Mk1 Honda Insight
Discussion
The curse of the dealer strikes again.
The spark plugs are indexed with 4 options suffixed A, B, C or D. The letter is clearly stamped into the cylinder head next to the coil.
Here's mine.
Definitely a B.
Here's what's installed.
It doesn't hurt but equally it's pretty slack from the dealer. NGK UK never bothered to import them to the UK and according to my local Honda dealer they only get C and D versions.
They're readily available in the US so ill order a set from there.
The spark plugs are indexed with 4 options suffixed A, B, C or D. The letter is clearly stamped into the cylinder head next to the coil.
Here's mine.
Definitely a B.
Here's what's installed.
It doesn't hurt but equally it's pretty slack from the dealer. NGK UK never bothered to import them to the UK and according to my local Honda dealer they only get C and D versions.
They're readily available in the US so ill order a set from there.
I thought the brakes didn't feel 100%.
New discs and pads are on order. I'll strip and clean the calipers at the same time.
Have had a poke around underneath today it's mostly looking pretty clean. It almost all plastic and aluminium so there's very little corrosion. The rubber bits look past their best and there was a few trim clips missing which is pretty standard.
Rear trailing arm bushes are a bit cracked, not sold separately and the rear beam is in the region of £750, one for the future I think.
JonnyVTEC said:
Mine has brake lines the last MOT and the fuel lines on the bulkhead under bonnet can be a hot spot for corrosion so remove the clip clean and grease it up.
As a hybrid owner are your sandals still in the post hence bare feet
Rear brake lines have been done by the looks of it. I'll check the fuel hoses. As a hybrid owner are your sandals still in the post hence bare feet
They're on order, along with my white socks.
peterperkins said:
They all look cracked. Ignore them until it fails the MOT.. Use some silicone grease/spray on them to keep salt/crap/oil off them.
Ditto ones at the front which also squeak. use silicone lubricant liberally applied to stop the groaning over low speed bumps etc.
Good tip Ditto ones at the front which also squeak. use silicone lubricant liberally applied to stop the groaning over low speed bumps etc.
Although my OCD tendencies already have my finger on Honda redial.
designforlife said:
regarding those plugs, give Mike at Viamoto a call...he deals in parts sourcing for all things Japanese, and has gone above and beyond for me on numerous occasions when I had a rare Mitsubishi.
I've already bitten the bullet. £80 delivered from the states. Might be able to sell my 'A' plugs on as they're in good condition. Time to tackle the headlights.
Found this on offer at ABD and I've used Twenty20 stuff before it's top quality.
I was still a little sceptical as the claims seemed to good to be true. It contained 2 wipes that look like alcohol wipes. You use the first one to clean the headlight and then wipe the second one on and leave it on.
Safe to say I'm impressed with the results, no sanding or polishing required.
Genuinely impressed, I think it was £11, will definitely use them again.
Also changed the wipers, which didn't quite seem in keeping with the low drag philosophy of the car for some Bosch Aerotwin items, may be controversial but I think they suit the car better.
Found this on offer at ABD and I've used Twenty20 stuff before it's top quality.
I was still a little sceptical as the claims seemed to good to be true. It contained 2 wipes that look like alcohol wipes. You use the first one to clean the headlight and then wipe the second one on and leave it on.
Safe to say I'm impressed with the results, no sanding or polishing required.
Genuinely impressed, I think it was £11, will definitely use them again.
Also changed the wipers, which didn't quite seem in keeping with the low drag philosophy of the car for some Bosch Aerotwin items, may be controversial but I think they suit the car better.
Hrimfaxi said:
Great result with the Twenty20 wipes!
It's an on-going battle with my Impreza's headlights, I have to "restore" them every couple of months.
Guessing the second wipe also contains some kind of UV protector?
I've got some Meguairs UV protection stuff to go on after, something that I'm guessing will need to be done on a regular basis. It's an on-going battle with my Impreza's headlights, I have to "restore" them every couple of months.
Guessing the second wipe also contains some kind of UV protector?
Question for any other JDM insight owners on here.
My car has been converted to read MPH, the milometer reads in miles too. However, I think it's confusing the FCD as that's reading 15km/l instead of 25 km/l. The difference tallying with the conversion factor of km to miles.
My question is how do I remove It? Where is it? Is it a matter of working back from the VSS to the Speedo until I see something aftermarket? Not sure what I'm actually looking for and Google hasn't been much help.
I don't mind doing the mental km to mph calculations.
Cheers.
My car has been converted to read MPH, the milometer reads in miles too. However, I think it's confusing the FCD as that's reading 15km/l instead of 25 km/l. The difference tallying with the conversion factor of km to miles.
My question is how do I remove It? Where is it? Is it a matter of working back from the VSS to the Speedo until I see something aftermarket? Not sure what I'm actually looking for and Google hasn't been much help.
I don't mind doing the mental km to mph calculations.
Cheers.
samoht said:
When I converted my 180SX to read in miles, I got a little chip off eBay with four wires coming out of it, and I think I cut the signal wire to the clocks and spliced the chip in. So that would be the sort of thing, just behind the clocks, if it's like that.
Yes I think that's it. Will start by looking behind the clocks then. JonnyVTEC said:
Yes that's what you want to find otherwise the ECM will be getting the wrong signal and can fudge all sorts of things when it thinks it's in a different gear to real and effects gear based trims. Particularly with the IMA aspect.
Could this be why it's asking me to change up when I'm already in 5th? peterperkins said:
I would just remove the mph/kph conversion gadget when you find it, you don't have to have one IIRC.
Or put a switch in to enable it when it's MOT time if they throw a wobbler..
You will soon get used to 50kph = ~31mph etc
Yes I've no problem working in Kmh. I'm fairly sure you don't need a Speedo at all to pass the mot. Or put a switch in to enable it when it's MOT time if they throw a wobbler..
You will soon get used to 50kph = ~31mph etc
First proper drive on a road I know well, the A684 between Became and Sedbergh. It's fun, if a little tail happy. A combination of the light weight, low rolling resistance tyres, high tyre pressures, narrow track and probably slightly worn bushes. Overtaking takes a little more concentration as there's no power to get you out of trouble. Having said that I didn't feel it needed more power you just have to get used to spending most of your time in 2nd rather than 3rd. It feels good reaching the limit at none licence losing speeds, I don't think anyone else on that road was having more fun, put it that way.
Some of the service bits had arrived at Honda so spent a few hours changing this lot.
To be fair there's about half an hours work there, the rest was spent cleaning, fixing or replacing bits as I go.
The undertrays hasn't been off in a long time, que lots of sheared bolts.
Most have now been replaced with stainless steel items.
Mid way through reinstating the undertrays.
Also needed a quick fix on the air filter housing.
The only other thing I found out of place was an earth strap that hadn't been earthing anything in a long time, car seems to run fine without it.
I pulled the dash out, a surprisingly simple job, but was a bit gutted not to find the kmh/mph converter chip or any associated wiring, at least not behind the instrument pinnacle anyway.
I did find this tucked right up at the back of the dash, there was definitely a yoga name for the position I had to get into to see it. Can anyone confirm if this is what I'm looking for?
The only other question I had is are these original or aftermarket? They're little green lights, one on each side tucked up in the footwell.
To be fair there's about half an hours work there, the rest was spent cleaning, fixing or replacing bits as I go.
The undertrays hasn't been off in a long time, que lots of sheared bolts.
Most have now been replaced with stainless steel items.
Mid way through reinstating the undertrays.
Also needed a quick fix on the air filter housing.
The only other thing I found out of place was an earth strap that hadn't been earthing anything in a long time, car seems to run fine without it.
I pulled the dash out, a surprisingly simple job, but was a bit gutted not to find the kmh/mph converter chip or any associated wiring, at least not behind the instrument pinnacle anyway.
I did find this tucked right up at the back of the dash, there was definitely a yoga name for the position I had to get into to see it. Can anyone confirm if this is what I'm looking for?
The only other question I had is are these original or aftermarket? They're little green lights, one on each side tucked up in the footwell.
Found it. It was in the engine bay, I just wasn't looking hard enough. Bit of a bodge too.
It's down there, promise.
After extracting the wiring loom.
It doesn't look any better the closer you look.
Had to start again as there wasn't enough good wire left to play with. Ready to go back on, no more twisted wire and a bit of insulation tape.
Will get it reinstalled today.
It's down there, promise.
After extracting the wiring loom.
It doesn't look any better the closer you look.
Had to start again as there wasn't enough good wire left to play with. Ready to go back on, no more twisted wire and a bit of insulation tape.
Will get it reinstalled today.
Super Slo Mo said:
Can I recommend you get the earthing strap replaced? I've seen a number of vehicles go up in smoke due to the earthing strap failing.
Admittedly they were trucks but apparently the earth can find other routes, like through power steering hydraulic lines etc.
Wouldn't want you to lose your P&J for the sake of a simple part.
Yes. Would have done it today but don't have any clamps big enough and trying to solder wire using the hob didn't work either. Admittedly they were trucks but apparently the earth can find other routes, like through power steering hydraulic lines etc.
Wouldn't want you to lose your P&J for the sake of a simple part.
It works. It maybe a placebo but it feels different to drive now, I think the IMA is coming in when it's supposed to now rather than when it was tricked into it, the battery gauge is already higher than I've seen it so far. It's stopped telling me to upshift when I'm already in fifth, which is nice.
Took it for a test drive, first one since the service. From stone cold it covered 26.6km at 28.9km/l, which I make to be about 83 mpg, mixture of urban and NSL, very impressive.
Took it for a test drive, first one since the service. From stone cold it covered 26.6km at 28.9km/l, which I make to be about 83 mpg, mixture of urban and NSL, very impressive.
ewand said:
Well done! I'd recommend uprating the rear springs, which will reduce the bouncy bouncy nature you might have experienced. Slightly stiffer ones are available and that will raise the back of the car up a few cm unless you want to hack a quarter turn off the spring before installing. You're talking about £20 a corner, and they're OEM springs for a Daewoo Matiz :-D
retepsnikrep gave me a great tip for driving the Insight - I was feathering the throttle a lot, almost trying to make it charge as much as I could (trying to keep the IMA battery full all the time) - he suggested that when you're approaching a hill or anything that will need a bit more gas, just bury the throttle and force the motor to kick in and give you everything it can. Then you can lift off when you get to the top, or you're just about past the thing you're overtaking etc...
I'd heard about the Matiz rear spring mod, the rear beam is the only rusty bit so when I sort that I'll probably uprate the springs at the same time. retepsnikrep gave me a great tip for driving the Insight - I was feathering the throttle a lot, almost trying to make it charge as much as I could (trying to keep the IMA battery full all the time) - he suggested that when you're approaching a hill or anything that will need a bit more gas, just bury the throttle and force the motor to kick in and give you everything it can. Then you can lift off when you get to the top, or you're just about past the thing you're overtaking etc...
I'm tempted to take it to Blyton for a track day to find out where it's handling limits are before I find them on the road.
Loyly said:
ewand said:
retepsnikrep gave me a great tip for driving the Insight - I was feathering the throttle a lot, almost trying to make it charge as much as I could (trying to keep the IMA battery full all the time) - he suggested that when you're approaching a hill or anything that will need a bit more gas, just bury the throttle and force the motor to kick in and give you everything it can. Then you can lift off when you get to the top, or you're just about past the thing you're overtaking etc...
I don't subscribe to the 'pulse and glide' technique some of the first hybrid drivers talked about. The critical thing I have found for fuel consumption, if you want to keep it low, is to use the lowest possible throttle openings possible. I keep it below 2000rpm, using EV mode wherever possible. However, that can make for ponderous progress, too slow for me generally. Gassing moderately up hills, and coasting once you've made the climb is quite effective. That said, I've found tank to tank average isn't all that different even if you dawdle along on one tank and clog it on another. With a hybrid, taking into account how the drivetrain works makes for the best experience.
500 miles at
40 mpg = 12.5 gal
60 mpg = 8.33 gal
80 mpg = 6.25 gal
100 mpg = 5.0 gal
120 mpg = 4.16 gal
So the difference between driving relatively normally and hypermiling is about £5 per tank, think I'll carry on driving normally, it's more fun.
A couple of little jobs sorted while I wait for the discs and pads to arrive at Honda.
The steering wheel and gear knob looked a bit grubby.
Pretty disgusting. I'm tempted to get the wheel trimmed in leather but an impending house purchase will probably put paid to that.
I heard a sloshing the other day and just assumed it was the petrol tank. I didn't tie it in to the slight damp patch on the boot floor.
When I lifted it to have a look I found about 15-20 litres of water in the spare wheel well.
No obvious leaking seals so I'll Mark it with chalk and monitor it over the next few weeks. It should be a bit lighter now at least.
The dust covers on the TRE ball joints have perished. New TRE's are £100 per side with no aftermarket support so I measured them and bought just the dust covers. Decided to order a few as they're only £2-3 a pair. The middle set is noticeably higher quality so ill probably use them.
I've also replaced the snapped earth strap and some Honda MTF3 arrived yesterday so I'll tackle that at the weekend but otherwise the novelty of driving it hasn't worn off.
The steering wheel and gear knob looked a bit grubby.
Pretty disgusting. I'm tempted to get the wheel trimmed in leather but an impending house purchase will probably put paid to that.
I heard a sloshing the other day and just assumed it was the petrol tank. I didn't tie it in to the slight damp patch on the boot floor.
When I lifted it to have a look I found about 15-20 litres of water in the spare wheel well.
No obvious leaking seals so I'll Mark it with chalk and monitor it over the next few weeks. It should be a bit lighter now at least.
The dust covers on the TRE ball joints have perished. New TRE's are £100 per side with no aftermarket support so I measured them and bought just the dust covers. Decided to order a few as they're only £2-3 a pair. The middle set is noticeably higher quality so ill probably use them.
I've also replaced the snapped earth strap and some Honda MTF3 arrived yesterday so I'll tackle that at the weekend but otherwise the novelty of driving it hasn't worn off.
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