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Old 09-02-2014, 12:39 PM   #21 (permalink)
Thalmaturge
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cowmeat View Post
I fixed my rough idle yesterday!
Pulled and cleaned the EGR plate & gasket, which must have been cleaned recently, considering the lack of build-up versus 200,000+ miles.
So I went to pull the plugs to check the condition, and all three plugs came out by hand turning them! I assume the last guy that changed the plugs finger tightened them, went to look for his torque wrench, then went on to lunch, and when he got back, proceeded to re-install the coils, forgetting he hadn't torqued the plugs. They were backed so far out I can't believe it even ran at all! Now maybe that's an issue with the Insights, but I haven't heard of anybody having their plugs back out, and I've never had it happen before in any car.
The plugs were NGK iridium oem style, with the B on the end, and in great shape. So with a quick cleaning (after making sure the head did say B) and re-installation with the correct torque, it fired up and purred like a kitten!
Last night I road tested it, and the acceleration is now smooth, and it holds lean burn awesomely now. I'm at 385 miles on the tank with about a third of a tank to go, and with all the testing (plus sitting with the motor running and AC blasting for an hour while I figured out the DVD player) I'm at 57.5 mpg for the tank. I should be able to bring it up to almost 60 mpg now by the time I fill up, and I expect to get way over 500 miles on this first tank.
Sadly common with these cars for the plug to be loose. I think the torque Honda wants on them is very mild and they tend to get loose with time and back out until stopped by the coil pack. Mine, the middle plug was finger tight (and the rubber boot on the coil pack all sooty) after about 100k. Retorqued the other two to spec and they both turned something like a 1/4 to 1/2 turn.

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Old 09-02-2014, 01:14 PM   #22 (permalink)
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Yeah, I was wondering if this might be an issue with the cars in general, but I hadn't really noticed anybody comment on it before here or at insightcentral

I swear the boots were the only thing keeping them in there, if they were regular plug wires at least one of them would have dented the hood by now

I'll just check the torque every six months to make sure they're staying in the holes!

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