[*sean*]

Paintwork could be better.

That's called "patina" and it is highly valued!

On the plus side, I removed the nasty lambswool seat cover from the driver’s seat. Imagine my delight when I found the seat to be virtually prIstine underneath.

That's also awesome! I had one off those awful things too (it was on clearance, of course.)

I replaced them with these: Amazon.com: P&J AUTO Leather and Mesh High Back Car Seat Cover Front Pair Integrated Bucket Seat Airbag Compatible (Red) : Automotive
but only had them on a few days before I ran the"how high can the RPM go" experiment aka prep the car for EV-only operation aka money shift.

I really liked the color mesh center panel. They don't sell them in blue but if you contacted the seller.... There may be others in that style with a blue center.

 

[tervic]

@*sean* ,

Those seat covers look interesting.. how well did they fit? How was the installation? Do you have any pics of them installed?

 

[*sean*]

@*sean* ,

Those seat covers look interesting.. how well did they fit? How was the installation? Do you have any pics of them installed?

I spent a good amount of time with the installation, removing the seats, removing the plastic trim, tucking it in... cinched the back together. Unfortunately I can't tell you how well they wear since I killed the car right after I installed them, but I do have a second set to install, and the car will eventually live again.

I wrote the seller to see if they had other colors. He mentioned blue, but I did not see that color when I checked the site. If a few people try these and like them (they are INEXPENSIVE so you get what you pay for) maybe we can ask him if his suppliers can do a run with another color mesh? I have some samples of mesh so it should be possible to communicate something reasonably close.

I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow when the sun is out. If I haven't done it by tomorrow afternoon, feel free to remind me (PM).

 

[Vivila]

I began searching for the source of water ingress into the hatch and seatbelts to find the expected bodge from the windshield replacement company a few years ago.

Looks like they didn't source the proper plastic clips (like I did) and gooped up all the mounts with silicone and pressed the molding back down as you can see the imprints of the slots. About half of the metal tabs had the moldings plastic tooth broken off in them, mainly the rear. I don't know if I did that because it was difficult to reach behind all the goop or if they did that.

I will attempt to epoxy what I can back together but they are very brittle things. Not sure how accurate this is but I think it will hold adequately with the replaced plastic clips and half the metal tabs gripping. Thoughts?

 

[Vivila]

I also had a good look at the small panel behind the window one. I cleaned the gunk out and it looks good still, no obvious cracks in the sealant. Could the rear passenger hatch leak be coming from the seatbelt drippy tab pictured above? I usually park on an incline but might have noticed the drips inside while on level ground before.

 

[*sean*]

I began searching for the source of water ingress into the hatch and seatbelts to find the expected bodge from the windshield replacement company a few years ago.
View attachment 100892
Looks like they didn't source the proper plastic clips (like I did) and gooped up all the mounts with silicone and pressed the molding back down as you can see the imprints of the slots. About half of the metal tabs had the moldings plastic tooth broken off in them, mainly the rear. I don't know if I did that because it was difficult to reach behind all the goop or if they did that.

I will attempt to epoxy what I can back together but they are very brittle things. Not sure how accurate this is but I think it will hold adequately with the replaced plastic clips and half the metal tabs gripping. Thoughts?

To the left of the view shown in the picture is the plastic piece covering the rest of that channel. Under there, the roof and side meet and caulking is present. That's a place where a crack develops and water gets in. Silicon sealant may eventually just peel, just like the installer's bodge was probably too hard to separate from the molding (one of my cars had the same bodge and that goop separated easily from the molding). You're lucky it did not separate on the road and fly off. Try Honda Bond for the sealant in that channel in the back - we're still trying to find a good solution for this, but Honda Bond HT is where things are leaning.

You will need the proper clips where that goop is. And to fix the broken tabs on the molding, I basically fabricated new pieces with Duplo blocks (I am pretty sure it is the same type of plastic, but YMMV) and used plastic welding techniques to attach them. What makes plastic welding work is if you melt both parts to be joined with extra material, and mix/swirl the molten plastic around in place, so that both sides flow together and become one continuous piece of plastic. If you just melt one side and stick it on the other, the bond will only be at the surface and will break easily or over many vibrations. Problem is, doing it takes time and practice, as you can probably tell from the description, and it produces dangerous fumes for lungs and eyes, and the molten plastic can burn you. As a design, it pretty much sucks as far as serviceability goes.

Epoxy, making only a surface contact, may eventually fail from millions of tiny vibrations, but I have not tried it, and someone else might report good luck with a particular kind of epoxy. My fear is that it will seem to be stick and strong at first, like that black goop, but eventually the bond will weaken, like that black goop.

 

[Vivila]

I did remove the small panel and it looked fine after a cleaning, no eye catching cracks. I'm just wondering about the hatch leak possibly coming from elsewhere? Hondabond would be a good sealant to use; got it. And I do have new clips as stated above.

 

[SecondSight]

I'm shamelessly copying this idea for the thread from another car forum.

Reading this thread may help other members (new or old) remember to do some simple but forgotten maintenance, or inspire them to accomplish that long desired mod, or simply learn something new about their Insight.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

- Changed oil with Peak full synthetic oil.

- Changed cabin filter. It's helpful to clean leaf and other debris from the filter box with vacuum or air pressure.

- Replaced spark plugs. OF COURSE I had "A" plugs in there instead of the required "B" plugs. (Don't forget to use anti-seize compound on the new plug threads.)

Almost like new- Had it only about a month 2005 MT with about 35k miles, so it really needs very little. Put in new headlight bulbs. All I need is an excuse to enjoy it more! Summer on Vancouver Island will be great with a trip to Alberta.

 

[*sean*]

Toying with ways to display things like lean burn, batt info, etc. Only problem is time and needing to rotate the display 45 degrees to keep the panel's polarizer from messing with the colors.

 

[mudder]

Toying with ways to display things like lean burn, batt info, etc. Only problem is time and needing to rotate the display 45 degrees to keep the panel's polarizer from messing with the colors.

Solving this problem reminds me of the image rotation algorithm I wrote in my first programming class in college.

How difficult is it to install a screen in that location?
Pretty sweet! Certainly more useful than an up arrow that I never follow and a down arrow that almost never illuminates.

 

[julianachos]

Managed to get 701 miles on a tank before filling up with mixed driving. I was pretty stoked about that.

 

[Gasoline Fumes]

Towed it home after it left me stranded! I'll probably make a new thread about it later.

 

[Joule]

Do tell.

 

[Gasoline Fumes]

Do tell.

Me? Flickering CEL. Then wouldn't start. No fuel pump sound. Random DTCs when it finally did start. I'll make a new thread when I fix it, but I think it was the G101 ground on the cylinder head. Wires broke in my fingers when I touched them!

 

[hirtag68]

Today I had the chance to take the car out on the road for another test. Since I had cleaned the ERG etc and replaced all gadgets the car now pulls very well and to be honest I was quite surprised how quick it was! Its cold here in Scotland and so I had the heater on to heat the car and keep the screen clear. All was good and then it went stone cold! tried turning it up but nothing. Temp gauge on the car went up and my Scangauge 2 stated 124 degrees C. I turned home and put it into the workshop. The radiator fan was on but still no heat from the heater. I felt the heater hoses and they didn't appear to be very hot or even warm except from the general heat from the back of the engine. So what is the temp of the engine supposed to be? Does the digital gauge go up and down a bit on your car and no heat from the heater is it an air lock?

 

[minor4326]

Sounds like an air block. I'd try burping the system with the front of the car raised several feet if possible. Search for burping or other words as there is a great video that gets passed around.
The temperature gauge is not very accurate when the water gets higher than about 100C. The gauge stays about operating temperature until it gets dangerously hot.

 

[Joule]

Heater going cold is a bad sign and one step away from a potential overheat. Burp asap.

 

[mudder]

124 degC is much too hot. You've got something wrong with your cooling system:
-leaking radiator
-air in system
-broken water pump
-broken thermostat
-broken hose
-etc

 

[*sean*]

Not an "air lock", rather, probably you have a leak and air is in the cooling system. Consider starting a new thread and solicit help for walking through this. Do not drive it until you successfully complete the burp procedure.

How much coolant is in the coolant reservoir? By the way, you CANNOT eliminate the air simply by putting coolant in through the radiator cap or the coolant reservoir tank. You must perform the burp procedure properly. If done improperly, you will still have air in the system. Afterward, you need to check for leaks. A good way to check the leak rate is keep your eye on the coolant reservoir and note the levels when hot and after a cold soak. The relative high and low levels should not change noticeably from cycle to cycle, only gradually over a very long term. All of this will eventually explained best if you start a new thread on this. Good luck!!!!!

 

[*sean*]

Solving this problem reminds me of the image rotation algorithm I wrote in my first programming class in college.

How difficult is it to install a screen in that location?
Pretty sweet! Certainly more useful than an up arrow that I never follow and a down arrow that almost never illuminates.

In addition to removing UP/DOWN or PRNDL via sanding and headlight polishing techniques, you need to remove the small mask that's behind the LCD and attached to the housing that holds the backlight lamps, and shave off up to 1/4" of plastic to provide clearance and support to the TFT panel. I am using one of the cheap round TFTs found in eBay or Amazon.

The interface is SPI but MISO is not used IIRC. There is however a Data/Command line as well as chip select of course, and a panel reset line, and finally PWM. So, that's quite a few lines. I'm using an AVR128DA28 for the interface and RS-485, probably to a Pi via a USB RS-485 adapter (cheap and ubiquitous).

I have another cluster on order that I will modify so I don't feel so bad about cutting into mine. I will be putting my cluster's electronics back in the car to keep the odometer value intact.