New to site, could use some help/tips

[maherj00]

Thanks.

I do run recirc just about all of the time. I don't typically have to brake on downhill sections, they're just about the perfect decline to maintain speed or accelerate slightly which brings me to the speed limit since I typically travel about 5 below.

Is there anywhere to get an 02 sensor that will work for this lean burn car but not cost me an arm and a leg? I've read in a couple of posts that typical ones from local parts stores don't work on this vehicle... any thoughts?

Thanks again. Being new to hypermileing makes it tough to know what to do and what not to do. I've been doing general maintenance for years (oil, brakes, plugs/wires, antifreeze), but nothing like 02 sensors or adding scangauges or anything like that... and only recently began changing my driving habits to not drive agressively anymore. I can attribute my change in attitude to my sattelite radio... I drive 50+ miles each way to work, through a couple of different radio station zones and I used to get really annoyed when having to switch a station twice for each trip... now, I find my favorite sattelite station and I kick back, relax at 5-10 under the posted 65mph limit and enjoy my ride...

I've rambled enough for this post. Thanks again for your replies.

Jim

[R.I.D.E.]

Not advising you against any preventative maintenance, but maybe it would be better to buy the sensor and check other things first. I would not replace an electric cooling fan because I thought it was drawing more current. I think they are fused for 20-30 amps so they will draw more current.

You could also straighten the fins in the radiator, but if its the original that would be one thing I would no hesitate to replace.

If the plugs , or wires were mistfiring you would get a check engine light. Pull one and check the gap. If it close to specs they are probably fine for now.

Spend you money wisely, I worked on them for 30 years and people always appreciated me not replacing a binch of stuff that did not resolve their reason for coming to my shop.

Many came back for decades, some even gave me their tired old worn out cars becasue they did not want to sell whats left to someone else when it finally became too excpensive to justify pouring cash into their baby.

regards
gary

[maherj00]

THanks Gary.

I figure with almost 180K on the motor and no record of any previous maintenance, I'd do the easy stuff. Plugs, wires, dist cap and rotor are easy stuff... and fairly cheap. The fan to me is a big issue only because of the amount of power it consumes when it cycles, and becaust of the bent fins, it cycles about every 45 seconds for 45 seconds. I have found a replacement fan and radiator for about $100, which again is fairly cheap... it's not genuine honda, but for these parts, I don't think it has to be. I'd like to get this car back to where it can start doing lean burn again and get me into the mid 40s for gas mileage. I looked really closely at the radiator and I don't think I can straighten them without causing more damage.... but again, for $100, it's not that expensive to fix.

Once I do the general maintenance and put a new muffler on the thing, (~$350 total), I'm hoping that the mileage will be back into the 40s.

If you have any additional thoughts, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks again.
Jim

[SLPilot]

Hi Jim,
I'm pretty new to hypermiling, and don't know much about auto mechanics, but a thought occured to me. It may be the case that there is nothing wrong with your car. (That is hurting your fuel economy.) You said that you have a hilly route to travel; that may be the only reason you are not in the 40's. I'm in a similar situation myself; I can not even come close to the numbers that some are achieving, although I have bettered the EPA by a very small margin. My route is not very hilly though.

You could test this by driving a very flat route to see what your car is capable of and compare with your regular route. The highest fe I've recorded is from when I filled the car after my wife took it on a road-trip. Argh!

Colin

[maherj00]

Thanks Colin. I do agree that the hills play some part in my FE lows, but the majority of my 110 mile round trip to work is flat. Running that same trip in both of my other vehicles, I've been able to achieve the sticker highway mileage rating. This car is rated at (I believe 44 highway) and I'm only getting 36. To me, there's 2 things wrong... first is the radiator/fan which comes on every 45 seconds for 45 seconds. It draws a whole lot of power... more than it should having owned 2 96 civics and 2 99 civics prior to this one... and it comes on because the radiator is all but destroyed (will be replaced in the next 4 weeks). The second, I can't prove yet... which is that I believe that this car isn't running as lean as it is designed to run. It'll probably be a little while before I get a scangauge to verify my A/F ratio, but once I do that, it should tell me if the car is running as lean as it's designed to run. If I'm right and it isn't running lean, then there's a few other issues I'll have to address at that point.

Also, it seems that as the weather gets warmer, the mileage is creaping up a bit. I haven't officially verified yet, but my current tank seems to be on target to hit 38mpg.

Only time will tell.

Thanks again,
Jim

Oh, and once the radiator and fan are replaced I'll let you know what my mileage is... (cause I'm really hoping that you're not right and that there really is something wrong with the car) :-)

[maherj00]

OK... it's been a while since I've posted. Apparently, although my radiator is virtually flat, it wasn't my fan coming on every 45 seconds (Colin, I think you were right after all). Apparently, the car was trying to go into lean burn and I was fighting it. Since I work sort of off hours, I started just letting it go into lean burn and then trying to maintain it for as long as possible... It's really tough to maintain speeds of greater than 55 in lean burn, but I don't know if it's cause of the age of the car or if that's just the way lean burn is. Anyway, after allowing the car to maintain lean burn for several weeks, I've been averaging about 41mgp with 38 being the lowest and 44 being the highest. I don't think that's too bad, considering I was having trouble maintaining 36mpg before.

Does anyone have any thoughts on maintaining speed in lean burn? Should it be possible to mainain 60 - 65mph? or should I just deal with the 55mph max.

Thanks all,
Jim

[Chuck]

Jim, 65mph is the fastest my Insight will lean burn in the summer with no load....on you're Civic there will be a similar speed where lean burn will cut off