know if u can give me some help. u seem to know what ur talkin about and i feel i've started enough threads with my problems. I have an 87 Lx automatic. I've taken it to 2 shops and they each have had it a week and neither of them got it running right and they seem like they seem like they r more bothered by it then tryin to fix it. The last shop i took it too told me my 4th cylinder has has low compression (im thinkin it might be a bad head gasket job by the guy i bought it from everything else he told me he did is not right). They also said my my and cap and rotor is arcing or distributor if that makes sence and said i should get new plugs wires and cap and rotor all oem from honda. Just bought new bosch platinum plugs and borg waner 7mm wires. So i probably will get the oem cap and rotor. The main problem is bad idle with a/c on and i've messed with the a/c control screw quit a bit with just frustration as the result. The idle even without the a/c seems inconsistant at different times of the day. Sometimes the fast idle doesnt even engage when i start the car after its been sittin for a good while the temp guage isnt even at the lowest mark. I messed with the a/c idle screw yesterday and it was working good with the a/c on and everything was looking good then when i got off work it was completly different. I was thinking maybe the spring loaded screw was shaken back out from the engine shasking. I did some thread searches on alternator problems and they sounded kinda like what i was having so i had the battery and alt tested at autozone they said the alt was good but the battery was bad so i switched the battery with my other 88 accord with an optima yellow top and nothing changed at all. I got no clue whats goin on. I still think the alt might be bad cuz anything i use electrical at night even the brakes causes the lights to dim slightly and a very slight drop in rpms(u have to look close to notice the rpm drop) I was drivin to work today after messin with the a/c idle screw and got the rpms to go up a lil but pretty much stayed steady when i turned the a/c on and i was pretty happy about it. The wire that goes o my compressor clutch i believe has a short in it or something cuz sometimes the compressor wont engage and then if u touch the wire is will click right on. So when i was goin to work i guess the wires lost connection again and my rpms were surging between 1500 and 1800-2000 rpms when coasting and slowing down. Then when i put it in park at work to look at the wire the idle in park jumped to 4000!!!!!!! I had to turn the car off in drive. I went back home and unscrewed the a/c idle screw a good amount and and the idle stayed at about 1000 in park. Then commin home from work the idle was about 800rpms without a/c the compressor wire is actin up again and so i messed with the wire again and moving the wire doesnt work anymore so now the compressor doesnt engauge at all. It did before i left the parkin lot at work and the a/c stalled the car in park. Man i just dont know what to do and i see how it is with the shops i took it too and i dont wanna pay more money for almost nothing fixed or just to mess up worse than before. If u could try to walk me through some things to do or check or maybe help me out through trouble shooting this i would appreciate that a lot.... Thanx in adavance for anything u could come up with...

[A20A1]

Only adjust the A/C idle boost scew with the A/C ON and the car is fully warmed up.

For now here is what I suggest:
First
Turn the A/C idle boost screw out so it is not pushing on the metal tab behind it.
Unplug the wires to the A/C compressor.
Warm the car up fully.
Double check that the A/C idle boost screw is not touching the metal tab behind it.
If you have to turn the A/C idle boost screw out more then do so.
Check the idle speed in park and in drive.


Second
If your idle is unstable, too high, or too low even after you completed all the things above let me know here. List the rpm and how much it goes up and down in park and in drive.

I think you need to fix your idle problem... what I am trying to do with what I listed above is knock off extra systems to narrow down your problem.

When you fix the problem then it's okay to turn the A/C on and adjust the A/C screw.

You don't need and OEM cap and rotor I've used what they sell at checkers/shucks/cragen. They work just fine.
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[3rdCoast]

ok i still need to do what u said but its hard to get to the wire thats acting up it connects to the compressor right under where that hose bolts on to the compressor(looks like the power steering pressure hose) so i cant really see the connection. It also connects to this red wire via butt connector(the a/c repair ppl cut the original plug out and redid it with the butt connector). The red wire looks like it then goes to a harness that connects to some kind of switch behind the radiator next to the headlight assembly. I cant see any other wires that go to the compressor. I started it today and the fast idle didnt engage so it too a min it to get it started and idle it idle with nothing on(no a/c) at about 600-700rpms after givin it some gas and warmed up a lil it went up to about 1000rpm where it kinda just floats around 1000 no lower than 850-900 rpms and no more than the mark after 1000(1200 im beleive) all of these r in park. It runs in drive and rev. about 700rpms(note turning the wheel causes rpm drop). Im gonna see how it runs tonight before i try the taking back the a/c idle screw and disconnecting the wire. I think it runs better at night for some reason(cooler outside temps probably). Im gonna see if it does it again tonight then do what u suggested.

[3rdCoast]

this is the a/c idle adjustment screw right i just wanna make sure this is the right screw i was messin with click here for pic

[A20A1]

the image doesn't show, it just shows the fortunecity logo.

[3rdCoast]

ok well the pic u posted is showing the same as the pic i tryed to post so yeah i was right