Joined
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7,200 Posts
Whew, what a wirlwind.
Ok, a little background info.
I was driving a 2002 Ford Focus, got into a relatively minor accident, car was totalled.
I'm a courier driver. I drive ~325 a day, ~1600 miles a week and am on track to drive 90,000 miles per year. This is, quite frankly, insanity.
Anyway.. Obviously, I spend an insane amount of money on gas; 803$ last month. When I began researching what car I was going to buy as a replacement, it pretty much came down to either a Hybrid or a Diesel.
The diesel offerings were troubling(Volkswagen), and none of the other hybrids got the mileage of an Insight. So I began searching. I found that they are hard to find. I thought I was going to have to fly out of state and drive it back, which I would have done.
Then one night one popped up at a small dealership about 50 miles away from me. I drove down early the next morning, looked it over, took it for a short drive, and bought it for $8675 out the door.
Enter 2001 Honda Insight with 85715 miles now.
The most glaring mechanical issue that I've encountered in the 3 days that I've had it is a fairly loud lifter tick at #1. It sounds like a lifter is in severe need of adjustment. I'm hoping to get it taken care of this weekend, but if I'm not able to, how big of a deal is it? Different engines deal differently with sloppy lifter actions. I just don't want anything to grenade. Obviously, I've been trying to keep the RPMs down.. not only because of that, but because of fuel efficiency.
How hard is a valve adjustment to do yourself? Keep in mind, I'm extremely proficient with engines, however, if the job is tedious, easy to screw up, or just generally a pain in the ***, I will happily pay someone else to do it.
What else should I look out for in regards to mechanicals? Does it eat CV joints?
The IMA system seems to be in good condition, although I'm not entirely sure yet. It charges full, and seems to drain nice and linear. I climbed a steep(12%), 1.5 mile grade yesterday. It completed the task, in second. Battery was full at start, and 3/4 when I crested the top. I regained all but one bar of that on the way down, but I probably could have topped it had I been paying more attention. What other kinds of tests can I do? I'm fairly learned in electronics, so be as technical as you want.
I've heard of the dreaded recal, but how do you tell if/when its happening?
I'm currently only averaging 50.9MPG over 117.4 miles. I was doing a lot of city driving for most of it, it was only in the mid-upper 40s. The last 20-30 miles were highway, and that has brought it up.
The best I've seen is 58.2mpg.
This is low, is it not? I still have not been able to perform routine maintenance on the engine as everything has been closed, and I had to work today. The engine seems starved for air, so I think it needs a new air filter pretty bad. What else could be causing low MPG, besides driving technique? I've been driving extremely conservatively to get even these numbers.
I'm sure I will think of more questions. Thanks for any and all help!
I love this car!
Ok, a little background info.
I was driving a 2002 Ford Focus, got into a relatively minor accident, car was totalled.
I'm a courier driver. I drive ~325 a day, ~1600 miles a week and am on track to drive 90,000 miles per year. This is, quite frankly, insanity.
Anyway.. Obviously, I spend an insane amount of money on gas; 803$ last month. When I began researching what car I was going to buy as a replacement, it pretty much came down to either a Hybrid or a Diesel.
The diesel offerings were troubling(Volkswagen), and none of the other hybrids got the mileage of an Insight. So I began searching. I found that they are hard to find. I thought I was going to have to fly out of state and drive it back, which I would have done.
Then one night one popped up at a small dealership about 50 miles away from me. I drove down early the next morning, looked it over, took it for a short drive, and bought it for $8675 out the door.
Enter 2001 Honda Insight with 85715 miles now.
The most glaring mechanical issue that I've encountered in the 3 days that I've had it is a fairly loud lifter tick at #1. It sounds like a lifter is in severe need of adjustment. I'm hoping to get it taken care of this weekend, but if I'm not able to, how big of a deal is it? Different engines deal differently with sloppy lifter actions. I just don't want anything to grenade. Obviously, I've been trying to keep the RPMs down.. not only because of that, but because of fuel efficiency.
How hard is a valve adjustment to do yourself? Keep in mind, I'm extremely proficient with engines, however, if the job is tedious, easy to screw up, or just generally a pain in the ***, I will happily pay someone else to do it.
What else should I look out for in regards to mechanicals? Does it eat CV joints?
The IMA system seems to be in good condition, although I'm not entirely sure yet. It charges full, and seems to drain nice and linear. I climbed a steep(12%), 1.5 mile grade yesterday. It completed the task, in second. Battery was full at start, and 3/4 when I crested the top. I regained all but one bar of that on the way down, but I probably could have topped it had I been paying more attention. What other kinds of tests can I do? I'm fairly learned in electronics, so be as technical as you want.
I've heard of the dreaded recal, but how do you tell if/when its happening?
I'm currently only averaging 50.9MPG over 117.4 miles. I was doing a lot of city driving for most of it, it was only in the mid-upper 40s. The last 20-30 miles were highway, and that has brought it up.
The best I've seen is 58.2mpg.
This is low, is it not? I still have not been able to perform routine maintenance on the engine as everything has been closed, and I had to work today. The engine seems starved for air, so I think it needs a new air filter pretty bad. What else could be causing low MPG, besides driving technique? I've been driving extremely conservatively to get even these numbers.
I'm sure I will think of more questions. Thanks for any and all help!
I love this car!