Team Honda Thread

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by HyperMileQC

Filled up for the first time with my Insight! Did 72.1 MPG (US) and I'm now #2 in Team Honda, #5 in Hybrids consumption and #7 in Hybrids above %EPA.

Awesome. I just did a new fill too. 64.61 mpg. Replaced hub bearing unit. So awesome! Quieter in the cab now. Coasts better.

[HyperMileQC]

Nice to hear you coast more.Good job on your tank!

[brucepick]

Warning: This is a "woe is me" story. I'm really pleased with how well Team Honda is doing, and with all the good stuff in this thread - which I started a year ago tomorrow.

Tough times for my '97 Civic. I know no car lasts forever, and I think I will need to take this one off the road pretty soon. It's had a very good run, including 3 "first in Class" wins at the Green Grand Prix at Watkins Glen. It's been getting about 50 mpg lately. But it looks like this car is on its way out. I have a plan "going forward", but I don't the think the plan will help Team Honda.

Back in Feb-March 2011, at about 219K miles, I had a shop refurbish the head. It had one badly burned valve plus others also needed replacement. A friend pulled the head and reinstalled it for me. Following that I did some nice mods - a belly pan, and I disabled the alternator, replacing it with enough batteries to run for hours. Plus some other stuff. Late last summer she was getting 54-55 mpg and I was pleased.

The car is now at about 285 K miles, and losing coolant, it looks like its going out via the head gasket and cylinders. And I'm getting a P0302 code, misfire on cyl. #2. That spark plug was oil covered when examined. So I suspect that again, a valve seal or guide has failed, and the dripping oil has again burned the valve.

Plus, the car is due for a timing belt + tensioner + water pump in about 15K miles, and it has rear quarter panel rust on both sides, and rust at driver's side top corner of windshield. The rust isn't truly fixable, in my humble opinion. I had a friend treat the rust on the windshield top right corner a few years ago, now it's appeared on the left side. Fixing requires windshield replacement, so it's not cheap. He also bondo'd the quarter panel rust near the gas tank (not a good spot for welding), and the rust is back again badly, and now also on the other side of car.

The plan:
What I REALLY want is an Elio. It seats two, tandem style. Two driven front wheels, one rear wheel, which makes it a reverse trike. They're predicting 49 mpg City and 84 mpg Highway for it. But the Elio won't be on the market for a year, if they actually do make it to market.

In the meantime -
Former wifemobile '96 Accord DX with 5-speed is available to me, wife is now driving an '04 Accord auto with more doodad buttons than the DX had. '96 Accord only needs a timing belt and a pair of tires to be fully roadworthy for me. So I likely will be driving that for about a year. I got about 34 mpg when I filled it a couple days ago. Not bad for the bigger beast but not mpg competition material.

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by brucepick

The plan:
What I REALLY want is an Elio. It seats two, tandem style. Two driven front wheels, one rear wheel, which makes it a reverse trike. They're predicting 49 mpg City and 84 mpg Highway for it. But the Elio won't be on the market for a year, if they actually do make it to market.

Wow. That would be quite a change from a 5 seater. Would your wife be willing to ride in it with you? I'd wonder about parts too. You could splurge on am '08 Fit (PaleMelanesian is have fun with one). How about hunting down a 2000-2006 Insight?

Originally Posted by brucepick

In the meantime -
Former wifemobile '96 Accord DX with 5-speed is available to me, wife is now driving an '04 Accord auto with more doodad buttons than the DX had. '96 Accord only needs a timing belt and a pair of tires to be fully roadworthy for me. So I likely will be driving that for about a year. I got about 34 mpg when I filled it a couple days ago. Not bad for the bigger beast but not mpg competition material.

Join Team Honda with it! A 96 Accord with the 5-speed is a good car for this FE game. It's not about the "winning" so much as the fun of the game and the support of community for technical ideas and problem solving.

[turbovr41991]

Sorry to hear that Bruce. I can definitely see where you are coming from on the rust. That is why I pulled the engine from an HX and put it in my clean CX to begin with. I too am interested in the Elio. Let’s hope it actually makes production!

I have been pretty discouraged lately for hypermiling driving. We have had warmer temps here lately requiring use of AC. As a result my gas mileage has suffered horribly. I had to go to Chicago for my grandfathers funeral in Chicago and my average speed was 80 mph and my MPG for the trip was only 44. We did not have the time to slow down and a fussy 1 year old in the back seat required faster speeds and AC… It is even more discouraging when my dad made the same trip in a stock 2012 Jetta TDI at the same speeds with AC and netted 51 mpg! In the end, driving the civic over our other cars makes sense as it is still only using ½ the amount of fuel as the alternatives, but I know it will drag down the team which is frustrating.

With all Calfornia98Civic’s testing on tire size, cx/vx trans and speedometer accuracy I felt the trip to Chicago was a great time to check my instrumentation’s accuracy. Over 100 miles of mile markers/ gps tracking along the way. My speedometer was 99.02% accurate and my calibrated MPGuino is set to be 99.9% accurate. So no potential upside to my wheel/ tire/ transmission combination…

Just kind of depressing (on several levels.)

[California98Civic]

Originally Posted by turbovr41991

I had to go to Chicago for my grandfathers funeral in Chicago and my average speed was 80 mph and my MPG for the trip was only 44. We did not have the time to slow down and a fussy 1 year old in the back seat required faster speeds and AC…

I look at that and think: the only time my unmodified 1998 DX got 44 mpg was without AC and at 55 mph and with me alone in the car. You drove 80mph with the AC on and got 44mpg. Looks pretty good really.

Originally Posted by turbovr41991

It is even more discouraging when my dad made the same trip in a stock 2012 Jetta TDI at the same speeds with AC and netted 51 mpg!

Yes, but he pays higher insurance premiums, possibly car loan interest, higher auto taxes if your state has them, and he faces several thousand a year in vehicle value depreciation costs. You do not face those costs at nearly the level he does.

Pretty good really.

BTW, I still don't believe my own calibration, but different instruments keep showing me the same results, so I obey the best known facts.

[darcane]

Originally Posted by brucepick

Warning: This is a "woe is me" story. I'm really pleased with how well Team Honda is doing, and with all the good stuff in this thread - which I started a year ago tomorrow.

Back in Feb-March 2011, at about 219K miles, I had a shop refurbish the head. It had one badly burned valve plus others also needed replacement. A friend pulled the head and reinstalled it for me. Following that I did some nice mods - a belly pan, and I disabled the alternator, replacing it with enough batteries to run for hours. Plus some other stuff. Late last summer she was getting 54-55 mpg and I was pleased.

The car is now at about 285 K miles, and losing coolant, it looks like its going out via the head gasket and cylinders. And I'm getting a P0302 code, misfire on cyl. #2. That spark plug was oil covered when examined. So I suspect that again, a valve seal or guide has failed, and the dripping oil has again burned the valve.

Bugger.

Some of these symptoms sound the same as what I'm seeing on my HX. I'm smelling a whiff of smoke on startup and occasionally getting a miss trouble code (multiple cylinders though) shortly after starting it when it's cold. I'm guessing it is a bad valve seal. Or maybe a plugged EGR? (<---wishful thinking?)

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by darcane

Bugger.

Some of these symptoms sound the same as what I'm seeing on my HX. I'm smelling a whiff of smoke on startup and occasionally getting a miss trouble code (multiple cylinders though) shortly after starting it when it's cold. I'm guessing it is a bad valve seal. Or maybe a plugged EGR? (<---wishful thinking?)

I never did clean my EGR passages "manifold" block. I have a sneaking suspicion that lack of EGR through those clogged passages may have helped cause cylinder/valve overheating.

[cbaber]

Hey guys! I thought this thread was the perfect place to say whats up again. I joined about a year ago and logged for awhile and then went away until now. During my time here I was in the middle of replacing my engine and doing some other repairs. I got the car running great and the last time I logged she was at 166,000 miles. Well today I am near 200,000 miles and counting. Still running great except my EGR valve went bad and I cannot go into lean-burn on the Civic HX.

BTW, brucepick, if you end up getting another car and decide to sell/part out your Civic, I would be interested in buying at least a few things off of it before it goes to the junk yard. Mainly the EGR valve, Honda wants $200 for a new one!

[brucepick]

Originally Posted by cbaber

...
BTW, brucepick, if you end up getting another car and decide to sell/part out your Civic, I would be interested in buying at least a few things off of it before it goes to the junk yard. Mainly the EGR valve, Honda wants $200 for a new one!

Thanks. I got my current EGR valve from Autozone (big box parts store) for about $85. Give them a try. But I think its just as important, or more so, to clean the egr passages located below the fuel injectors. I never did it due to previous issues on another car when i opened up the fuel system. Supposedly very doable, though.