RichardKs wanderings: Insight or in-stinked? Smokin! (advice request)

[RichardK]

This year has just been truly shitty in many ways, and I definitely didn't expect to have a birthday at this age, in this situation. But it could be worse, both materially, and indeed, existentially, as I may not have had a birthday at all.

Keeping it on-topic, a quick car rundown:

In order of shiteness...

The Focus CC keeps being a Focus, the tyres are now so bad I won't drive it - and I just had to renew the insurance, which Aviva put up to £350 but that's okay because I did the usual TopCashBack + Comparison site and got a quote of £228, with £45 cashback. That'll do. The Android head unit keeps working, the reversing camera in the boot release handle is the best thing ever, and the interior is mostly dry (but the boot does get damp, I think because I need to renew some seals after removing the chrome trim). The alternator may be on the way out as the lights dim appreciably when the engine changes speed during parking.

It has one new genuine Ford headlight which has shitty beam alignment (the lenses are one lens, so it's the bulb mounting) and is part chrome and part black. Not impressed with Ford for that one.

MOT is up in March I think. I also suspect that if I sort the tyres it might pass. Tempted to put C6 WOE plate on it, as that would be cheaper than replacing the plates (since I already have plates).

The Honda HR-V MOT is up in January. It still makes a rumble noise from the engine moving and exhaust hitting the subframe if you pull away with anything other than the gentlest of throttles, but otherwise seems to be doing well. When it's warmed up and idling it's almost inaudibly quiet, a quality we used to be proud of achieving with a petrol car. It has been waxoyled so I'm hoping the winter won't kill it, because it's just lovely, if a little too small a lot of the time. Seriously considering getting a five-door one.

The Porsche is lurking. I still need new tyres, to align the roof properly, and probably a set of coffin arms I'd tried to be organised and buy from this very parish then just... had too much shit to deal with.

(The shit has reached the stage where I sold my perfect, boxed, Apple //e system and have put my Apple IIgs on eBay, admittedly for an eye-watering amount because it would help. I do have some work incoming, and honestly, I think that's about the main reason I get to have a birthday).

The RX-7 has not progressed, because of the small bit of rust I found. I am just torn on how to tackle it, whether I treat it and consider it reasonable, or have it fixed sine the car needs a proper restoration, or what. My common-sense brain says "make the car run first, then see" but my rational restoration brain says "bodywork is everything on an RX-7, the engine is meccano that people rebuild every three years if they drive it seriously".

The Sinclair C5 has a damaged-but-acceptable headlight, some Land Rover/Metro front indicators, a new front brake cable partially fitted, and a set of stickers. I need rear wheel centre caps then it'll be visually acceptable, but my long term thoughts are a cut-down scooter or similar axle with motor and differential to give it proper rear-wheel drive rather than 'inside wheel and no suspension' which means on a left-hand bend the wheel can lift and lose traction.

You'll think that'd be me sorted for the rest of the year, but something's showing up today to occupy my brain a bit...

The serious thought is "if I need to cut costs before spring and proper Boxster selling weather, should the HR-V or the Focus go"? I really can't decide at all.

[RichardK]

Why do things with too many wheels make me think of Gerry Anderson or other bad scifi?

[RichardK]

Maybe it's not the wheels bringing back the sci-fi vibe

Welcome to 1999 Honda Dealer OF THE FUTURE

Apparently this insight wants to be a regular car. I intend to make it hybrid again.

[mat777]

2 hours ago, RichardK said:

Why do things with too many wheels make me think of Gerry Anderson or other bad scifi?

Hmmm, now you mention it.....

 

To be honest I'm just relieved I managed to thread my 20footer through your estate and get it turned around.... It gives me sleepless nights every time I plan a trip that doesn't stick to arterial roads 😅 

Good to see you again today and looking forward to your, er, insight on the Honda! 

 

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, mat777 said:

your estate

Uh not sure about that, but understand you wouldn't want to churn the grass up? 😀

[RichardK]

This morning, @mat777's Honda is showing a full set of lights on the CTek, which is charging the regular 12V battery. It drove off the trailer fine, and didn't need jump starting, but while we were freezing to death and chatting the OBD-II reader was also indicating the Honda would like to die too. The voltage readout suggested the alternator wasn't doing much. Except the Insight doesn't have an alternator.

I've never seen one before, but because I've written a fair bit on these and talked to specialists about HEVs generally, I made two assumptions. One, that the 12V battery was inevitably going to me more important than makes sense for a car that is a massive battery on wheels, and two, it doesn't use an alternator because it doesn't have a belt-driven reversible starter, though I thought the principle would be similar to 48V mild hybrid setups. Part of my brain could picture a cutaway engine package for an Insight with a motor sandwiched where you'd expect a flywheel and clutch, and that's pretty much right.

My gut feeling is that somehow, the DC-DC charging system for the 12V battery had shit itself and has subsequently drained the IMA battery, but because the car uses the high voltage battery to start, the usual tell-tale "RER RER RER" of a dead battery wasn't going to happen. Plus with a huge motor and at least 10x the typical alternator output of 14.4V lurking in the big pack feeding it, a fairly dead traction battery will wake that bunny up again.

So, power on. No alternator warning light, which is predictable, and the start up display did a flash of 'battery charge' lights. But still has the IMA light. Now, the IMA battery is really depleted, down to one line. In this cold and miserable foggy day, the Insight has been rudely awakened with 155V up the backside (now 174V. As I understand it, it should reach 176V then fall to 167V float when charging is complete). I'm going to leave it sitting on the main battery charger until fully charged, and see how it looks with a charged up main pack and a charged 12V battery, though I suspect there's still something to be addressed in the DC-DC converter.

That could be as simple as one of the big fuses.

Even as a Citroen fanatic and someone who likes JDM cars, the Insight hurts my brain to look at one close up. It's so WIERD. I kinda like it, it's a shame it's out of my budget. The tapered shape and two-seat layout is so purposeful, yet (a bit like the HR-V's small body, real 4x4, all the groubd clearance) you can see how this is the stage of "this is the purpose, the intent" and then what we got - FWD tall, overweight, bulky 'small car' or 'The Honda Jazz Hybrid' (we'll gloss over those weird Insight MkIIs, but I am more tempted than ever by the idea of a CR-Z) without any of the super-clever weight saving and obvious aerodynamics.

[RichardK]

So, we have charge in the big battery, and we have charge in the small battery:

But we still have an IMA fault, which isn't a surprise yet as all I've done is charge some batteries and remove a fuse to reset a level meter.

What is telling is that with the engine running at idle while reading OBD codes, the voltage is 13.9V with lights on. 14V otherwise. Consistently. So... DC/DC conversion is working and the car probably got sulky when the main pack drained too much to replenish the little one.

Switch the engine off but ignition on, and the standard battery is on 11.9V before you've noticed, so I do think it could be healthier.

Have read up @jonny69's threads on RetroRides to learn a bit about the battery pack and the off-grid boxes - it is a few months since it played up, so I do wonder if it's due a discharge/charge cycle anyway.

Cosmetic stuff at this time of year and in this weather is always miserable but I couldn't resist checking if one of the products I had to hand would be useful...

Spot the difference?

[RichardK]

Spot the difference, part 2:

That is running. No errors. I still need to figure out why it got an error, which means tap testing the cells to be sure, but I suspect a low 12V battery made the car unhappy in a way it didn't expect.

Now to reset the clutch...

[RichardK]

Lets get fuel before trying for an MOT, maybe reset the clutch.

Oh.

Bugger.

Note the full battery. It was fine, using and regenerating, and then numbnuts thought "I'll use regen in Sport mode down this hill and charge the battery!" and it got charged then gave me an extra light.

So, I think I reset whatever was upset about the dead 12V battery, but there is still more pondering to do with the main battery. By pondering I mean "discharge, then recharge, with the gadgets @jonny69 put together".

On the upside, I'd given up Hot Wheels gathering apart from I really wanted the Morgan Three Wheeler. 

I've been looking for one for months.

Went to an unfamiliar Asda and thought I'd rake in the box. It looked well searched, but I didn't know this existed... I kept my Art Cars collection, but a Delorean Art Car would have been on top of my list to find had I known about it.

I was so excited, I nearly tossed the "oh it's one of those 1930s stupid hot rod things I keep looking at in case they're the Morgan" I had in my othrr hand, back in the box.

Hadn't even realised I was holding that model, it was just one that was in the way when I spotted a Delorean shape...

This is the first thing I have ordered a replacement part for. Priorities and all that...

[RichardK]

I like to know what else I need to fix on a car when I take it on, so...

Before I'd even had a second cup of tea in the morning.

Many derisory comments about the car, but not the condition - looked underneath and it's pretty clean! Not sure about the exhaust disguised as a brake pipe though, could it BE any smaller?

[RichardK]

Lightning never strikes twice...

Most of the day had a lot of running around but I thought I'd see if the garage had time to MOT the purple joy machine as well. I had it in my mind it had a week or so of test left.

Do need to get busy with the rustproofer - it looks good under there, but vulnerable, so the rear of the sills will get a wheels off, on ramps tackle this time.

This unexpected "it's okay and now tested to 2026" with a full 13 month MOT (by fluke) means for a simple life... I'm going to roffle the Focus. Yes, I like it, but I need work, not more tax, tyres and insurance... I thought the Honda would throw me more curveballs at MOT time and cause stress.

[RichardK]

Insight test: 20 miles. No IMA light.

Sudden drop in displayed battery capacity after A38. Spent the whole time wondering why the Stop Start wasn't stopping. Stopped at lights near home and the stop started the stop start stopping the engine.

Started fine, so when I stop I'll start some diagnostics to see why it stopped. I've stopped using Sport mode for now, it doesn't seem to like that.

2024 is also stopping...

So, the goal of life for me, is not to OWN ALL THE CARS. My actual goal is to finish a car and enjoy it as part of life being also stable and finished. Instability causes panic buying and dopamine chasing and everything being stress. That I keep repeating the pattern illustrates the instability my life seems to have endured (in a weirdly not -a-bad-life-sometimes-privileged way, like... even dealing with being born in a developing country and broke would be 'stable shit to deal with').

Every year I'm like "THIS CAR WILL STAY", but then fate or capitalism plays silly buggers.

My delight at the Honda HR-V passing the MOT until 2026 /and/ it being a cheap car is pretty significant. My mood's much better for this, as I like the HR-V. It's not perfect, but hey, I have a year to sort it, and I don't have the worry of the Focus to sort as well so I can afford a couple of engine mounts or whatever.

We start to roll the shutter down on the warehouse garage of 2024. It has had V8s, stinky diesels, posh Porsches and plastic piglets. The chains rattle, the door squeaks and shudders like Darnell's garage when trying to trap a misunderstood wild Plymouth. There's a weird sound on the horizon, sort of like a lawn tractor with attitude, a wind-rush whirr of tyres so hard Vinny Jones would think twice.

Limboing into the remaining chest-height gap, ANOTHER HONDA squeaks in. In a plot twist that will surprise absolutely nobody, but it's only possible because @mat777 is a very nice person, I start 2025 with the perfect two-Honda garage, class of 1999 (registration year may vary).

Here the Insight poses with another two-seater, economy focused 1990s Utopia dream of the future.

Perfect weather for the customary "Welcome to your new home" wash, isn't it.

Hopefully the weather will get nicer again before I notice time passing.

Because I think some cleanup...

Will be rewarding

(Tried the Vax spot washer on it and it looks good but it's too damn cold and damp to be making car interiors damp, IMO).

[RichardK]

I've spent a couple of hours on Amayama. Not a drug, a Japanese car parts website.

There's a basket of £118 of Honda parts waiting for approval... I wonder if I'll get them and how hideous the shipping will be (there is an engine mounting for the HR-V in there and a relatively chunky piece of trim for the Insight).

Meanwhile I had to put the chassis number in so looked at the paperwork. The kilometer/mileage is confusing AF, because I know the car has been chipped to read in miles now (I wonder if that confuses the IMA). It was sold in 2016, with Japan records suggesting 92,100km on in Dec 2014, and 71,800m and registered here with the MOT showing 56,000 miles, which to me sounds like "yes it says 92000 but it's KM" and the tester amended it. Though, that does seem to suggest it did just 244km between Dec 2014 and June 2016.

The next MOT says 82,000km, however. RetroRides has the answer - 57 miles a day each way, normal working week/holidays, = 25,920 miles in a year.

That's pretty hard working for a car that was already 11 years old and 56,000 miles in with the inevitable lack of real history you get with a cheap Japanese import.

Given the lightweight construction and 'flimsy' feel of some aspects, the car is a real testament to Honda's build quality as well as any care it's had in the past.

Speaking of the past, I was interested in the original registration.

It's from Nasu District: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasu_District,_Tochigi

The Hiragana 'So' is the 15th syllable, but in the group allocated to passenger cars it's the 13th. Colloquially, it's  basically a disinterested 'So what' phrase.

But the car's name has been chosen (which puts it ahead of the HR-V which doesn't have a proper name, just 'the HR-V', 'Tinky Winky(TW)' or "The purple joy machine'. I refuse to call it Harvey even if it could be a vague Farscape meta-reference.

The Insight's name is...

Eggplant. "Nasu"

[RichardK]

Me, I like the Insight. My girlfriend... has other feelings about it*. Aside from the fact that she's sad to see the Focus go (it was supposed to be used for her to refresh using a manual 'box, but we never got time while she was setting up a new business and her C3 passed the MOT), she has an amazingly sensitive nose.

And yet, she keeps feeding me eggs.

No, it's not the compact dimensions and mobile hotbox potential, it's the former life of the Insight having involved the occasional tobacco product. I'm not sure where the origin is, but since my first Sera also had this distinktive odour, I think it's a Japanese drivers in '90s and 2010s still smoked a lot. The Sera even had an optional tobacco-filter thing. When it's being driven and you've been in it for a while it just smells like old JDM car, but after sitting in sun during cold/damp weather, it seems to draw it out a bit and get a bit whiffy.

Does anyone have any good tricks or products to reduce or clean up (not cover, because I hate fake smell perfume to cover other smells) the stale tobacco smell? I know deep cleaning properly is the real answer.

I've tried, in the past, tricks with bicarbonate of soda (or "poundland shake & vac"), obviously I can clean carpets and things when the weather is better, but how do I deal with things like soft fabric door trims and so forth. The Insight trim is very weight-focused, so I don't want to get too aggressive with it. I'm also wondering how to clean a fragile-but-intact headlining for the same reasons.

And while it is her nose that is complaining the most, I must admit that a cold damp evening and going out to get the MOT to put in the folder made me cough after opening the door. So I think damp air 'activates' the stinky mode.

Thing is there are so few tell-tales of smoker's car otherwise. Unless the interior should be grey, not pale browny-beige. I wonder if it's the boot carpet.

*though, when I mentioned it is about twice as economical as her C3, she asked if she could use it for her daily 12 mile round trip to work. Since it can't do a pure-EV mode I'm reluctant, but she has a point...

[ruffgeezer]

I used Jif and warm water on hard surfaces to good effect- especially good for soaking ashtrays in.

@jollyfkr2 will attest to the fuggy aroma of the A4 Avant I got back via him, and that was mostly sorted by scrubbing the plastics.

[DSdriver]

I would start at the headlining above the steering wheel because I still have shudders about a car I borrowed from a motor trader friend. I happened to glance up driving to work the next morning after driving it home in the dark and was horrified by the nicotine stain where some travelling-salesman type's fags had deposited to such an extent it was even forming drips.

[RichardK]

37 minutes ago, DSdriver said:

I would start at the headlining above the steering wheel because I still have shudders about a car I borrowed from a motor trader friend. I happened to glance up driving to work the next morning after driving it home in the dark and was horrified by the nicotine stain where some travelling-salesman type's fags had deposited to such an extent it was even forming drips.

That sounds revolting! It's nothing like that, honestly it looks quite clean which is why the smell comes as a surprise when it gets strong. And it's not always like that, either.

Changing the cabin filter on these is a real nuisance if you have strong feelings about 'not breaking original parts',  but I suspect that might be part of the answer.

[MAF260]

I've used odour eliminating 'bombs' to good effect. A friend bought a Punto which had been smoked in and couldn't get rid of the smell. I suggested a bomb and I think he bought a Meguiars product which did the trick.

 

Here's an example:

https://www.in2detailing.co.uk/products/dakota-odour-bomb-new-car-scent?variant=32328078000207

 

EDIT

and something specifically for cigarette smoke:

https://www.detailgear.co.uk/products/dakota-non-smoke-tobacco-cigarette-smoke-odour-eliminator-car-home-work-bomb-4354-p?srsltid=AfmBOoo55NaUKajI9eODZAXfQQdmokoPwPkkGh9uuIMTAbt9c5_LucSa

[somewhatfoolish]

If a bloody good clean* hasn't shifted it maybe a blast with an ozone generator, especially with the AC on recirculate?

[Jenson Velcro]

I think @SiC is also sensitive to tobacco odour in cars and may have tips on removal. Do ozone generators help?

[SiC]

Ozone generators help a bit. Headlining as mentioned above is critical as the tar crap gets into it. Steam cleaner works well, just sometimes it'll damage the adhesive/foam in it so may end up sagging.

Tbh I never have ever fully got rid of cigarette smoke smell just the best is enough that you can't smell it when driving and air is flowing through. Pretty hard deal breaker nowadays for me. Even if the car is perfect in every other way. 

[RichardK]

I got some interior cleaner while resurrecting my trade card (though, just 20% off batteries now? Tayna will still get the business then) at Halfords and doing the One Important Thing for all older cars I get.

Yes, throwing tired metal scrape-potential wiper blades in the bin for Bosch Aero ones, Even if they are less good or uglier, if they're neglected or stuck on ice they rarely gouge a scrape in the glass. Which I hate discovering when I get old cars.

The one on the back of the Insight is much improved, the fronts were a bit tired from sitting but nowhere near bad, so I guess it was just a noisy rain day.

The spray and wipe suggests the headlining, sunvisors and things really aren't a concern for the smoke smell, so I think it's boot carpet (due to the shape of the car) and weirdly, the centre console/gearshift  surround and dash top were a little grubby, but not very. Cleaning those seems to have helped (the car does not have an ashtray or cigarette lighter).

Car does smell better for the attention though, so roll on some warm days for proper cleaning. I have a deodorising bomb to use once I have cleaned. I think that will help a lot

Still behaving but jerky sometimes, and I've found the weirdest reason for the door rattle. It's the door skin! It's detached, or loose. I think they are bonded aluminium so perhaps Bond met its match. No clues in the workshop manual, so I will figure it out on a sunny day.

First disappointment though - Amayama had all the bits I wanted including a damaged piece of interior trim.

But the shipping - before taxes and stuff - was £192 on a £128 order mostly comprising stickers and clips. That can fuck right off (sadly).

[Asimo]

On 02/01/2025 at 13:37, RichardK said:

Changing the cabin filter on these is a real nuisance if you have strong feelings about 'not breaking original parts',  but I suspect that might be part of the answer.

The aluminium strut that makes changing the cabin filter hard to change is intended to be cut out at the first change as far as I remember. I cut mine in the centre, bent it a bit and then replaced the filter and then joined it back up somehow. I think I photographed it.

As for those IMA faults, I could trigger them with a bit of full-throttle-on-a-tired-battery action and this got noticeably worse in cold weather.

Auto stop / start won't happen if the drive battery is not full enough. The controller has to be confident of the start before it allows the stop, it won't rely on the 12v battery and starter.

 

[RichardK]

I've got 80% battery most of the time, but I don't expect stop-start in cold weather as a rule anyway. @jonny69 had some mods on the RR thread that hacked stop-start and power to the motor, but I don't know if they are still fitted since I haven't seen anything that looks like the dial controller!

The strut has been done I think, when I looked in the glovebox it looked a little different.