[sumeethaldankar]

How's the car doing Frank ? Petrol prices have gone up again.I am contemplating switching to CNG by next year where i think the price of petrol would be 100+ a litre. There seems to be no other choice for Civic owners.

Have to start saving for the Kit.50-60 K is what i am expecting it to cost.Phew that's still quite a ton of money to spend but in the long term it would be cheaper.Do you have to take your car to the CNG fitter for checking etc? What is the frequency of visit if you have to do so ?

[frankmehta]

Originally Posted by Jimmy_u

Hello Frank,

Can your setup be replicated on a 2005 Honda Accord Vti-L AT

Yes, the owner of Suraj Autogas has just bought himself an Accord, which he is going to convert to CNG soon.

Originally Posted by saurabhkum

Frank, There is one plate which is issued by RTO for CNG cars, this is done after endorsement of CNG is done on your RC book. Has this process completed for you? I believe without that plate it's difficult to get CNG filled in the vehicle

Yes, that plate came after 45 working days for me. If you don't have that plate, legally you can't fill gas. You can just go to a pump and give them an extra tenner till you get your plate.

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

How's the car doing Frank ? Petrol prices have gone up again.I am contemplating switching to CNG by next year where i think the price of petrol would be 100+ a litre. There seems to be no other choice for Civic owners.

Have to start saving for the Kit.50-60 K is what i am expecting it to cost.Phew that's still quite a ton of money to spend but in the long term it would be cheaper.Do you have to take your car to the CNG fitter for checking etc? What is the frequency of visit if you have to do so ?

Car is doing great on CNG. Just requires a check up soon. I think the average is slightly lower due than before but maybe that's due to the higher volume of city driving. The installer says one should make a visit to him every month, once, for checking. That is if the car is running a lot everyday. Otherwise, 4000-5000 km.



Just an update. We had hired a driver for 2-3 days but forgot to tell him no to sit in the car with the music on for hours. Hence, within 4-5 hours, the battery drained out and the car was DEAD. The Exide battery was 4 years old anyway, so got an SF Sonic Battery in it's place.
Another update is that the front dampers, engine mounts and the gearbox mounts, all need to be replaced in the next service, as the car is now riding slightly harshly over bumps. Also, the idling vibrations have increased.
Will be sending the car to Honda very soon.

[sumeethaldankar]

Hi,were these issues diagnosed by HASS?May be you could try a independant garage instead as Hass will charge a nuclear bomb for this kind of work.

[jatinpatel]

@frank
Honda will kill in cost when it comes to mounts and shocks might not actually need replacement, busted mounts also gives the same feel of busted shocks.

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

Car is doing great on CNG. Just requires a check up soon. I think the average is slightly lower due than before but maybe that's due to the higher volume of city driving. The installer says one should make a visit to him every month, once, for checking. That is if the car is running a lot everyday. Otherwise, 4000-5000 km.

It's great to hear that the Civic is running fine on CNG.

You have set a precedent that's going to be followed by a whole bunch of people in Mumbai and NCR. We in Chennai can only be dreaming about these stuff as CNG is still considered a joke down south.

Originally Posted by frankmehta

Another update is that the front dampers, engine mounts and the gearbox mounts, all need to be replaced in the next service, as the car is now riding slightly harshly over bumps. Also, the idling vibrations have increased.
Will be sending the car to Honda very soon.

Be ready to shell out a bomb! Honda's after-sales parts are priced so ridiculously high, inspite of considering the fact that the Civic belongs to the premium segment.

As far as my experience goes, Civic has a strictly average ride quality that's nothing to write home about. Are you finding the ride harsh only recently, or are you experiencing it since the time you bought the car? The reason I am asking this is, inspite of changing the hydraulic engine mount in my 2007 Civic last month, my car's ride quality has not improved. It is still harsh and my friend's SX4 rides way better.

Originally Posted by sumeethaldankar

Hi,were these issues diagnosed by HASS?May be you could try a independant garage instead as Hass will charge a nuclear bomb for this kind of work.

Originally Posted by jatinpatel

@frank
Honda will kill in cost when it comes to mounts and shocks might not actually need replacement, busted mounts also gives the same feel of busted shocks.

As stated already, I completely agree with Sumeeth and Jatin. Honda milks customers in after-sales parts.

Jatin, as I have explained to Frank, my car's ride quality hasn't improved inspite of changing the hydraulic mounts. Should I look into the suspension or does all Civic possess average ride quality? All along, I was of the opinion that it is the latter.

[frankmehta]

Going from the above advice, I will take each step at a time. The car has gone in for CNG service and tuning, as the average had taken a slight dip and the car was behaving a little sluggish. The installer has promised a slightly more aggressive ECU remap, as he took me for a test drive, and told me to be prepared for a surprise!

[skdking]

Originally Posted by arvi86

....

Jatin, as I have explained to Frank, my car's ride quality hasn't improved inspite of changing the hydraulic mounts. Should I look into the suspension or does all Civic possess average ride quality? All along, I was of the opinion that it is the latter.

Hey there,

Sorry that the engine mount change did nothing for your ride quality.

How are the vibrations on cold start?

Things should have improved all round, really.

Any further steps planned?

[arvi86]

Originally Posted by skdking

Sorry that the engine mount change did nothing for your ride quality.

How are the vibrations on cold start?

Things should have improved all round, really.

There is definitely an improvement, especially in the vibrations in the first and second gears. But, I was kind of expecting the ride quality to improve, which sadly isn't the case.

[saurabhkum]

Frank how is the car performing after the new mapping ?

[frankmehta]

Have been driving her hard since the last three days owing to some commitments. I have done about 300 km after she came back on Sunday and boy does she drive well now. The throttle is very responsive at part revs and is even very very good to pick up from low RPMs in high gears. I am quite impressed with the way she has been driving.
Idling is rough due to shot mounts, but the CNG tuning is near perfect. Average has gone up by a couple of km per kg.
Impressive show, and no complaints as of now.

[saurabhkum]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

Average has gone up by a couple of km per kg.
Impressive show, and no complaints as of now.

Frank what's the average you are getting after the remap? And what was it earlier?

[frankmehta]

Average on earlier map was about 11-15 km/kg. Going up to 20 km/kg in long, traffic free drives.
Now, she's driven primarily by my wife (I just got married a month ago) who doesn't like to rev the nuts off her so the average will be much better. She drives 75-80 km a day and yesterday was her first day with it alone. She did 80 km before the 2nd light went out. So, I should count the new tune up and her sedate driving responsible for a respectable average of about 14-16 km/kg on a daily basis. Works out to a paltry Rs. 2.2-3 per km everyday.

[Gotham_City]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

Now, she's driven primarily by my wife (I just got married a month ago) who doesn't like to rev the nuts off her so the average will be much better.

Frank, let me start with congratulating you on your wedding. Wish you guys a great life ahead.

I had been following your thread. The whole idea of buying a used Honda civic and converting it into CNG sounds so tempting. In fact, I may actually follow your precedent when I am in the market for my wife's car.

Look forward to more of your experiences with Civic on the thread.

[gomzi]

Congrats on your wedding Frank. Best wishes to both of you.

With the really hot temperature in Mumbai and we're only in March, I'm actually a bit concerned about the heat in the engine bay when running the car on CNG. I'm looking to find a way to improve engine bay cooling, have you done anything or planning to do anything on those lines?

[Derezzed]

Originally Posted by frankmehta

(I just got married a month ago)

Congratulations for your marriage, wishing you a blissful life ahead.

I plan to buy a pre-owned Civic in the next 2-3 months. I have done much research on the pros and cons of owning and driving a Civic in India to the point that I am now confused whether to go for a Manual or an Automatic transmission. I request bhpians inputs on helping me decide.

Points in favour of an automatic transmission:

1. An AT will be a boon in city traffic and also the difference in fuel economy between the AT and MT is not substantial for a Civic.
2. My wife can drive the AT even though she is not comfortable about the idea of handling a 'big car' in city.
3. Pre-owned ATs tend to be cheaper as compared to MTs with same mileage and year of manufacture.

Points in favour of a manual transmission:

1. The way cars are meant be driven (not in city though)
2. In my opinion easier and cheaper to maintain and repair as compared to an AT
3. Probably less abused than an AT due to transmission fluid not being replace,flushed or topped up at the correct time.

I do plan to install the CNG kit and am clueless about its performance on AT vs MT.

Requesting bhpians inputs on helping me decide.