Pothole

The reason of this post is nice software for BlackVue (and other cams) - Registrator Viewer.
Caught 100% hit on dashcam into pothole near Shefayim.

You can nicely see all sensors on charts. Notice G sensor at 3.14 peak (pi sign) :-)
Peaks on the left of the charts are regular speed bumps near railroad intersection (see on map on right).

You can see at the end of the video.

39,400 km | 2Y 6M

Insurance 2016

Recently I renewed my insurance policy:
- mandatory 1,358 NIS ($352)
- extended 3,137 NIS ($814)
 Total 4,495 NIS.

Policy from Phenix "Careful driver" (via insurance agent).

Update (2015-12-21)
Insurance policy offer from Honda (Hebrew only).
Overpriced and less attractive by terms if you compare with mine.

38,600 km | 2Y 6M

Honda 1.0L and 1.5L Turbo Engines

Original article is here http://paultan.org/2015/11/07/driven-honda-1-0-and-1-5-litre-vtec-turbo-first-impressions-via-a-euro-civic-hatch-and-jade-rs-mpv/

Brief summary of new turbo engines that will be on next Civics starting from 2017 model year.

Powertrain lineup slide

1.0 Litre

- 3 cylinders
- 127 hp / 95 kW @ ~6,000 rpm
- 200 Nm
- 0-100 km/h 9.5 sec
- compreassion ratio 10.0:1
- dual vtc + vtec
- turbocharger with electric waste gate valve

1.5 litre

- 201 hp / 150 kW @ 5,500 rpm
- 260 Nm @ 1,600-5,000 rpm
- compression ration 10.6:1
- dual vtc + vtec (for Europe and Japan, but not USA)
- turbocharger with electric waste gate valve

37,050 km | 2Y 5M

First ATF change

ATF is Automatic Transmission Fluid.

I decided to change ATF every 30kkm. This time I did it a bit later, but that's not critical.
I bought for this procedure following stuff:

1. 6 bottles of Honda's ATF. Each for 60 NIS ($16). Why 6? In our Civic partial replacement requires 2.4L. I did 2 changes.
2. IKEA small tub - 20 NIS ($6)
3. Special long funnel - 16 NIS ($5)
4. KASKO adapter 1/2"F xp 0 3/8"M - 20 NIS ($6).

The plug has 3/8" female square hole, that's why mine adapter or 3/8" wrench will do the job.

Here is fun part: until I got correct adapter, I lifted car front wheels on 2 stands 2 times with no luck opening a plug! On 3rd time it finally fit :-) Lifting means preparing all tools around, jacking up one side, then another... The only time-frame I had for this job was late nights when everyone went sleep.

At 1st try I broke cheap adapter. Who knew that it will require 60+ Nm torq?

2nd try I bought Signet 10mm square socket. I was wrong, 10mm is greater than 9.525mm (3/8").

Left to right: correct 3/8" Kasko, wrong Signet 10mm.

Let's continue...

The funnel.

Honda's AFT-DW1.

The procedure of partially "flushing" fluid is simple but you have to be very careful. Why it's partial, because about the half you have in torque converter and without special tools you can't drain it fully.
1. You drain all what drains via a plug.
2. You measure very precisely how much drained.
3. You top exactly same amount of new ATF via dipstick hole (with closed plug of course).
4. Turn on the engine and let it work for a while, select Drive, Reverse, Neutral few times and let it spin wheels (mine was on stands). Check ATF level.
5. Done.
6. (optional) repeat if you have extra ATF for same operation.

Old fluid still has pink color, may be less transparent than new one, without burned smell.
Magnetic plug had small buildup, I think that's normal friction residue.

Unscrew torq spec was 61.6 Nm.
I hadn't new washer, swapped sides. Will replace next time. Outer diameter is 26mm, inner 18mm.

How you should check ATF level?
When you finish reading, tell me how many technicians you know in official Honda garages that check level "after waiting for about 60 seconds" but less than 90 :-D

BONUS
I leave here the answer from Hiram Gutierrez (you should see him at work on YouTube channel) for my question

"There are talks, that it's cheaper to replace brake pads (and disks) than repair/rebuild transmission. That's true. But, if used properly, does down shifting gears in Honda's torque converter transmittions increases overall wear, friction material or anything else, how safe it is? I call "proper use" ­ do not downgrade if it will spin up revs too high. Example, if I drive in 3rd gear at 55 km/h and down shift to 2nd gear, engine will spin up from 2000 to about 3000 revs. When revs difference is not high (1000­1500) I usually not feel any "kicks" of the car and thus no hard load applied."

he answered

"Just service the unit at least once a year and you'll be okay. Use Honda genuine fluid or Lubegard transmission fluid. The way you're planning to drive the car is okay. Honda transmission fail because of the way it's designed and the filter can't be replaced as a regular service, so by keeping it clean with frequent fluid changes it will last a long time."

I'm not sure I will do that every year, but every 30kkm for sure.

Another bonus

36,800 km | 2Y 5M

Strange rattling noise

This sound drives me crazy. I got it for more than 2 month (I think).

It almost every time appears while I'm climbing to roof parking at 20 km/h. Lately I found it even while driving city smooth roads at speed ~30 km/h. 

Today I took sound recorder and attached it under the hood.

You can hear it very clear at:
0:31
0:59
1:16
1:37

If you have ideas what it its, let me know.

I thought it can be transmission or steering rail... Now I think it can also be some hose.
At Skoda Fabia I got similar case :-) check it out http://skoda-fabia-israel.blogspot.co.il/2011/11/rattling-noise-is-back.html.

36,500 km | 2Y 4M

Automatic Transmission Fluid Change

This is guest post.
I helped my friend to change AT fluid on his Honda Civic Mk8 Sedan. But procedure is the same for mine Mk9 Civic and more important - filter check.

It was Saturday morning when we started on my parking lot.

Input:
- Honda Civic Mk8 Sedan
- manufactured in 2006 (I think in Japan)
- odometer 95Kkm
- ATF was never changed
- mostly urban traffic
- no special complains on powertrain
- in current condition it still outperforms new Civic Mk9 Hatch (they bought recently second car to the family, so he can really compare them).

Complains:
- just little yanking when changing 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears when accelerating
- little yank when dropping foot from gas pedal
- shifting from neutral to drive or reverse has little kick

We lifter his car and drained about 3 liters of durty black ATF (with pulling out dipstick).

Plug has average deposit of friction material, no metal particles.

After that we replaced filter. You will need to remove air filter housing to gain access to it. It was very hard to disconnect the filter from rubber hoses, they probably burned for 9 years to much on them but we did it with small flat screwdriver - pushing it gently into hose.

Positions: filter (#4), hoses (#2), bracket (#5)

For easy of operation remove also filter bracket when you started with it.

Filter part number is 25430-PLR-003 and I got it from Russia for ~$25 (100 NIS).

We had fun (as usual) in Honda garage in Netanya when we went to buy bottles AT Fluid ATF DW1. When we asked about the filter, they said that there is no filter on Hondas but when we showed where it located and how looks the man said 1000 NIS. Wait, what 1000? You don't want to check how much it cost exactly by part number we provided? Because 1000 NIS looks very fucking suspicious and too rounded for your profit :-) He said he hasn't filters in Honda Israel and they never replace them on maintenance. Awesome :-)

So we swapped hoses to new filter. But didn't connected AT fluid out to the filter.
We put there 2 meter long hose for continuous AFT change.

It's important to keep track how much you drained and exactly same amount you need to add via dipstick hole and funnel back to AT unit.
So we added 3 liters of fresh ATF and started engine for a while until we drained again 2 liters of ATF into the bottle. Then we topped again exact amount and repeated until we ran out of fresh ATF. That is the best way to change ATF - you dilute old one with fresh fluid as much as possible because you can't drained out all, a lot of the ATF remains inside torque converter and the only way is to circulate ATF starting the engine.

Left to right: blackest, black, lighter and finally almost purple as clean ATF

 

8 liters of fresh AFT was added.
Almost, because we have ATF DW1 from Europe in 1L bottles and 2 USA bottles of 1QT (946ML).
Important: it's illegal to throw to trash used ATF or motor oil or any other not environment friendly fluids. But you can drop it almost at any garage, they should accept it with no problem.

Now we installed filter, fitted all hoses and... that's it.
We did few checks that ATF level is okay, put car back on wheels and went for test drive.

Owner was happy :-) No yanking at all, shifting was smooth as new.

Now, I took filter for inspection and yesterday I opened it with my Dremel.
Fluid flow as I understand from right to left (as on below picture).

It has tiny valve.
Note that this brown thing is not sludge, that's the glue that holding filtering paper in place, same on other side.

When I took out the paper, I saw tiny metal grains.
Probably that's okay for 9Y old car with almost 100K mileage... correct me if I'm wrong.

Metal grains are on outer side of the paper. And that's I don't understand. Because if ATF come via valve, it passed from inner paper side to outer. So how metal could be on outer side? Like ATF comes from outer, but it will not pass the valve.... strange. Or maybe valve spring opens (like thermostat) and create the flow?
UPDATE: Ok, got comments from owner. Fluid circulates without the valve, so that's explains metal parts outside. That is bypass valve, it opens when paper is limiting flow and all ATF will go unfiltered. Imagine that these metal grains will circulate in your transmission...

Another note from Civic's owner.
It's better to replace rubber hoses. If you can't find originals, use any suitable that meets SAE J1532 standard. Hose part number is 25211-RPC-003 (Hose ATF 150mm) costs ~$10 each.

Thank you for reading.
If you have comment on filter condition, leave them below. I have no reference how it should be: dirty, metal grains, etc. That would be helpful.

I will replace ATF on my Civic at 45K, now I got only 36K at odometer.

More reading:
Guy with first filter change at 135,000 miles on Accord but every 20,000 miles ATF change. He opened the filter too, but photos too small to tell what's there.

Cylinder Crank Speed case

I was working on friend's Civic while ago.
We cleaned EGR and throttle body. And when I looked over PGM FI params I noticed something...

But first, let me show you a little theory of operation.
On new Civics we have CYL Crank Speed for all cylinders. Cut from HDS help.

==============================================================

This parameter shows engine speed change by combustion pressure torque of No.X cylinder.
This is used for misfire detection.

Calculation method:

1. FI ECU will calculate average engine speed (i.e.NE in fig.) and engine speed change (i.e. Δω in fig.) from measured crank plus.
   NOTE: Δω (rad/s) = 2 * 3.14 * ΔNE(rpm) / 60
2. FI ECU will select δω at the crank position when combustion torque will accelerate the rotation. (i.e. Δω_n in fig.)
3. FI ECU will calculate engine speed change about combustion torque from Δω_n. This value will be output from FI ECU to HDS.

Fig:Example of engine speed change at 2000rpm

Engine speed will be increased at combustion because combustion torque to accelerate crank rotation will be happened.Then, this parameter will be positive value if there is no issue in the vehicle.

• Acceleration by combustion toque is weak when this parameter closes to 0.
• Acceleration by combustion toque is strong when this parameter becomes large. Especially, this parameter will show large value when cranking, idling (i.e. low engine speed and unstable engine state) etc.

On the other hand, when misfire is happened, engine speed of the cylinder is lower than average because of no combustion torque. Then, this parameter will be negative value, and show -8 rad/s or near.

NOTE: minimum value of this parameter is -8 rad/s, so this parameter may continue to show -8 rad/s when misfire is happened.

How to use this parameter:

1. Please check this value whether positive or negative. If it is negative value, misfire is happened in the cylinder.
2. Please compare the value with other cylinders. If this value is pretty smaller than other cylinder's one, abnormal combustion is happened in the cylinder. Then, please diagnose possible failures of misfire.
   For example: poor injection flow, poor valve clearance, poor air flow etc
3. Please compare the value with other cylinders. If this value is pretty larger than other cylinder's one, combustion pressure is shortage.
   For example: compression leak etc

==============================================================

I think that's pretty cool! We can monitor combustion in each cylinders.

Now, look here and tell me if you see something abnormal...

Can you see what I see? :-)

Ok. Check the 2nd cylinder. It contributes less than others, it's purple line below all cyls.

I think that strange. Especially, when I looked into my car.

This is how I expected it to be - all contributes the same force (combustion torq). It looks even like DNA shit. No anomalies. One thing of course is different is that my reading was done with air cond on, so you see how RPM drops on ac clutch engagement and then restores.

I will upload later same readings without AC, but trust me, it will be the same but with lower speed, about 40 rad/s.

So what we did to investigate.

We did nothing that date, we ran out of time. But later we went for valve adjustment to our common mechanic. Before that, he inspected spark plugs - they were fine, no difference between cyls.

Random pic from Internet

When he adjusted the valves, 2nd cylinder indeed was worth. We were happy.

But when we hooked up HDS...

It wasn't DNA like we wanted...

2nd still below, but now 1st goes to top.

Things got worth when we swapped coil and spark plugs with 4th cylinder.

What??? Now 3rd???

This last reading was done on not fully warmed engine (RPM ~760). But that's very strange.

I have few things in mind:

1. I wasn't there while they did valve adjustment, but he is pro and do a lot of Hondas on daily basis.

2. Maybe adjustment wasn't perfect as we see patterns changed.

3. But I can't explain why cyl#3 came with new behaviour after we didn't touched it (swapped 2 and 4).

If you have ideas - shoot.

36,400 km | 2Y 4M

EGR Valve Diagnostics

To check if EGR is working bad (not how bad it working), you can follow this procedure.

Using HDS, go to PGM FI module and then to Snapshot.
There you should select high speed mode and select following params to record.
- Engine Speed
- VSS
- ECT Sensor
- Map Sensor
- TP Sensor
- EGR L Command
- EGR LIFT

Procedure:
With the engine completely warmed up, have an assistant drive the vehicle while you operate the
HDS. Drive the vehicle between 65 and 90 km/h on a smooth road. Apply light throttle with the
transmission in 5th gear (between 1,500 and 2,000 rpm). If hesitation is felt, select the Snapshot Manual Trigger button.

After snapshot sample is saved, you can review in garage.
Plot line graph on EGR L Command and EGR LIFT.

And this is a good EGR response.

This is BAD or EGR clogging response.

From: Honda Service Bulletin 05-026.

36,400 km | 2Y 4M

Mobil 1 0W-40

As I got opportunity and access to fresh Mobil 1 oils for 50 NIS ($14) per 1 galon (0.946 L), I decided to try it.

This is first one 0W-40.

35,700 km | 2Y 4M

EGR Valve Cleaning

EGR stands for Exhaust Gas Recirculation.

In internal combustion engines, exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is a nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions reduction technique used in petrol/gasoline and diesel engines. EGR works by recirculating a portion of an engine's exhaust gas back to the engine cylinders. This dilutes the O2 in the incoming air stream and provides gases inert to combustion to act as absorbents of combustion heat to reduce peak in-cylinder temperatures. NOx is produced in a narrow band of high cylinder temperatures and pressures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhaust_gas_recirculation

So why do you need to clean it?
Unless you have DCT code with specific EGR problem (stuck open, stuck closed, insufficient lift, etc) it can also be a cause for car shaking and strange power loss at around 1200-1300 RPM.

I didn't have any issues with my car it's just DIY maintenance and reference point. All you need is Carb cleaner, rags, tool set, 2 wires (for extra cleaning) and free time. All procedure can take 15-30 minutes.

It's typical look at Honda below (I forgot to take pictures).

Actually we did 2 EGRs today: mine and my friend's. I'll start with mine.
So, that's what I got for 35Kkm of using my Civic.

I call this nothing to clean :-)
Really, there is almost nothing to clean. I saw EGR from 8 years old car - that total black thing. Here we can see little "beard".
Conclusions from pictures:
1. If engine is you can clean/check it first time at 45 or 60 kkm. If engine drink oil, you will see it here too.
2. Engine is healthy. Meets with tail pipe test I did before.

Gasket was left on engine. Gasket is fine, no damage. Pull EGR out gently and better on cold engine.
Btw, torq spec for unscrewing was 43.1 Nm. Honda's torq spec for nuts is 22 Nm.

On engine side it was also clean, I didn't spray there.

Now, to fully clean the valve, you need to open it. That's easy to do with 2 small crocodile jumpers because this thing requires 12V to full open.

This is a connector housing. I saw different connector on internet in 2 rows but that's almost the same.

Take look here - 5 wires. It may be hard to see but 1st and 5th (from left) are thicker - these are feed wires. 3 in the middle is feedback for ECU how valve behaves (inside is sort of slider on potentiometer). ECU applies 0 to 12V to feed wires to control valve lift.
It's not important which is positive and where is negative in DC circuit but I took test light, attached it to battery positive and touched 1st black wire - and we saw light, so black is negative and blue with red tracer is positive.

This is what happens when you connect it to battery.

So we opened it and splashed a little carb cleaner and also cleaned with rags.

That's it. Put it back, screw nuts with about the same torq spec. No adaptation needed.

Now, same EGR on same Honda Civic but with 45kkm driven (manual transmission - not so important).

Valve came out without a gasket and gasket had light damage

It wasn't necessary to replace the gasket but as I had 2 spare we just changed it.
Cost me about $6, part number is 18715-PB2-000.

Engine look under a gasket.

Also, useful video about what inside EGR (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHdcH26j9NY)

Next post will be throttle body cleaning. I did it long time before and it's very interesting story again including Honda "professionals".

35,300 km | 2Y 4M