I work a seven-on, seven off schedule, so every other Saturday, I get to monopolize my good friend and Honda line technician (ok, fine—Honda mechanic) to work on my projects. Yeah, I know, this is in violation of the DIY spirit of this forum but I’ve had three back surgeries and I besides there’s no harm done deferring to expert--at least occasionally, and this guy transcends “expert” into the realm of “bad-ass” mechanic. Follow along and see for yourself.
On to the Insight work.
First came the EGR plate cleaning. Yes, it was pretty clogged up.
Here ’tis after the can of carb cleaner and scraping and brushing:
(Hmm, looks like I missed a spot—this is why I shouldn’t be allowed to help!)
Then he adjusted the valves.
Then after that was buttoned up, he removed the EGR valve and cleaned the heck out of it.
A motor oil change (Castrol Edge 0W-20) and new Honda filter and Honda MTF change occurred at this juncture. Incidentally, the MTF change did not cure the second gear downshift crunchiness.
Following this, he swapped out the old o2 sensors for brand-new NTK sensors. The old primary sensor only had four wires and all four were held together with electrical tape. Whatever, it’s fixed.
Then a minor family emergency occurred and I had to borrow his Civic HX (my first time to drive one, I was impressed) to go deal with it (my Dad locked himself out of his VX at the grocery store, lol!)
By the time I got back, this had happened:
Honda S2000 steering wheel!
So at his point I’m dying to take it for a test-drive and to my disappointment, it ran just as poorly as before, bucking even more violently, it seemed.
So he hooked it up the the Honda diagnostic system’s laptop and it shot out a DTC P1491, or "EGR Valve Insufficient Lift Detected”. So we put up tools, grabbed a burger and a beer and he recommended exactly what forum member vskid3 recommended—to unplug the EGR valve. So we left the bar and before I drove off, he unplugged the EGR plug. I’ll be damned! It ran as smooth as glass, with no violent bucking whatsoever when (apparently) entering lean burn mode.
I’ve yet to wrap my mind around why it runs so well with the EGR disconnected, but I’ll figure it out eventually.
In the meantime, does everything I’ve said and done indicate a bad EGR valve and warrant a replacement? My mechanic seems to think so, not that I doubt his assessment.
While the car was hooked up to the Honda Diagnostic System, it spit out a SRS DTC 4-2 or "INCREASED RESISTANCE IN PASSENGER'S SEAT BELT TENSIONER”
Not really sure what that’s about, but my “SRS” light is glowing, and it will get sorted eventually.
I’m very, very stoked that so much got done to my car today, I’m very thankful to my awesome friend—he accomplished all of the foregoing in only three hours! His hard work has only strengthened my affinity for this cool car.
Guess we’ll do a spark plug change and an EGR valve swap two Saturdays from now. Ultimately, I will get the roof painted, arrange a car stereo and last but not least, score a Hybrid ReVolt battery. Stay tuned!