[manim]

So all's well that ends well

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Was greeted by a Mr Maruti to whom i explained what i needed to be done.

But how come Mr.'Maruti' is working in Honda

[sumeethaldankar]

Last fill up details.
5.85 kg gas & distance covered was 98 kms that is a excellent 16.7 average.This was in mixed driving conditions with 85 % ac on.It cost me 230 bucks to fill up the tank that gives a excellent running of around 2.5-3 rs per km.

I always leave the pre-reserve light on ie i fill up before the tank hits reserve.I have observed that on a full tank the first light goes out on just 10-12 kms.

[sumeethaldankar]

I have started to believe my car is Honda HASS jinxed.Last time i took it to HASS to change the fuel filter the remote key stopped working.This time last week i took it to them the a/c which was working fine all these years decide to die on me.I am stuck with driving a car without a/c in this sweltering summer heat.I will have it sweat it out till the end of the week as i do not have time to take the car to the garage on weekdays.

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

This time last week i took it to them the a/c which was working fine all these years decide to die on me.I am stuck with driving a car without a/c

I'm surprised, how does our cars share the same fate oh so often? While I took mine to the service station for the 60K service, the AC conked off too. And the culprit was the evaporator coil. Check if that's the problem in your car too. And if it is, please go source the part outside as the dealerships, apart from charging a bomb, don't have the part in stock.

Or else, check the relays too. Previously, a simple relay worth INR 100 odd was troubling my car's AC and, once replaced, things were fine.

[sumeethaldankar]

Originally Posted by arvi86

I'm surprised, how does our cars share the same fate oh so often? While I took mine to the service station for the 60K service, the AC conked off too. And the culprit was the evaporator coil. Check if that's the problem in your car too. And if it is, please go source the part outside as the dealerships, apart from charging a bomb, don't have the part in stock.

Or else, check the relays too. Previously, a simple relay worth INR 100 odd was troubling my car's AC and, once replaced, things were fine.

Arvi how much did the coil cost you in total ?

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Arvi how much did the coil cost you in total ?

The dealership quoted around 22k. I don't remember exactly but it was close to that. Since I felt that was on the higher side and they asked for a week to get that part, I tried my luck outside. The part cost was 10k and I installed it in the dealership itself. I paid around 3k as labor charges.

[sumeethaldankar]

The a/c had conked off last week. Got it inspected at my trusted garage man Joe and found it to be the cooling coil. Had it replaced with frankly a non-honda OEM which costed around 8K. The OE costed around 14-15K and a china made one was around 4.5K. I went with the 8k option with the assurance from my garage guy that they had fitted same in other civics and haven't got any complaints regarding same.

Incidently the coil which came in the car was of the manafacturing date 2009 whille my civic is 07 model.So this was the second time the coil was changed for my car.I am keeping fingers crossed that the new replacement last atleast 2 years.

After the fitting was done as i was driving back home i found the cooling has stopped. I pulled over and called joe and he said i can come back and they will check out the issue.BUt i decided to carry on and come back when i had time to do so.I went today in the morning and joe's ac guy informed me after inspection that the relay had gone kaput.That costed another 380 bucks and now the ac is back to it original self.

Last week i drove the car entirely without a/c as i did not have time to go to the garage.Plus i was short on $ as well.I got a mileage of 15.4 km per kg in city traffic conditions.Overall mileage is around 13.5 in city mode.Most of the time i spend max 250 bucks on a refill which usually last around a 100kms. That is 2.5 re per km for running costs. I had filled in a 1000 bucks worth of petrol and thet fuel indicator hasn't moved down a bit.This is simply amazing running economy.I think people who shy away from CNG fittment should reconsider.What is the point of wasting precious fuel idling away in city traffic when the same came can be done in cheaper way.Whenever there is a urge to go drive in enthusisastically one can always switch back to petrol mode and drive the way he wants.

[sumeethaldankar]

Its been more than a 1000 kms run for me with the newly installed CNG kit.Average is approximate 13.5 km per kg.Yesterday i travelled from borivali to andheri via SV road to avoid the road block on the western express highway around goregaon.I was mostly running in 1 and 2 gear with a/c 100% percent on.I was down to the last (before reserve) light which went off and the reserve light came on as i got closer to andheri.I had a overall worst mileage of 12.05 km per kg yesterday due to bumper to bumper traffic.

Total i have driven 1101 kms and have used 85.60 Kg of CNG which amounts to 3335 Rs of gas. Do the same on petrol i would have needed atleast 100 litres of fuel which would have costed me around 8K Rs. So that is a neat savings of around 4600 in the 1st month itslef.


I had to go to Joe's again to get a leaking hose pipe fixed.The pipe was cleaned and refitted as it was not needing a change.A new clamp as also added to make sure it did not leak again.Charges taken were 120 bucks for same.

Also got the doughnuts thingy installed on the rear suspension for 2250 from Automech.The ride has improved at the rear and the thud thud sound has reduced at the back end.The rubber thingy are 1 inch thick and though it's hard to tell from the pics below the rear of the car no longer feel droopy and sags at the back.It has a better balanced look now.I did alignment check soon after the install which as free of cost as my suspension alignment was under 1000 km free check up warranty.Ovearall i am happy with the cng but the wait for the plate is to come is excruating.I have to keep showing the gas receipt at the gas pump and find the whole process to get a certified CNG car cumbersome.


Below are some pics.

Before installation of the rubber inserts.






After installation.It's hard to make out the difference but it's there. The rear no longer looks droopy.






Pics of the new clamp added to prevent leakage of the coolant.






The car at the Automech workshop.Soap solution is used before adding the inserts.







This is how the reserve light looks like.I was able to drive atleast half n hour after the red light came on.It might have lasted more but i had reached my daily gas pump,It took in around 8.2 kg of CNG yesterday.

[sumeethaldankar]

Updating this thread after a while. The car has crossed 49K mark and the odo now read 49035.I have around 2571 kms done as per the fuel log app.The cng cost to run the same is Rs7359 + 1000 bucks of fuel which comes to 8359.If i had done the same on petrol i would have needed at-least 233 litres of fuel which @80.5 bucks average would have amounted to 18815 Rs which means i saved upto 10456 Rs.All this is in a matter of 69 days.

I usually would cover 300 to 500 kms in a month. Due to my gas monkeying i have done 2.5k in just 2-3 months.Last weekend i went for long drives all over the city clocking around 200 kms in just two days within the city.

My observations on two most important criteria is as follows:

Performance- There is a drop in performance unfortunately but most of the time it's not significant to impact daily driving.When i floor the accelerator there is a distinct lag in response from the engine.I can time it around 2 seconds during which nothing happens to the speed of the car but soon after that it's like the I-VTEC beast waking up and the car pushes forward though not as eagerly as on petrol.So performance can be said to have taken a minor hit by 5-7 %. The car does feel a bit strained on a incline.The solution to this could be better tuning of the CNG kit and switching to fully synthetic oil.

Fuel efficiency- The FE has gone up now and it's now comparable to smaller engine cars like the Alto (in petrol mode).I have managed a best 19.49 per Kg and a worst of 11.85 per kg with a overall average of 14.5 per Kg.The best mileage was arrived driving on highways with 50% a/c and in solo mode.Not bad for fairly large car.

So for now it has been a good experience with the CNG , touchwood.The jerking problem is still there and even though they claimed to have taken care of same during the service when i had given the car yesterday it seems to not have been resolved.I guess i have to live with it for now.
Also gave the car for a general service at my old trusted mechanic joe from Nakita motors.

I have now switched to shell helix ultra 5w 40. The engine,which was previously running on Total 10w 40, now feels a bit smoother and definitely a bit more responsive.I wanted Total 5W 40 oil but it was available only in june 2013 packs which were a year old so i settled for the shell.It cost me 3800 @ 950 bucks a litre.I am yet to drive the car extensively as i arrived home after a tiring day from joe' garage.

I also got the rear left reflector tail light replaced as the original one was broken at places and would collect water when it rained.It had also had a healthy fungus/greenish thing growing inside of it and looked hideous.The replacement one cost me 1950 bucks from prakash motors and is of the Depo make with a made in Taiwan packing.It looks very much like the OE and there is no difference.

A couple of other things taken care by Joe was the rear seat bottom had become loose and would rattle incessantly and was very irritable.Also it would move when someone sat on it.Joe fastened the seat in a typical Indian jugaad style as the fasteners had broken.He inserted a couple of grinded metal inserts under the seat fastener to secure the seat in position.Now the rattle is gone and the seat does not jostle around when someone is seated on it.

The brake switch stopper had become brittle and had broken.This happened at Suraj Auto and the lights wouldn't go off even when the pedal was released.So the guy at Suraj Auto removed the socket and i drove back home without a brake light yesterday relying on luck and hand signals when slowing down to a stop.Joe fixed the same and and now it is back to normal.Frankly the brake light was working when i had given the car to Suraj auto and i guess someone must have hit the pedal hard for the stopped to break. The service at Joe's cost me 1280 bucks.

Below are some pics.

Shell Helix Ultra 5W 40. The engine has become a bit smooth and better reponsive.The oil is suppose to have a drainage interval of 10K.




Now don't we all love neatly packaged stuff.





The Depo branded reflector light, made in Taiwan.

[sumeethaldankar]

A small update.

Currently in Pune for office work.Filled up CNG at Hadapsar and the car took in around 7.87 KG for a total distance of 175 kms from my home which comes out to a very healthy mileage of 22.23 per kg.Outstanding for a fairly heavy car.These are the nos which are achieved usually by oil burners on highways.It took around 45 mins to fill cng due to a long queue at the CNG pump.Also the car has completed 3 years with me. The odo now stands 49.5k Kms.

[sumeethaldankar]

Back in Mumbai from my Pune trip for 2 weeks.The car was not used in Pune as my work place was 10 mins walking execpt for a trip to the CNG station. I also found it was more safe to leave the car in the guest house parking lot rather than fend off the in numerous amount of two wheelers that are there in Pune all of whom seem to be attracted towards your car while driving. On the return trip i managed a FE of 23.47 km per KG which is the best i have managed on CNG.Speeds maintained were a constant 80Kmph and the tacho hovered around the 2k mark. A/c was used only 10% of the time as we chose to breath in the fresh and cool air while driving on the expressway.

The Bridgestone tyres which are a size larger than stock at 205 65 provided adequate grip. I had filled in 32 psi in the tyres at the beginning of the journey and did not refill again. While going to Pune with 32 psi the tyres felt stiff and the ride was a bit harsh when going on rough surfaces but on the return trip where the pressure must have dropped a psi or two as the tyres felt much softer.I was told it's always better to have around 2 psi higher when traveling on highways as the constant driving causes the tyre to flex and increase the chance of a blow out.When the tyre is filled with higher pressure air the flexing reduces and with it the chance of a rupture.

Since speeds were around 80Kmph the CNG jerking issue was not noticed on the trip as rpm was always more than 1500. However once i reached the city i found the jerk problem is very much there though it's less apparent.I might get the throttle body and injectors cleaned from HASS before handing over the car to Suraj Auto for their next scheduled check-up which is 3K kms or 3 months whichever is earlier.Hopefully it will get resolved the next time.

A view from the top.



The car had got really dirty and needed two buckets for cleaning.Unfortunately it got a fresh set of scratches while being cleaned on the rear top left of the boot courtesy the washer man. I am contemplating getting the car polished or painted to get rid of the many many scratches it has but am hesitating since i have found the paint to be fragile.The car gets a scratch here and there a week and i use the scratch out solution to minimize the marks.

[sumeethaldankar]

The above happened today.My oldie 800 managed just 38K kms before i sold her in the 17 years that i had the car with me.(Yes i have posted about it in the car's with the low mileage thread).It's only because of the CNG that i have managed to put so much miles on the car. Though i had the car only since 36.6k Kms on the ODO i plant to keep the same atleast till the 1 lac figure.

I figure at 50K i can expect a suspension overhaul may be ?

[manim]

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

I figure at 50K i can expect a suspension overhaul may be ?

At 1,33,000 kms and 7+ years, I have NOT done any major work worth mentioning, except for the routine maintenance.

[sumeethaldankar]

The car has done around 4500 kms on CNG now. ODO now stands around ~50700. I had reported a issue with the display of the speedo going kaput in the Civic's do's and dont's thread. I was told by the garage where i had gone to show the same that this was quite common a problem with many Honda's like the Civic and the CRV where the dashboard display goes kaput.Frankly we haven't heard of any on our forums and even on the net i was not able to get any information.

The garage guys managed to solve the problem for now by simply disconnecting and reconnecting the battery and the display for the speedo , fuel etc came back on.I was told that it might do kaput again and the solution to same is to go in for a used display which could cost anything between a mind numbing 15 to 20 k.I am just keeping my fingers crossed that it does not happen again. I noticed that along with the speedo even the security warning light was not working.They charged me 100 bucks for the diagnosis.

The front right tyre again seemed to have a slight drop in pressure and i took the car straight to "Straight Line" my regular alignment & balancing shop.They found a leaky valve and replaced same for 100 bucks.All in all touchwood car is doing fine.

While driving in the rain today i did find the car to be struggling a bit.I am thinking the air filter is now close to 4-4.5 kms old and i suppose for CNG it's to be changed every 5k kms.Will give that a look next week and change it if i find it too dirty.

[sumeethaldankar]

The speedo display has gone blank again. I am going to resort to disconnecting and reconnecting the battery again and hope that it works the second time too. Last year too the display was acting weird with the blue backlight of the speedo flickering when i would lock and unlock the car.This happened last time in the rainy season and the blank display issue also happened during the rains.

I am sensing that it's due to rain water seeping into the electricals etc causing issues with the speedo.But the garage where i had shown it to earlier said that it's due to some fault in the meter and the only way to fix is to get a second hand one with prices starting from min 15K.I am not really sure what is to be done but i have asked my trusted garage man Joe for a solution and he is to get back to me with the same tomorrow.

Also today while driving back home there was a werid issue with the rear door locks.They automatically started to lock unlock while the car was in motion.I asked Joe about this and he said that it's due to the water going into the switch panel on the driver side door which causes the locks to go haywire.It was really weird to see and hear the locks go on off several times.


I was calculating the amount of money i had spent on the car excluding fuel bills and service bills.The amount is coming out to a humongous 1,77,770.This figure is reached afer i took into considertion the cost of tyres,battery,repair work for the steering rack & pump overhaul, CNG fitting etc etc.This means the Civic has cost me rought 5k a month just for un-scheduled maintenence in the 3 years that i have owned.As i mentioned this does not include the fuel bills and general service consumables like oil etc.But it's all hopefully going to pay back since i am going to begin my marathon driving of 60 kms per day from next week.

After much delay my office is finally shifted to airoli and i have to join there from Monday.It's going to be a 30 kms drive one way at odd timings like 6 am, post 11 pm etc.I think i am going to enjoy the highway driving in low traffic conditions and am keeping my fingers crossed that i don't end with car trouble or anything like that on my daily runs.