A few questions I need answered about 07 civic hybrid

[HybridGates]

How do I do a valve adjustment by myself?

Do I have to adjust the timing belt? If there is any?

How can I do a DIY alignment? It really needs it.

Winter mpg is rather bad, is this the sign of needing a new thermostat?

What are the most comfortable tires in terms of handling road bumps and noise? I figure if I just get those and pump up the air more I should be fine for mpg.

[Daschicken]

Originally Posted by HybridGates

How do I do a valve adjustment by myself?

I can't help you as far as getting under the cover, but once you are there, I wrote this awesome valve adjustment thread for the K24. DIY 4 Cylinder valve check/adjustment WITH PICS - Drive Accord Honda Forums
Make sure to check the clearance specifications for your specific engine.

Originally Posted by HybridGates

Do I have to adjust the timing belt? If there is any?

No timing belt, its a chain. Party time!

Originally Posted by HybridGates

How can I do a DIY alignment? It really needs it.

Can't help you there, other than to suggest to spray lots of penetrating oil on those bolts before attempting..

Originally Posted by HybridGates

Winter mpg is rather bad, is this the sign of needing a new thermostat?

Possibly, you would have to plug in a OBD II reader of some sort and look at the real coolant temperature. Back when my nissan maxima's thermostat stuck open, the coolant temp would never exceed 150 degrees.

Originally Posted by HybridGates

What are the most comfortable tires in terms of handling road bumps and noise? I figure if I just get those and pump up the air more I should be fine for mpg.

Also can't really help you there. Don't expect a previously comfy tire to remain comfy at 50 psi. A quiet tire however probably will remain quiet at those pressures.

[Ecky]

I eyeballed my alignment after rebuilding the front end from when my ex wrecked my Insight, and it was fairly close, but I have a feeling you're likely still going to chew up your tires if you don't get it done professionally.

Winter mileage is bad for a lot of reasons. Get your car aligned, avoid short trips, invest in a block and oil pan heater, block your grille, and make a warm air intake. Even then, expect it to tank when the weather is cold, just less so.

Edit: I think Michelin Energy Savers are nice tires, but they're definitely more economy focused than comfort. They last a long time and you might get 10-20% better fuel economy over non-LRR tires, but they're not going to be the most luxurious ride you've ever had.

[HybridGates]

Originally Posted by Ecky

I eyeballed my alignment after rebuilding the front end from when my ex wrecked my Insight, and it was fairly close, but I have a feeling you're likely still going to chew up your tires if you don't get it done professionally.

Winter mileage is bad for a lot of reasons. Get your car aligned, avoid short trips, invest in a block and oil pan heater, block your grille, and make a warm air intake. Even then, expect it to tank when the weather is cold, just less so.

Edit: I think Michelin Energy Savers are nice tires, but they're definitely more economy focused than comfort. They last a long time and you might get 10-20% better fuel economy over non-LRR tires, but they're not going to be the most luxurious ride you've ever had.

Ok, well I am definately doing all you said during the winter, short trips, not having a warm air intake, etc. I have a block heater, I just dont use it. It may be the thermostat. But unlikely. So for the michellins, do you mean the Premier A/S? or energy saver A/S? The Premier is said to be much for comfortable, but the real question is this: How much comfort can I get away with while having the Lowest roll resistance? Or, how much LRR can I get while having the highest comfort attainable from that? That may or may not be high pressure you see.

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...d&autoModClar=

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires...d&autoModClar=

[Ecky]

Hard to say regarding tire comparison. Nobody really does apples to apples comparisons of tires, especially where fuel economy is concerned. It's well documented that in the G1 Insight, it's typical to lose 15-20% economy by using most off the shelf non-LRR tires, whereas Energy Savers, Ensaves and the stock Potenza RE92's return pretty similar economy. The lost economy also shows up in performance, hurting acceleration, which to me is a lot of tradeoff.

I want to say it was MetroMPG on this forum that did some roll-down testing with various tires at various pressures, maybe they'll chime in.

[puddleglum]

Originally Posted by HybridGates

Ok, well I am definately doing all you said during the winter, short trips, not having a warm air intake, etc. I have a block heater, I just dont use it. It may be the thermostat. But unlikely.

If you are doing lots of short trips in below freezing temps without plugging in or doing any stay warm mods that is going to kill your mileage. Your thermostat is probably fine, it just never gets warm enough to open. At very least plug it in below freezing. Raising your tire pressure is going to help your mileage and hurt the ride with any tire IMO. Always a trade off. Find one with a good LRR and comfort rating and keep them at factory recommended pressure.

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by puddleglum

If you are doing lots of short trips in below freezing temps without plugging in or doing any stay warm mods that is going to kill your mileage. Your thermostat is probably fine, it just never gets warm enough to open. At very least plug it in below freezing. Raising your tire pressure is going to help your mileage and hurt the ride with any tire IMO. Always a trade off. Find one with a good LRR and comfort rating and keep them at factory recommended pressure.

Yup, my Prius is just over 25MPG this tank because of the cold and almost all the trips have been less than 2 miles (shame!). The block heater helps a bit, but with such short trips, it only helps so much.

Manual or CVT Civic?

[Ecky]

I'm dipping down to nearly 58 this tank. I recently moved into the heart of Burlington and I have a lot of cold start short trips (<3 miles) that are 25-35mpg. On the highway I can see 80-90 in this weather, especially if it's long enough to get all of the fluids and tires warm, so my overall average is somewhere in the middle.