Honda Inshite - now collected - the end.

[M'coli]

Top stuff, it's always good to hear about this car. They're definitely on my "want" list.

[Asimo]

Just back from a 5 hour hoon around South Wales. It was a bit wet (?) but the tail wind on the M4 made quite a difference to easy cruising speeds on the way back from somewhere Swansea-lsh. Careful bladder management meant I didn't have to stop, but Sunday roadworks, diversions and no map meant I couldn't manage the hoped-for 300 miles.

Happy with the fuel consumption because today, for 250.3 miles, I really thrashed it.
Previously it had sat for a couple of weeks and the drivebattery was in need of a top up. Drive it or charge it?

This update is a bit overdue but there has just been nothing to report over the last 5,000 miles. Only thing to go wrong is the thermostat has got a bit lazy which has made the heater a bit feeble. On the coldest days of winter the engine temp has struggled to get to 70degrees* on the 13 mile drive to work. This does have a bit of an effect on fuel economy because the "lean burn" mode of engine operation does not function until the engine is at designed operating temp. Neither does the stop-start function unless properlyhot. I Have a new 'stat but I can't be bothered to change it as the undertray has to come off and that can wait until the grass (I have to lie upon) is dry and an oil change is due.
**As reported by the code reader's "realtime data" - useful!

The engine still rattles like a bastard when cold, and I am still sure it is either little ends or piston-slap but it is no worse than when I first had it 14,000 miles ago. So?

[Asimo]

Rear wiper and spoiler fixed!

Hardly a priority. The rear wiper has never worked, apparently a common problem. It doesn't matter much as vision through the rear window is minimal anyway. The boot spoiler moulding was loose and rattly so the reasoning was when the inside trim is out to gain access to the spoiler fixings, remove and bin the wiper motor and plug the hole. A new motor - £259.05+vat - was not an option.

Curiosity had me taking the wiper motor apart, I had been told that the gears always strip, and that was certainly what it sounded like. On inspection however it was obvious that the worm and wheel were not aligned correctly. The connecting rod between worm wheel and wiper crank has plastic thrust buttons on it which press on the lid of the gearbox to hold the worm wheel against the worm but these couldn't do their job because a scruffy edge to the gearbox casting was holding the lid too high.

A quick file of the casting and now the lid sits properly and holds the gears in correct engagement. The second time I reassembled it had it parking correctly. A used Transit wiper blade and job done.

 

The spoiler was loose at both ends which rattled and put me off using automatic car washes. A bit of a fight to remove the internal tailgate trim to allow access to the single functioning faster, a nut in the centre. The fragile moulded bridges which hold two clips and two captive nuts had all broken free from the spoiler. Anew one would be £176.19+vat so bodgery was called for. Thanks to recycling regulations, plastic parts have a moulded in identifier of what plastic type they are and this spoiler is ABS. This is good news because ABS  is really easy to weld with the solvent used for ABS plumbing fittings. Careful solvent welding had all the bits back in the right place. 

Further reinforcement with Gripfill, the bodgers friend, and now stronger than when new.

I'll do the important jobs like fluid changes, thermostat, brake inspection another day.

[r.welfare]

Good bodge. Had a similar issue with my wife's Qashqai, the plastic trim that doubles as a boot handle has similar moulded bridges that snap over time (which explains why you see quite a few of them with gaffer tape around the handle). Will look out for the plastic identifier next time, as repair preferable to the £80 replacement cost.

[HMC]

Great thread!

 

Almost bought an inshite new in 2004, but my younger self was seduced by the similar list priced civic type r instead.

[J4mes]

Brilliant thread, I'm ashamed to say I never gave these a second glance, got to say I'm strangely excited by these now!

[stripped fred]

Good fixes there. Quite fancy one of these. Just had a look on eBay. They keep their value don't they! Nothing less than £5k.

[Asimo]

Service time.

 

Thermostat: old out, new in. Why is everything so clean?

 

New fluid in, bubbles out.

 

To Gaydon to hang out with other Insights.

 

To Shitefest to hang out with proper cars.

 

Copyright @ TriggerPics

Slow day at work. Let's use their resources...

 

Honda rear springs out, £20 Daewoo Matiz springs in. Look close and you can see Matiz coil is from thicker wire. Stiffer!

 

It fits. The internet was right.

 

Doesn't bottom out so readily now with the stiffer Matiz springs. Feels a bit underdamped instead but I can cope with that for now. Amazingly, just an hour to change both springs. Nothing went wrong, didn't even have to take the wheels off.

[jonny69]

I forgot you had this and forgot I'd even posted in the thread. I got a Jap import about 6 months ago. Thread is in the modern section.

[Asimo]

Good fixes there. Quite fancy one of these. Just had a look on eBay. They keep their value don't they! Nothing less than £5k.

Leggy and baggy for a grand.

[dollywobbler]

Great to see more love for this one. I did admire the rear wiper at Shitefest. Looks more complete somehow now, even if it is useless.

[alcyonecorporation]

This is triffic. Like the car Casio would have built if Burt Rutan designed for them.

 

You need to buy a copy of this (rather good) album to listen to in it:

 

 

WTF am I listening to? It sounds like an Amiga bob sinus scrolling demo bleeping into a fog.

 

WHAT'S MY NAME? 

 

Otherwise, thread of stonk. 

[RoadworkUK]

You say that like it's a BAD thing!

[Asimo]

Last year, back in post 90, I bodged the EGR valve by squirting the variable resistor track with contact cleaner. Repeated this a few times since but now get no improvement so replace the EGR valve it is. The obvious symptom is lurching and rough running about half way through warming up, ie it drives ok for a mile or so then is horrible to drive for the next three miles, then mostly ok.

 

Why bother to replace not delete the valve?  It is possible to ignore the EGR valve, to delete it just by unplugging it. 

 

Which of course gets you an EML light but does improve the driveability. It seems also to lose about 5mpg. EGR is used in this engine as one of it's many tweaks to enable very lean running for max economy. Since the whole point of this car is it's very low fuel consumption I want to keep the engine working exactly as Mr. Honda intended.

 

As related in the "Grin" thread the other day, I failed to buy a replacement EGR valve from Honda because they wanted full price up front - £337 - with up to 10 weeks delivery and no option to return it. I decided to get hold of a similar valve from a newer Honda and try and use the variable resistor track from it to repair the Insight's valve. The cheapest eBay had to offer was from an '07 1.8 Civic, delivered in two days for £12.95.

 

It did look more or less the same, the solenoid resistance and the feedback resistor measured exactly the same. 

The only obvious difference was that the gas port was smaller, but gas is still going to flow, it might just have to flow at a higher speed!

 

Why not just try it as it is? - if it doesn't work go back to the original plan and try and make a good valve from the two.

 

Popped it on, remembering to swap the gasket from old to new, test drive and it seems to work perfectly!!!

No hesitation or stumbling at any point in the warm up phase, completely normal once hot and (something I hadn't noticed until suddenly it isn't there) now no longer a little flutter felt when the engine goes from normal to super-lean running.  Need to get some miles in now to see what effect - if any - this fix has on fuel consumption. 

 

As for the money I saved, that is going on a set of those low rolling resistance Michelins.

 

[Asimo]

Bollocks    

 

The nagging little lamp of exploding-cushion irritation has returned. I blame the stupid miserable damp climate; the detonator thingys change their resistance slightly with humidity which pushes them out of spec. for the self test.

Special OBD box with custom magic for talking to ancient Honda Hybrids ordered.

[406V6]

On many cars, particularly PSA models, the airbag comes on because of dirty / corroded contacts in the connectors causing high resistance whcih fails the self-test. In mine it was the connectors under the seats after being left out in damp conditions. A few disconnect / reconnect operations and all was fine.

[DaveDorson]

I regret not buying one of these when a friend locally had one and put it up for sale.  It was a bit tatty, it needed the lights refurbishing, it had a load of stickers on it, and it was that greenish yellow colour they all seem to be in.

[Eddie Honda]

My Honda Jizz had an airbag doom light on when I bought it. Surely it must of been okay when it passed the MOT the week before?... Anyway it also had a shagged battery and was jump-started numerous times. When I got it home I swapped the SRS unit out of my crashed one (that crash wasn't severe enough to pop the airbags on that one). Two thing were noted: The duff SRS unit removed from the car was slightly newer than the car itself and was probably replaced early in it's life when it had a bump as the front and rear paint is a different shade of yellow. The SRS unit swap cured the problem.

 

Suspect that numerous jump-starts and flat battery had stored faults in the SRS unit memory and that if I wipe that memory (or get someone else to do it for a modest fee) it'll work again okay. I'll find out when I eventually* get round to straightening out the bent Jizz.

[1duck]

just take the bloody bulb out, it's what i did on my old civic...mainly because the previous owner had swapped in a scabby sports steering wheel, their solution was a bit of black electrical tape on the clocks which had apparently passed mot's fine. The glare coming round the edge of the tape was doing my head in, so out came the bulb.

 

That said, i'm guessing that fancy digital dash would be a nightmare to take apart, could be wrong though as the one on a Picasso was relatively easy when all its bulbs decided to die and needed replacing.

[SherpaMog]

just take the bloody bulb out, it's what i did on my old civic...mainly because the previous owner had swapped in a scabby sports steering wheel, their solution was a bit of black electrical tape on the clocks which had apparently passed mot's fine. The glare coming round the edge of the tape was doing my head in, so out came the bulb.

 

That said, i'm guessing that fancy digital dash would be a nightmare to take apart, could be wrong though as the one on a Picasso was relatively easy when all its bulbs decided to die and needed replacing.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

just take the bloody bulb out, it's what i did on my old civic......

 

That said, i'm guessing that fancy digital dash would be a nightmare to take apart, ....

Might turn out to be LED hard-wired to circuit board....

[Asimo]

There is a work around for mot purposes (see back a page or two in this thread) but I do want a code reader that will do everything on the car rather than just the generic read / reset.

 

The instrument circuit board is difficult to remove apparently, and I do need to get in there to replace the trip-reset switch which has failed - said to be a very common fault with these.

 

Since I did the full discharge / recharge cycle over the Xmas drinking period the battery has cheered up a lot, giving full boost on acceleration without wimping out once so far.

[Asimo]

Fixed the trip, miles/kilometres and dash lighting brightness switches.

Usual problem with dash jobs - lots of concealed plastic clips, only one of which broke.

Tiny switches were the conductive rubber pad type and a common failure. A multitude of tiny switches are available. I cannibalized two from a wheelmouse but they were just too tall to fit.

Pack of ten superior switches with a nice positive click from RS for 62.5p each.

Kilometres    

 

Miles        

 

While I was in there I pulled the bastard buzzer out. Wish I'd done that sooner!

[Asimo]

First opportunity for maintenance for months so a quick look at the brakes, prompted by Captain 70s' fight with Civic calipers. No fight here, as easy as could be. Pads don't look much different to last time I checked, light weight and regenerative braking! Discs are ageing from rust rather than wear. I wonder if they are original? They are certainly Honda parts.

Slider pins look like new. Added a bit of silicone grease just for luck.

Bleed nipples like new also! A blob of grease in there should keep it that way for another 18 years.

 

Spilled my coffee in the boot. Full cup. Good job I take it black, no sugar and hot sun has dried it out already.

[Asimo]

Update anyone?

6 months and 5000ish miles later and nothing has gone wrong. Except the psu in my Apple iMac has died entombing my photos until I buy another computer which I cba with right now and ipad has to do.

 

Set of new Continental low rolling resistance tyres - up 10mm on the section to 175/65 have been a good buy. Steering improved a fair bit and ride is better even at the 3.5 fuel-saving bar that they are inflated to.

 

New EBC discs and pads fitted. Only about £90. They were not really required, but I'd bought them so they got fitted.

 

An oil and filter and 'plugs change and then a smashing week of almost 1500 miles with weddings in East Sussex and Edinburgh. Car comes into it's own on these long trips, and not just because it used about 100 litres of petrol to do those 1500 miles. Although it's a bit noisey and bumpy it is a comfortable sit and the noise is all wind and tyres, the engine is inaudible cruising at 69.9mph whether you're in 5th, 4th or 3rd. The aircon works well enough, even for last summer. I wonder if it has ever been re-gassed? The belt squeals at higher revs but I'll pass on tightening it and change-up earlier.

 

I've now got a little magic box for communicating with the special hybrid features via the OBD 11 port. This includes being able to reset the occasional airbag light (Yea!) It has loads of clever features and allows spying on state of charge, battery temp. amps, volts and all the ordinary obd things as well. Even has a facility for automatically recording 0-60 times, a way of assessing the boost power available from the IMA system.

 

Just needed to polish the headlamp lenses and replace wiper blades for another MOT.

 

The cold weather increases fuel consumption by about 5mpg on my commute, I thought because warm up is slow, but the OBD data proves the thermostat is spot on. The Insight Central website reckons that a radiator block is not enough, it is neccessary to keep air out of the engine bay to keep intake and intake air warm enough for the engine management to enable the lean-burn regime, when fuel use falls dramatically. So to this end I am trying to make a foam bung that will fit in the bumper air intake without looking too shit. Or falling out and causing mayhem as I run over it.

 

Sadly I recently left the windows open in the rain and now the wetted seats look as filthy as before. Weird.

 

Keeping shite company in Stockport.

[Fabergé Greggs]

Loving the updates on this thing. Would love to run one but simply scares me in a particular way.

[Marm Toastsmith]

Nice car. I'd buy one in a heartbeat if they were £500.

[egg]

How are your batteries?

[Asimo]

Battery seems fine although it takes a bit of sympathy to keep it that way.

 

If the car isn't used regularly it does self discharge. This is a characteristic of the Nimh cells used but now they are well aged they don't all self discharge at the same rate. The battery controller detects this and limits charge/ discharge to what is safe, ie less drive and slower charging. A 24 hour charge on my trickle charger puts the cells back to a more even state and normal service is resumed. Very occasionally I discharge the battery before charging. The Insight Central battery gurus reccommend this but I can't remember the explanation of why it is a useful procedure, but it does seem to increase the useful capacity of the battery.

 

The battery and the hybrid aspect of these cars is what attracts most attention but the hybridness is really much less interesting to me than the aluminium body, extreme aerodynamics and an engine that is able to run extremely lean.

[Asimo]

Another year, another 12 tank-fulls and another PASS.

Only MOT preparation, or maintenance* since last summer was a quick headlight polish with T-cut.  The rear brake pipe advisories came with an "I mean it" this time so they will be done in a couple of weeks. (First advised three years ago).

So not much to report. Which doesn't make for interesting reading but does make for happy shiteing.

 ***  I am not counting drive battery maintenance. It needs a "balancing" charge every month or so to keep things healthy, and the IMA fault codes at bay.