Got me an Insight...

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by Xist

How prone to failure are the other ones.

100%. It's just all about time. I find that people who routinely washed their engine bay, they last a long, long time. Neglected engine bays, maybe 100k miles?

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by NoD~

Finally, confirmed the engine torque mount was done for. Figured, taking off in 1st feels pretty "long" compared to what it should and after shifting as well. Dealt with it in my Neon by filling mounts with urethane. I used the McMaster-Carr stuff before, but I'm going to try the 3M Window Weld this go-around. It's around $28 at the local auto parts store and should be a little easier to apply than the McMaster-Carr stuff.


That pretty much wraps up today. Oh, I also found the oil was about a quart too high (like 1/2" higher than the 2nd hole on the dipstick!) so I uncorked and let some drain out. Seems to be just below that hole now.

Important question!: I went to pull the plugs out because I bought some new ones. I went for the center plug first and it was really resistant the whole way out. Towards the end, though, it got REALLY hard to turn out. I got scared and put it back (I've stripped out a plug head on an old Neon and it was a nightmare to deal with). Anybody experience this before? My only guess is the threads stuck in the combustion chamber a bit and caught some carbon build up. Seafoam through the intake and let sit? Try it on a warm engine?! Just looking for some advice. Never had plugs turn ~10 times and only get harder to pull out before!

Two things. #1: DO NOT FILL THAT ENGINE MOUNT, OUCH, I HAVE DONE IT. Car vibrates worse than a million cats purring at once.

#2. You are pretty dedicated to that plug now, I recommend filling the spark plug hole with WD-40 and letting it sit overnight, but that many turns probably means the previous owner cross-threaded, and stripped the spark plug hole out. If it DOES break lose, and the cylinder does fill with WD-40, no biggie, just turn the engine over with no spark plug in it and blow all of it out. If you do snap the plug, or it rips all the threads out... Can't help you there. The car probably isn't going to run right now that the spark plug isn't clocked correctly anyway. But at least it runs.

If the spark plug does come out with no damage (let's hope!) then PLEASE use anti-sieze on the new spark plugs and torque to 17ft lbs!!! Do NOT 'guess' with tightness, and do NOT go in dry. The hole will not like getting penetrated dry.

[Ecky]

Balto gives good advice on the plugs. Something else you may not know: The Insight needs spark plugs that are specific to Insights; and they're indexed to each cylinder. This helps it reach AFRs as lean as 25:1. You need to make sure that you look at the stamp on the cylinder head next to each plug and the correctly indexed plug, or it won't run well, especially in lean burn. The plugs can be A, B, C or D, and must be torqued exactly to spec.

[NoD~]

Good news! I got the spark plug holes sprayed with some PB Blaster, let them soak for an hour, then came back and pulled 1 out, fairly easily. The middle one that I worked on yesterday was still a little sticky, so I put it back in (letting the penetration oil hit those threads, then put those threads back in) and pulled it right out. Finally, the last one was the worst for sure. It took several in-and-out attempts, but it came out. Seems these were put in dry. I put an even coat of anti-seize on the threads and they went in like I would expect on a spark plug. One thing I didn't realize is how long these threads are.... about 50% longer than on my Neon! No wonder it felt like they weren't coming out at all!

I bought AutoLite Iridium XPs (was pretty much all they had at the local stores...) and is what was in the car already as well. (Model XP5325). I didn't see any index markers, but it was easy to see which end is open and find a marker on my extension to monitor the orientation of that open spark. Seems these, at hand tight, don't all match. I see "B" stamped into the head on all 3 spots. So I'll research and see what my options are here.

I also pulled the intake manifold and got cleaning on the EGR plate. Definitely gunky, but not 100% plugged, it seems. A good cleaning was due regardless.

I pulled the brake fluid out of the clutch reservoir, it was black as used oil. Will be bleeding that out today, as well as the brakes. Front brake pads seems close to done and the rotors are definitely going to need replaced. Haven't touched the back wheels yet, so that remains to be seen.

Guess i'll skip on the motor mount fill... that was one thing I like about this car: Quiet operation. I was curious how bad it would be, but I'll take your words on it. What did you fill that mount with when you did it (and what hardness)?

[Ecky]

The mount tends to fail because it's so thin, but Honda did that because this is a 3 cylinder with no balance shaft; it vibrates a lot.

This is the spark plug you want:

SPARK PLUG B (ILZFR5A11) (STAMP B) (NGK) for 2000 Honda INSIGHT|12291-PHM-A01

The rotors on mine were starting to pulse when stopping, so I get a set of Rock Auto special $10 rotors, and couldn't be happier.

[NoD~]

OK, I'll have to order those (spendy!) plugs when I order the window switch (spendy as well!). The rotors feel fine on the brakes, but when I pulled the calipar off, I had a hard time because of the groove left in the outside of the rotor just outside of the brake pads.

Has anybody made an aftermarket motor mount that is larger with more material to last longer?

[Ecky]

I couldn't find any aftermarket mounts, unfortunately, and the mounts are somewhat spendy too. However, mine hasn't really needed anything else, so I consider it money spent on a deserving car.

You might potentially partially fill your current mount, leaving it room to flex still but repairing the cracks, but be aware that if you have more or stiffer material in the mount, you're going to transmit more of the engine's vibrations.

[NoD~]

Here's my EGR plate...



Cleaned up! Not as good as it could be, but... good enough.



I'm sure it will be frowned upon, but since I didn't have another gasket, I cleaned up the original one very well and used copper gasket spray on it. Seems to have worked OK, no noticeable vacuum leaks since reinstalling.

Also, I insulated from compressor to firewall for the AC. Haven't had AC in a car in years, so figured I wanted it to be as efficient as possible!



Well, I got an order in for 3 spark plugs, the rear mount, and the window switch.

Hey, question for all the Insight drivers: What's your style? Pulse and Glide? Shift points? Just general details on your day to day drive would be nice.

[Ecky]

When accelerating, I like to keep the engine between 1750 and 2250rpm, and accelerate at around 80% load (which is around the point which assist begins), because that's the range where the engine is most efficient:




If this car didn't have lean burn, pulse and glide would provide a lot more benefit over cruising than it does. Pulse and glide at peak BSFC is still the most efficient way to drive, but lean burn allows the Insight to cruise at a steady speed with a lot less parasitic loss.

[NoD~]

So, what's this one all about then? Saws CVT and no assist... but still the same engine...



The other question I had is that I keep seeing different design plans for the grid charger. Is there a recommendation at this point? Seems some of the links are old and dead. Just curious.