I started driving Deucekid#1 to school in the insight this morning. 35 miles round trip so I save $3 or so in gas over using the truck.
This was the first drive in the dark, headlights work good, but it was moist/foggy and the wipers were abysmal and the washers didn't work. It was bad enough that I had to stop and wash the windshield off at a gas station. So, new wipers!
I also fiddled with the washers for a while, reservoir was full, of water, and the nozzles were clogged. I soaked the nozzles in vinegar for a bit while I pumped the water out on the ground. Pump works great. Removed the nozzles and got them mostly working most of the time. I'll be using the washers daily until I get that system relisble. Also noticed that the washer hose has a very special curl in it so it doesn't get pinched. Mine isn't curling so well, so I have to hold it to keep it from getting kinked when I close the hood.
And lastly, walking in from the mailbox I saw this. I do love all kinds of cars.
Anyway, it seems to work so far. I drove deucekid#1 to the dentist and then to the driver's license office to get her permit (she passed, yay!) and then back home, around 60 miles, and no CEL. Driving is pretty drama free aside from the synchro issues and those are more of an issue of remembering how and when to shift. If you do it right it's no problem.
There are several reports of fixing EGR related surging by soaking the whole valve in lacquer thinner for a couple of hours. I'm not usually a fan of these witchcraft type fixes, but every other fix for the valve risks destroying it, so worth a try. While that's soaking we move onto problem area #2, the EGR plate. This little guy is sandwiched between the block and the intake manifold and has enough passages to confuse the Minator. Word is they get clogged. I pulled the metal gasket and the plate off together and things looked bad.Pulling the gasket carefully away revealed the passages to cylinders #1 and #3 completely blocked and the #2 passage mostly blocked. Bit of work with a pick and some solvent and things were pretty again.
Assembly is the reverse of disassembly, three bolts, four nuts, a couple hoses and one electrical connector. A quick drive around the block and we have no misses, no hesitation, and for now, no codes. Crossing my fingers that things are solved for now.
Still can't quite get used to the valve train noise (though it sounds about like the Civic did) so I think I'm going to do one more check of the valve clearances tomorrow and then just drive it for a bit.
The drive over was interesting. The insight has a tiny engine and an electric motor that makes up for that in times of need. Driving the car is about managing energy flow. When you want to accelerate it gives, when you're braking or driving along at a speed where you have a bit of engine power left over, it takes back. They system is clever and works pretty well, but it does have drawbacks. I don't know how much energy it takes to punch an Insight sized hole through the air at 75mph, but it's not much less than the engine currently puts out in 5th at that speed. Hills are a bit of an issue, but for every up you have a down, so it mostly works. Where you run into problems is with a headwind. About halfway to Austin we drove into a cold front and 15-25mph winds. In order to travel 75mph ground speed we now had to drive through 90-100mph air speed. There simply isn't enough gas motor to do that. You can borrow from the electric motor, but not for very long. We ended up slowing to 62-63 to keep from running out of battery. Traffic was light so it wasn't a huge issue, it just took longer to get there, but I can see where this sort of thing could be a serious issue on a long cross country trip. You don't just get in and drive this car, you learn to drive it.
