[insightbuyer]

I've done this 2600 mile trip before, straight from NY to Las Vegas. When I get in the desert I just push the car near 90MPH or even 100MPH where I can. My MPG is not good at around 50, but I don't care as the trip is just so long.

I will of course disable assist as I have a modification where I can disable just the assist but leave the regen on.

Since I just had a lexus SUV die on me and needed a tow, I was wondering what could really go wrong with pushing a 200K mile insight like this? I'm paranoid about the car breaking down.

Or is the car reliable and there shouldn't be any difference from driving 65MPH vs 90MPH.

 

[Calpod]

Check your idler pulley bearing, that's the only thing I had go wrong once and I had to tow the car the rest of the way.

 

[insightbuyer]

oh boy, yes I actually did check that but forgot if I replaced it as that was not my issue at the time. I ordered 2 of those Nachi 6203NSE bearings also in 2020, just can't remember if I replaced it or not .

I had a similar thing happen, but mine was the bearing on the AC clutch. I was able to make it home though as I was not far, but it was in very bad shape, totally burned up and ready to completely fail.

I bypassed that particular bearing on the AC with a smaller belt, so I don't have AC anymore.

IF you have not replaced this bearing on the AC, there is a chance that you could have the same issue also.

 

[DaBossk]

Sounds like fun! These insights are pretty much bulletproof. I would check these 4 things

TIRES: Make sure they arent dry rotted and are ready for a long trip. inflate the spare tire and make sure you have the proper tools to change the spare

VTEC SCREEN: Clean it and make sure it is free of debris! These are apparently the cause of breaking the camshaft in half and It seems they often break while on the highway.

IMA BATTERY: Simply follow this 15 minute guide and bring the small amount of tools necessary to do this IF your car is having issues on the way home. For me it has been a permanent fix lol Honda Insight (2000-2006) - Battery Bypass Instructions

RADIATOR: Just inspect the radiator because the originals are very prone to cracking and that would certainly leave you stranded if the plastic tank blew out

Bring a good toolkit and maybe some coolant and oil and you shouldnt run into anything too hard to fix.

 

[mmdepace]

I had the idler puley get really loud on my Chicago to Phoenix move during the last 200 miles. Worth keeping some distilled water in the car, just in case coolant seems off after engine cools down. If I were going to make the trip, I'd do the coolant bleed procedure, but that could be a bit overboard. It would be nice for peace of mind.

 

[Bull Dog]

Better not drive any faster than 55 MPH.

 

[Tekuno Ichigo]

I did a cross country trip from Northern California, south towards SoCal, across I-10 to FL, up the eastern seaboard, and back around to California via I-80 in 2021, ending the trip at 505K miles. As long as your up on your maintenance and check everything over, I don't see why you wouldn't make it. A couple of segments of my trip I also said "f it" and gave the pavement the full 70ft/lbs of torque I had on tap. Won't blame you for trying, lol.

 

[Balto]

@EggEnjoyer bought one that had been sitting for 10 years in New York and we drove it home on just an oil change and trans fluid change. I say just send it.

 

[retepsnikrep]

@insightbuyer Manual or auto?
An auto will use way more fuel and be revving a lot higher at those road speeds.
It might also overheat more easily as it's burning more fuel and the radiator is shared with the CVT cooling IIRC.

 

[ttsgeb]

I took my 460k at the time CVT on a 4500 mile roadtrip over the course of 2 weeks last summer. All I had to do was replace the oil that leaked out on the way and I casually decided to try to fix my dragging brakes halfway through. Windows down the whole way because the AC doesn't work, usually going 80 for 12 hours at a time. Had a leaking tire. Got like 38mpg round trip, but the car didn't give me any trip ruining problems.

 

[Willie Williford]

What are "Dragging breaks"? LOL

 

[ttsgeb]

It's what happens when you don't think about spelling and are trying to communicate that the things that try to stop your car continue trying to stop your car despite you not telling them to do so.

 

[doctorgonzo]

I bombed the diagonal width of the state of Missouri. From St Louis to roughly the western border of Oklahoma pastJoplin at an 82 mph average in a Red IMA-less '03 manual. Good times!

 

[hurricos]

It's what happens when you don't think about spelling and are trying to communicate that the things that try to stop your car continue trying to stop your car despite you not telling them to do so.

I hate when that happens.

 

[stevevetter]

Just that going pretty much everybody else's comments. Idler pulley is the one thing that I would think could possibly sideline you. I haven't done it all at once but I regularly bomb around Chicago in 45 mile stints where my speed is mostly over 90 mph with dramatic changes depending on traffic, in my CVT with no assist anymore, and yeah it's pretty much bulletproof.

You're reminding me of when I bought my '89 CRX Si from a guy in Portland. He described everything accurately, I met him at the airport, and immediately got in and drove all the way straight through the Chicago and one shot at mostly 90 miles an hour the whole way without ever giving you the second thought. I was a pretty good and crazy run; in January and I kind of hit a white out going over the plateaus in Wyoming ... fun.

 

[sasmyth]

I do not recommend that kind of sustained high speed driving for many reasons, but given that you state it as a given, the biggest thing to watch out for is sustained high temperatures out of design spec.

Heat stresses are the main thing to watch out for, from tires (esp. if under-inflated or failing internally or challenging road surfaces) to cooling system (most components mentioned here) to external belt/bearings (also mentioned already. The one thing I don't see referenced is my own personal bugaboo - timing belts.

I have driven a huge number of miles in my life (way too many for many reasons) and do keep up with my preventative timing belt replacements but have had two experiences with a premature timing belt failure that I can blame on sustained high-stress driving (speed and/or load under high temp conditions). In both cases, the engine/coolant temperature stayed in range but the actual block/bearing/belt temp was probably rather elevated.

Even if the coolant temp doesn't rise significantly above operating temp, the bearings, lubricant and timing belt are likely running modestly hotter for an extended period of time than they normally do. Monitoring coolant temperature carefully (phone app/aftermarket guage?) could help, making sure you back off if it rises above some small delta above thermostat temp, are good preventative measures. Even better might be to add an oil-cooler or at least an oil temp guage. I doubt anyone makes a "finned" oilpan that fits an Insight and I can't think of a clever retro-fit off-hand.

 

[*sean*]

there shouldn't be any difference from driving 65MPH vs 90MPH

[EDIT] changing my response because I'm not sure how I forgot about that loss of control accident so many years ago. that pales to anything that could go mechanically wrong [/EDIT]

 

[Balto]

If you have not been taking care of your cooling system (test: do you know the level of the coolant in your cooling tank without going out and looking at it?) then you may have air in the head which may be one of the recipes for a snapped camshaft.

I didn't realize that coolant temps could affect a metallurgy problem. Interesting!

 

[*sean*]

I didn't realize that coolant temps could affect a metallurgy problem. Interesting!

We have no direct evidence of it without testing, but after reviewing camshaft snap stories a few years back I noticed there was speculation that it was oil starvation. But some photos showed clean engines which suggested that if this were a cause, it might not be the only one.

We asked @CherryBomb what her coolant tank looked like when she started her engine swap for a snapped cam, and I think she reported that it was dry. It has been reported that the temp gauge is insensitive to elevated temps. And when a car needs burping, the air trapped is at the highest point, in the head.

So could locally elevated temps in the head occur from an unnoticed slow coolant leak? And can that lead to bearing failure, seizing and a snapped camshaft? We won't know without testing.

But since I don't want to find out, and with what may be circumstantial evidence, I decided to mark the high and low temperature coolant points on a piece of tape stuck to the reservoir, and have a sticker in the fuel filler area reminding me to check the level at every fill-up. Because at 200K miles, a leak could spring up any time, something we also read about here. I check my oil level too.

 

[Willie Williford]

Checking ALL fluids every week is suggested on ALL vehicles.
In the OLD DAYS, when you got gas, you checked everything under the hood at the same time. IRW

I wouldn't worry about the timing belt, the G1 is chain driven.