Bainz
New Member
Good Evening Ladies and Gents,
My old man and I swapped a K20a2 into my old '04 Civic about a year back. It was running great for a while but was getting very little drive time, but now it's getting a lot of attention and is a problem child. Over the past week, the engine has started to stall once the engine is warm and I press the clutch in.
To be more specific. When I start the car, it idles anywhere from 400 RPMs to 1800 RPMs depending on the day, and possibly if I revved the engine before shutting it off the night before (I really have no idea if this affects the car's idle). It will drive fine until I slow the car down with the transmission engaged, say a red light is coming up. I can feel the engine adjust the idle, almost like it's shifting which is weird in a manual. From this point forward, I can be going 80, or 15, if I press the clutch in while the RPMs are over 1500 the RPMs drop to 0 and it stalls (unless I push the accelerator). If I am extremely careful, I can coast while pushing the clutch in and walk the engine down with the accelerator. In this case it will idle, while borderline stalling. I say borderline stalling, because when I press the gas to bring the RPMs back up to start driving, the engine shakes like it's stalling but then cleans up and runs fine until I have to stop again.
While this is a fun game, and keeps me SUPER engaged while driving, I would prefer to stop losing my power steering and I worry about my car. Local Honda dealership was useless, I already tried having them help out.
A few details that may or may not have anything to do with this issue are listed below with pictures.
Throttle Cable: My throttle cable has a ton of play in it, pic 1. It is also the stock cable that came with the '04 civic. I'm not sure if the long cable is an issue but I have no idea TBH, pic 2. The cable is adjusted as tight as possible. Does it matter that the cable is coming into the Throttle Body at a steep angle? Pic Below.
There is enough slack that I can stretch it to the metal at my fingertip before anything moves.
The cable starts under the clip on the firewall to the right, Wraps around to the left of the engine and then back around into the throttle body at the bottom of the pic. It's long.
Throttle Body: Today I noticed a sheered off piece where the mounting bracket for the throttle cable connects. It doesn't look like it is impacting the vacuum. Once again, I really have no idea if this would compound the issue. Pic below.
That piece is no longer attached in any way shape or form to the throttle body.
Random Sensor: I have no idea what the hell this sensor goes to, or where it was to start. I think it may have been for the exhaust on the old civic engine. The Honda dealership told me to cut a hole in my air intake pipe and mount it there to keep it out of the way and secure. Pic Below.
It's currently suspended with zip ties until I figure out what it is.
The sensor cable starts here. It seems to branch off from a cable going to the throttle body.
Honda's tech said to drill a hole in my air intake and mount the sensor where the light spot is (middle of the light). Pretty sure they are full of crap.
Sorry for all the questions and the lack of knowledge, I probably called something by the wrong name. Thanks in advance for the help! Also, if anyone knows a good performance shop in Charlotte, NC. I'd be all ears.
My old man and I swapped a K20a2 into my old '04 Civic about a year back. It was running great for a while but was getting very little drive time, but now it's getting a lot of attention and is a problem child. Over the past week, the engine has started to stall once the engine is warm and I press the clutch in.
To be more specific. When I start the car, it idles anywhere from 400 RPMs to 1800 RPMs depending on the day, and possibly if I revved the engine before shutting it off the night before (I really have no idea if this affects the car's idle). It will drive fine until I slow the car down with the transmission engaged, say a red light is coming up. I can feel the engine adjust the idle, almost like it's shifting which is weird in a manual. From this point forward, I can be going 80, or 15, if I press the clutch in while the RPMs are over 1500 the RPMs drop to 0 and it stalls (unless I push the accelerator). If I am extremely careful, I can coast while pushing the clutch in and walk the engine down with the accelerator. In this case it will idle, while borderline stalling. I say borderline stalling, because when I press the gas to bring the RPMs back up to start driving, the engine shakes like it's stalling but then cleans up and runs fine until I have to stop again.
While this is a fun game, and keeps me SUPER engaged while driving, I would prefer to stop losing my power steering and I worry about my car. Local Honda dealership was useless, I already tried having them help out.
A few details that may or may not have anything to do with this issue are listed below with pictures.
Throttle Cable: My throttle cable has a ton of play in it, pic 1. It is also the stock cable that came with the '04 civic. I'm not sure if the long cable is an issue but I have no idea TBH, pic 2. The cable is adjusted as tight as possible. Does it matter that the cable is coming into the Throttle Body at a steep angle? Pic Below.
There is enough slack that I can stretch it to the metal at my fingertip before anything moves.
The cable starts under the clip on the firewall to the right, Wraps around to the left of the engine and then back around into the throttle body at the bottom of the pic. It's long.
Throttle Body: Today I noticed a sheered off piece where the mounting bracket for the throttle cable connects. It doesn't look like it is impacting the vacuum. Once again, I really have no idea if this would compound the issue. Pic below.
That piece is no longer attached in any way shape or form to the throttle body.
Random Sensor: I have no idea what the hell this sensor goes to, or where it was to start. I think it may have been for the exhaust on the old civic engine. The Honda dealership told me to cut a hole in my air intake pipe and mount it there to keep it out of the way and secure. Pic Below.
It's currently suspended with zip ties until I figure out what it is.
The sensor cable starts here. It seems to branch off from a cable going to the throttle body.
Honda's tech said to drill a hole in my air intake and mount the sensor where the light spot is (middle of the light). Pretty sure they are full of crap.
Sorry for all the questions and the lack of knowledge, I probably called something by the wrong name. Thanks in advance for the help! Also, if anyone knows a good performance shop in Charlotte, NC. I'd be all ears.
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