88HF, stutter sputter and stall on high load cold accel?

[tastyratz]

so I have a 1988 CRX HF. No problems starting and driving in the warm, but when its cold theres trouble. It starts up fine, but when the engine has yet to warm up if I try to accel 50% throttle the car will sputter and buck like its missing. If I keep it no load and let the RPM climb it will do the same thing above 3500ish, just not as much. If I keep it up the car will die and shut off, then refuse to start back up for atleast 20 minutes unless I get out and pull the battery terminals. If the temperature outside is cold then thats even longer that the car has to be running before it stops acting up. Maybe its not as much the coolant temps as it is the underhood air temps?

Not just having to do with the car being reasonably warm, the needle can be in the center and the car up to temp, but it might be an additional 5-10 min before I can gas it. This being the HF model and having hp listings in the double digits, being restricted to low rpm low load accel, and its retarded gearing, makes it very hard for my commute to work living right off the highway in the morning.

Car has new cap/rotor/plugs and still gets me 38mpg if I drive slightly nice (but I dont, and I drive seldom under 75) and other than that issue its smooth as silk so something gotta be right. This hiccup problem is a pretty big issue for me however.

Any ideas?

[placid888]

could be your IAC "intake air control", it's located next to the throttle plate with 2 coolant lines going to it