87 Accord dies after start

[Nitro]

Hello all,

I'm new here and joined hoping to find an answer and hopefully a solution to my problem.

Several months ago my car decided that it was going to give me trouble when starting up in the morning especially winter when it gets really cold. It would start up just fine, but the warm up idle was really low, below 1k, when it first starts it's at about 2k then drops fast and has a bad smell of exhaust.

So in order to combat this I thought I would simply hold my foot down on the peddle until the car would finally hold an idle to warm up (foot was on peddle anywhere from 1-3 min, depending on the day). Then the car would warm up just fine and would drive just fine with no problems.

Now recently within the last few weeks the problem has been added to with the car dying right after I start it. When it first turns over it hits 2k then dies immediately. I thought maybe stuffing my foot into the peddle would help to give it high RPMs in the hopes that might keep it alive, but it did not work, it still died. It would start up the second time just fine then continue with the low idle as mentioned above.

It has been suggested by people I have talked with about this problem, that this could be a vacuum tube problem (leak). Other than that I don't know what it could be.

Any help, possible diagnosis, ways to solve, etc would all be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Dr_Snooz]

I'm going to guess you have a carbureted Accord. The carb is getting tired and will probably need a rebuild soon. Hopefully someone better with carbs will chime in and give you some things you can check.

[CzEcHy]

How many pushes do you give the gas BEFORE you try starting the car? Try giving the gas pedal three full presses then start the car. If that doesn't help, check for a vac leak while the car is running using carb cleaner spraying around all the vac lines and carb. If the idle goes higher for a second when you spray somewhere, that's your leak.

[DemonicAngel]

Not sure if you looked at the thread i created, but my problem was identical to yours.

I checked for vacuum leaks, couldn't find any.
Replaced both fuel filters but the problem persists.
I was really hoping the problem wasn't the carb since I've never worked with them before.

Finally, I decided to pick up a rebuilt carb which i just literally finished installing just now.
All I have to say is that my car is finally alive again.

I know a lot of people never post the solution to their problems so I'm going to do that on my thread now.
Most of the time people just ask the question and abandon the project it seems...or they fix it but don't tell others how.

Hope this helps you out and goodluck!

[greentee76]

Check for vacuum leaks at the hot air door in the snorkel. Test vacuum at choke pulloff diaphram on carb. The choke pulloff on the carb uses an internal vacuum diaphram that can leak and bleed vacuum internally. If idle becomes steady after the engine warms up I would first suspect these two issues as they are critical to cold start.

@Demonic --
glad you got the car running again. But we don't really know what it is that was the problem you fixed with the rebuilt carb. Just my fruglity I guess, but there is a certain thrill to finding a 5$ repair then a 300$ rebuilt carb. But then again I simplified and went Webber long ago.

[DemonicAngel]

I totally agree as I was pretty frugal bout it too.
Except I came across an old lady selling a freshly rebuilt car with new distributor cap and wires for $50.
It was too good for me to pass up on.
In the meantime, I can take apart my old carb, learn how to rebuild it and see what's really wrong with it.