2006 Honda Insight MT Build Thread

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Originally Posted by Ecky

I'd love to have weather in the 40's. It's supposed to get down to EIGHT here tomorrow.

I want to say the highest load I've seen lean burn hold was around 91%. Would you have any interest in my old ECU? I'm not sure if the plugs are the same, but I have no use for it at least.

Crazy cold! Coldest it's been down here so far was 33 *F at 6-7 in the morning a couple days ago. I'd like to be able to keep above 80 mpg this winter, but we'll see. Considering that Michigan already has snow this may be a hard goal to meet, since I was getting in the 70s last December back home in a milder winter.

I've seen lean burn as high as 92% load before, but not very often. Usually when I go above 87% load it kicks out. Maybe when I'm that close to the threshold my foot just isn't steady enough to keep it from deviating a percent or two. IIRC someone on IC posted at what TPS the car will go into lean burn and when it kicks out, so I'm hoping that'll help some.

[Xist]

Hopefully your bluetooth device fits in your car better than mine, but it is a great setup. I just put this in my car:

Mpow Car Phone Mount

The CD player did not work the last time that I tried. I believe that I needed to shove a pin in the pinhole to eject the disc. This clamps into the CD player and the weight of the phone makes the sides close in. I have only used it for a couple of days, but it works well. It is just a bit close to the shifter. I may have an automatic, but I still shift. It is great to have the phone right where I can see it so I can see whether or not to ignore whoever is trying to reach me. It also makes it easier to charge.

Part of the appeal of a bluetooth interface is not needing to touch your phone, so I guess that being able to touch it easier is redundant.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

I'm using something similar in the car right now - goes right into the CD player that I never use. I found that the normal magnetic or suction cup ones would continually fall off unless you accelerated like a granny or took corners at 1 mph.

[Piotrsko]

I am going to say your lean burn results are atmosphere related. Possibly note which days are odd, then note the density altitude and humidity. Preparation is always better than just responding.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Clutch went out on me halfway through my drive home for thanksgiving break. My dad was awesome and was able to borrow a truck and trailer from a friend to being me the rest of the way.

The car will shift with the engine off, but will not shift with the engine on. Suspecting it needs a new clutch pad - 265,900 miles on the odometer and no clutch replacement indicated on the Carfax so it appears to be the original clutch. There were absolutely no indications of failure prior to it failing, unfortunately.

How much wear does bump starting put on the clutch?

Of the 700 mile trip, the first 200 mile leg is pure mountains; for those mountains I was only at ~73 mpg; by the time the clutch failed at ~330 miles I was up to 79.4 mpg. Was hoping to get above 85 by the end of the trip, but alas.

[Gasoline Fumes]

Sounds more like a hydraulic failure to me.

[Ecky]

Agreed, sounds like a master or slave cylinder issue, maybe lost some fluid or perhaps an issue with the throw-out bearing lever.

[MeteorGray]

Any additional usage of any device on the car, whether it be the clutch or any other feature, surely will wear it out earlier than if there is less usage.

So, it saves fuel to stop/start the engine, but it wears something out more than otherwise.

The unanswerable question is: is the savings in fuel more or less than the expenditures in repairs?

Like most things in life, I suppose the answer is: it depends.

It depends on the cost of fuel saved vs the cost of materials and labor and associated aggravations to fix whatever breaks earlier.

It's great to have little choices in life.

[mpg_numbers_guy]

Well I feel like a dufus. Turns out my clutch fluid was low - almost empty, in fact. Bleeding the system and refilling the fluid and I should be good to go. Guessing I have a tiny leak in the line somewhere, so I might replace the line over break if it does turn out to be a leak.

[Kzelisko]

I would check your master and slave cylinders before I threw a line at it. It was pretty common on the 90's civics for them to be leaking very slowly, I'd imagine insights probably aren't much different in that regard.