VX is purchased
 

drove home on half-inflated tires today with the new VX. It handled great on the freeway... acceleration is non-existant, but what do I expect from that engine/transmission?

So, here are my observations.

the ride is nice. Alignment is off, so that needs to be fixed. Interior is clean with a few exceptions... all fixable/ignorable.

back hatch squeeks when I hit a bump.

shocks on the hatch need replacing

o2 sensor needs replacing.

clutch cylinders need a looking over.

the front calipers scrape the rotors. That's gotta kill gas mileage.

Parking break is lose. I can barely engage it. need to adjust that.

I need a haircut, as my hair is touching the roof.

You would be surprised. My fronts have been scrapping since I started driving the VW, but mileage has been ok AFAIK.

Sounds like a decent VX that needs a little love to be perfect.

I'm surprised to hear your reaction to the acceleration. It really is no b18 motor, but it does have some pep for a SOHC econo-motor. Is it that much worse than the Fit?

Good luck with it!

back hatch squeeks when I hit a bump.

that is cured by replacing the gas struts on the hatch. Rock Auto has a good price on these.

how do you know the LAF sensor is bad?????

well, it looks like an original... which means it's over 200k miles old.

Oh yeah... the car takes a long time to heat up, and only heats up to 1/5 of the dial. At first I assumed someone removed the tstat, but it blows hot air

Remember, the Fit has 102 HP out of the box... has a shorter geared tranny, and runs on all 16 valves right away.

I remember the hatch squeak, it will grow on you. When you change the O2 sensor, get the special tool from autozone. It is a lifesaver.

Dan

That's really strange. Takes a long time to warm up and low reading on gauge..... hmm. Thermostat's stuck open is my best guess. I've had that happen before.

Good deal Matt!

I went thru a lot of engine temp issues at one time.
Best test I know to confirm a warmed up engine is: grab the upper radiator hose firmly with one hand. If you can keep you hand on there firmly, it's not fully warmed up. If fully warm you will want to pull your hand off.

If heater blows hot, there's a thermostat that's working at least partially.
Could be the t'stat is old/tired/gunked up. Maybe the t'stat spring can weaken, then it doesn't shut like it should. Could be ancient, you know. Cheap part too.

OR it's the wrong one.
Wrong t'stat happens easily. They only come in a few shapes/sizes but each size comes in various temperatures. Very easy for someone to put in one that's built for a lower temperature. Especially if they're scared of overheating.

OR the gauge is bad. I think to test/verify that you'd need a spec for what the resistance of the temp sender should be when warmed up and verify that with an ohmmeter. Probably you won't have to get involved with that process.

Good luck!

I already own two of those things... love them.

As for the temperature, part of it could be due to the o2 sensor... part of it could be the tstat. Since I've replaced a few tstats before, I might just go to Honda on Monday and get new plugs/wires/tstat just to ensure that they are the right ones for this car.

Oh yeah, the distributor was recently replaced, so that's nice.

The Tstat was a difficult find for me. If you go to autozone they will sell you the on for the DX. They dont know the diff. Go to the dealership. You will get the right part. $16 IIRC?

I've noticed the sam ething for the plugs and wires... autozone just sells you the generic ones. Kind of annoying if you ask me.

Good point. But if you ask, many parts stores can usually get a slightly higher or lower temp t-stat for you if you find someone to help you who actually knows what they are doing. And now that you say that, I'm betting the t-stat I installed in my car is lower than it should have, since it was a Advance-auto one, which I didn't look at the temp printed on it...doh

I guess I do understand why the VX feels it has less power. :o

note to self: remove window tint. It's silly and it's next to impossible to see out the rear window at night time.

Good deal, man. Sounds like it just needs a little TLC for the small stuff.

BTW, what year is it?

Pics! (when you get the chance)...

RH77

It sound like you might want to check the position of your timing belt. When I got my VX it was a real dog, no giddy up and unable to go up steep hills in 5th. I had the belt repositioned and it is a zippy little car now. The difference is night and day.

Congratulations, it looks like you found a gem!:thumbup:

Excellent idea! I almost never buy generic parts. There almost always inferior. I was going to suggest going to the dealer rather than dealing with a parts chase at the local "parts house". If its slow to accel I would suggest you check the ignition timing also(if its adjustable). I would think it would be a little dead in 5th but in the other gears it should be a least perky. Are you going to go synthetic fluids?

why don't you guys get aftermarket OEM spec parts? For instance, instead of going to Autozone and getting "Valucraft" and "Duralast" (built to last.....DURALAST!) go to a place that sells Bosch, Borg Warner, Dynaflex, Dayco, Car Done, Fenco, Dorman, Stant (for thermostats since you're talking about), Fel Pro. Stay away from Autozone and Advance and O' Reilley. Most of their parts are garbage from what I've seen. As I'm sure you guys know, Bosch, Stant, Fel Pro and BWD are OEM suppliers to many firms.

Matt, congrats on the VX. Great purchase, and I'm sure you'll love it.

That's great you got the VX. Everyone who buys one seems to have a funny story about picking it up and having various items malfunctioning. For me it was a bad o2sensor and leaky heater core( just a little, heat smelled weird). It also had the wrong plugs and a damaged rotor (distributor rotor). You should find the acceleration fairly good, but you have to get used to the gearing. remember 3rd redlines at 116mph, so you really have to downshift for max power. I seem to remember 2nd going over 65...Usually I just leave it in a high gear and gain speed before the hill. it has a fair bit of torque. If you really want to maintain speed or accelerate, kick it down a gear (4th on the hwy) early and put the pedal down halfway or more. remember, even when you do this you won't be revving much more than other cars in their top gear! And you won't be burning that much gas really (and you won't be accelerating that fast). Does it hesitate under light load? or does it just feel slow at all throttle positions and rpms?
If it only feels sluggish and hesitates under light load it is probably the o2 sensor. If it is sluggish all around check the timing belt, plugs wires cap rotor timing. I also heard the throttle position sensor can go bad on the hi mi vxes, you could check that if all else looks good.
-James

silly question. Do VXs have power steering? I'm not used to not having it and wondering if perhaps it's supposed to be there.

The obvious answer is no, b/c it's a gas mileage monster.

Ummm, I can tell you that mine doesn't have it and I think none of the VX's has it. No power brakes either.Both of which is very nice because you won't notice any differences when you cruise with the engine off :)
I can recommend going to 155/80 R13 LLR tires which will make the car handle like it does how power steering all of a sudden.

Nope, Matt, no power steering on the VX model
Actually, yes, all Hondas from at least 1980 on up have power brakes. That is what the brake booster is, lol. It's just that they are small enough cars that with the engine off and a perfectly working booster and check valve will allow a few "normal" feeling stops before it loses pressure.

welcome to the club! all honda cars have power brakes, even the N600 with a brake booster about the size of a soup can.
with the after market rims on there, and the steam cleaned engine compartment, I would guess that it was owned by someone who might have messed with a few things, so check for after market parts that might hurt your mileage.

dunno why you think the engine compartment is steam cleaned... it's filthy.

It has become clear to me that I'm not the first person to take the cluster out, or play with the ECU.... so a number of things could have been messed with over the last 15 years.