93 Manual Dying in neutral/rough idle

[Lives]

Just had a lot of work done to the car
Timing belt
Water pump
Valve cover gasket
muffler/catalytic converter replacement
02 Sensors changed

The car will normally die when I arrive at a stop sign or light, then I have to start it up and start over. Mechanic recommended spark plugs and wires, rotor cap and button, and tune-up.

Any opinions here?

[TimKuz]

This could be alot of different stuff. A vacuum leak can cause rough idle. Check for any vacuum lines that were disconnected when working on the car. Any car that has a throttle cable will have an Idle Air Control Valve. It might be causing the problem.

[w4rkry]

Does the CEL come on?

[Lives]

When the car is shut off yes the CEL will come on but has always done this. For example I will shut the car off myself, and the CEL will come on, only when the battery is on but not while the car is running.

[firebush357]

Spray some Starting Fluid around and behind the Throttle Body while the car is running to see if it revs up. To change the Valve cover you have to take the throttle body off and I don't see that you changed the throttle body gasket in that list.

Is the mechanic that suggested the extra work the same mechanic that changed all of that stuff?

Checking the Compression Numbers if you do not find a Vacuum leak will give you clue as to if he put the timing belt on correctly. You can get a car to run 1 tooth by playing with the distributor but it doesn't run well.

[HondaSlayer]

Maybe the VAF plug is coming loose and loosing connection when you stop? I had that problem with my 93 one time. I had to zip tie it together because the connector was broken. Couldn't hurt to look.

[w4rkry]

When the car is shut off yes the CEL will come on but has always done this. For example I will shut the car off myself, and the CEL will come on, only when the battery is on but not while the car is running.

In that case, there should be a stored code you can check.

[denguy]

I ground off the edge of the TB to where I could get the VC off without removing it. It didn't take that much and didn't hurt anything.

[ryanprins13]

Was this happening before all that work or only after?

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

[Lives]

After

[bravekozak]

Determine the last CEL code and then clear all codes.

[Lives]

Diagnosed today as throttle body issue.

[Barajas_jaime_]

You know I have this same exact problem your talking about on my 93 festiva, it's gets really bad idle and for say one day it will start and I'll drive it for a while and then when I turn off the car and turn it back on it gets rough idle and it dies in neutral and it won't start for days and once my whole battery died

[TominMO]

Was this happening before all that work or only after?

After

Other things to check:
1. make sure the valve timing is spot on, not off a tooth, since the timing belt was just changed.
2. possibly needs new plugs, plug wires, cap/rotor.
3. possibly needs ignition properly timed.

Did you have that tune-up work done that he recommended? Starting with new cap, rotor, wires and plugs are a good idea in general.