After coming back from my last track day, Bumblestook wasn't sounding too happy. I was having strange idle issues that sounded like misfires or farting from the engine bay. I continued to have a leak coming from the catch can drain hose going to the oil pan and my brake ducts had become so brittle they were falling apart. Needless to say, I wasn't going leave this be so she's been on the quickjack the past few weeks while I've been sourcing parts and fixing her a little bit at a time. First off, I took off the old catch can drain hose which isn't that easy because it was a bit too short and routed in between the engine mount and the alternator making it hard to get a wrench where I needed it.
Making a new custom length drain hose
Upon further inspection it seems it was leaking around the check valve fitting. I hate doing things half-assed so I decided I'd not only get all new fittings but also make a new longer hose so that I could route it better making it easier to service and inspect in the future.
New fittings
Old hose (shorter) next to new hose (longer)
New Hose Installed - 9-5-2022
Longer house routed behind the engine mount
Fittings and check valve going to the oil pan now easily accessible
My brake duct hoses had also started to disintegrate. Some new 2" ID high temp silicone hoses cut to length fixed that problem with ease.
Old brake duct hoses falling apart
Fresh hoses in
Finally, I had this crazy idle issue after coming home from NYST. The car was struggling with idle and was burbling like it was perhaps misfiring but the engine was not throwing any codes. When the engine settled down the noise would go away. I figured it was something loose but could find anything.
After taking the intake off and inspecting the intake manifold and throttle body more, I noticed this would happen if the engine was vibrating more after going above 1000rpms. Looking at the IACV, it seemed fine but the connector going to it had actually just backed off just enough that it was getting intermittent connections. Pushing it back in fixed the problem and to avoid having this issue again going forward, I decided to zip tie it into place for that authentic JDM experience.
Culprit of the unstable idle
That authentic Honda JDM fix
She's now fully sorted again and back on the ground. Just need to put OEM ECU back in and get the NYS emissions inspection done.
