I had to consider a second mortgage

I had about 390 miles on this tank, and the gas light came on about 25 miles before I filled it up



I thought the car had a 10 1/2 gallon tank The gas light had been on for about 25 miles

This was the cheapest gas in Western Washington yesterday

 

Different strokes for different folks, is all.

But the fact you brought it up feels like you’re trying to act superior to whatever floats people’s boat. Eek, too many cliches.

Anyway, finally installed my new fuel pump, after having it sit a couple of weeks. It’s always something I realize I need after getting something delivered.

The pump I ordered was the version that didn’t include the filter… stupid me. Had to wait for that.

Realized I need to clean out the tank and maybe run it through a separate filter… and gas cans to hold the nearly half tank of gas I had in there. Wait for that.

Decided to use a tool that would better fit the lock nut on the tank instead of trying to lever it around with a screw driver (and denting the nearby sheet metal)… wait some more.

Some headband lights, so I could do the work, after getting out of work (9pm or so)… Gah, one thing after another. There’s probably some other bits I got bit currently forgetting. But I’m sure I’ve made my point.

The new pump is too strong. It’s messing with the built-in mpg calculations. On a route home after pumping a full tank of gas, it registered almost 44 mpg, while my best is 38 with a more typical 34 or so mpg. The pressure is forcing more fuel through than it thinks is getting through. My guess is the new pump is overwhelming the pressure regulator at low rpm, while the DW65c was just within what it could handle.

But I got it because one of the two things I think might be the cause of the pump failure was it burning out because it couldn’t provide enough fuel in the long run for the supercharger (somewhat unlikely, but checking for it now). The other was that the filter got clogged from too much debris in the tank, hence why buying a pump without the filter included was super stupid. I thought this was the most likely, and while I did see some debris in the gas when I was cleaning the tank, it didn’t seems like the was that much overall. I guess a third reason was it was simply defective. Might just be this.

I guess another possibility is the opposite of the first, too much back pressure, but since there!s a pressure regulator in the fuel assembly, I think that’s highly unlikely since I had the same model fuel pump for some 7 years in there. Maybe the regulator is going bad… how likely is that? Hum…

Oh, considering much of a pain in the ass it is every time I need to open the hatch, I don’t know why I haven’t replaced it yet… I assume it’s rusted.

 

Today, I let my wife drive my NEW 2013 Fit
I just rolled 9,000 miles this week

she hit a &$@%*£? Planter !!!

the car hasn’t even had its 2nd oil change


the pics show mostly white paint transfer from the planter
my wife tried cleaning it with “goo gone”
it did pretty well
left a little scuff in the paint
not sure if it’ll buff out or not




Mostly white paint transfer from the planter

 

I added paddle shifter extensions, I don't like that it causes some divots on the OEM ones, but I'm not going to take them off.

 

Bleed my brakes solo for the first time. Feels great, but I'm definitely getting speed bleeders next time.

 

Whelp, that was short lived.

After only 3 days of driving, the new fuel pump is having issues.

I'm not sure if it's overheating or what, I just know that when the problem started, I would lose power until it stalled out. Then, I have restart it and it'll die shortly after. But the longer I wait before restarting, the longer it lasts before dying again. So, it feels like overheating.

On the other hand, no matter how long I let it sit, it doesn't do the full three seconds of priming when turning the key to ON without starting the engine. It'll do one or two seconds and then stop. Not sure how much of this points to overheating.

The other day, I was thinking... what if the regulator or some other part of the bucket is bad? Could be made even worse by the fact the new pump is likely more the regulator can handle.

Another thought is, what if the float for the fuel level sensor is bad and I'm actually a lot lower on gas than I think. This would be an issue if it leaves the pump exposed, since it needs to be submerged to cool down. But I guess, even if this is true, it's still back to the pump overheating.

So, my step now is to replace the whole bucket and reorder the same pump from Amazon that I ordered way back in 2014. The pump I ordered last month was a higher flow (340 lph), so I'm dropping that back down (265 lph). The one I ordered in April of this year was "in the hopes they don't use old stock," but it turned out to be the wrong model. It had clips by the electrical plug that I had to break off to make it fit.

Crap... thinking about all the other stuff that also needs checking/fixing (175k miles)... not pleasant.

Already did a thread insert for one of the cylinders, I might need to do one or more of the other three since the engine seems to acting up sometimes... similarly to how it was before it worked one of the spark plugs loose, damaging the thread and resulting in installing that threaded insert to finally fix. And once I pull the plugs, I'm likely gonna not gonna reuse the old ones... so new plugs. Possibly new coils if I'm too late. When the plug worked loose, it let out some combustion gas... while it was still burning. That melted the tip of the coil plug.

My suspension is creaking. At the least, I'm around the mileage for new springs (currently 3rd set of Swift springs and tossed the OE springs early on). I'm not fond of the Koni dampers I put, so I'm likely gonna replace those too. Thinking of putting some Tein... possibly a coilover kit, since the price is almost the same. Their Flex Z coilover kit is about $50-60 more than separate springs and adjustable shock dampers (Advance Z and Basis Z are even cheaper than the non-adjustable shock dampers plus spring, but adjusting their ride height affects the springs). At one point, I did think about putting Tanabe springs, since I put those on my HR-V... but I'm not too keen on the 2" drop in the rear. The 1" from Swift is already more than I'd like (maybe it's sag)... I'm thinking I might be able to get a reasonable compromise with the Tein coilovers... I hope.

Additionally, it likely needs new bushings... but first, gotta find them! This would be my first time replacing or even dealing with bushings despite replacing shocks/struts/springs 5 times, 3 on Fit, once on HR-V and once on Nissan Pathfinder. Speaking of Pathfinder, I replaced a set of endlinks there... can't remember if I did the same on the Fit. I think I did. Damn that cliche about getting old.

Well, while I was thinking about what to keep adding to this post, I ended up ordering some of the parts: Tein Flex Z coilover, spark plugs, DW65c fuel pump and OE fuel bucket... only to not use the included pump. What a waste, would be about $140 or so cheaper for most of the other parts, but I couldn't find a way to get the OE filter. Super WASTE. I didn't order the coil packs. Will wait to see how the ones I currently have are doing.

Oh man...

 

Massive post, @Goobers .
I wanted to contribute one data point to your pump investigation. I'd thought the fuel system pressurization you mentioned sounded lengthy at 3 seconds, so i just checked mine. I got the sound of the pump cutting out at around 1.3 seconds. Was able to stop the timer at 1.67.
My stuff is all OEM, so I don't know if it's relevant to your set up, just trying to lend a hand. If theres any other datapoints you might decide you want, feel free to hit me up.

Edit for @Goobers and @GR8 FIT , my Fit has ~107k miles. I'm thinking of replacing the pressure regulator to see if it affects start up dry flutter/dry start "grind noise". It appears to be an uncommon replacement as there arent many options via rockauto, theyre pricey at $60 for a check valve, and it's not a highlighted part. but I have suspicion this may be the thing :} I'll just have to beg and borrow to get that $60 before I can update.

 

I read this from my car just now and decided to time mine. 2.6 seconds on the original pump w/76k miles. Could an old fuel filter cause longer/ shorter prime times? I'm not too savvy with fuel systems.

 

Might depend of how much pressure is left in the system before priming?

 

Today my fit sat in the driveway being ignored while I diagnosed an exhaust issue on a mazda. The car had severe exhaust leaks at both manifolds caused by snapped studs. Once repaired and leak-free, the car had a hunting idle, would not accelerate past 40mph, overheated after 30 mins, no codes.

I found the fault today!


The front two (v6) catalytic converters on this particular car are part of the left and right exhaust manifolds. the leak caused loss of prescious metal washcoat which resulted in a clog in the downstream (3rd) converter. None had visible damage to internal grids/honeycomb.

Here's a video of me filling the converter with a hose.
I'm posting here because I thought it interesting that while the initial problem with the exhaust was between the first two converters and the engine, they didn't clog so much as hollowed out. The real problem developed downstream where all their mess ended up.

Also, something in these things is caustic. The powder was not hot or wet. Also melted a plastic bag before I transferred it to a soda can.


Keep it real.

 

@Goobers how many miles does your car have to be on its third set of springs?

 

...nautical miles I'd guess.

 

that looks so nice. Do you have part numbers for the tail lights?

 

Right now? 175k miles.

I replaced the original at 12k with Swift Springs (early 2011, or half a year after getting the Fit). According to my purchase history, then next replacement was well after 66k miles in later half of 2015. I installed my supercharger at 66k and that was end of 2013/start of 2014. So, with guesstimating the mileage I drive, could be around 80-85k or so. The last replacement was in 2019. This was half a year after my spark plug drama (@134k or so), which could mean 140-145k miles. Could they have gone longer? Possibly.

Thinking about it, yeah, this current purchase does make it really short. But honestly, I've never been happy with the Koni dampers I put it with the last set of springs. I did do another shock damper replacement way back in late 2012 about a year and half after the initial spring swap. Going back to the Koni, I think that's the bigger reason I decided on newer springs and dampers this time.

Yeah, apparently I like posting walls of text. Though I hate reading them... what a hypocrite, eh?

I never timed mine with an actual stopwatch, just rough counting. But it definitely seemed longer than 1.3-1.67 seconds. When the last pump was acting up, it varied and was VERY short at times. Again, I didn't time it with a watch, but I can say it's shorter than when its supposedly working "normally."

Could be.

I remember complaining that, after replacing the pump the first time way back in 2014, the engine would take the longest to crank and finally start after sitting overnight, longer than it did before the swap. It's possible this was pretty much the only time when I would actually pay attention to how long the pump primed the system.

~~~~~

So now would be the time to go into why I'm posting today... I found out that the idiot that I am, I did one of those hospital operation horror stories. You know, where a person later finds out the doctor left some surgical tool, sponge/gauze inside of them. I found one of the blue shop towels inside the tank. I was using them to soak the remaining gas I couldn't get with the pump I was using. My guess is, when I had a full tank, the towel was floating rather high up and wasn't an issue, but as the level got lower, the towel got close to where the bucket pulled in gas and caused it to go empty or something. That in turn meant the pump had no gas to draw up. Maybe. As I said, just guessing at this point based on what I see.

I was debating sticking that pump back in and using it for a while, but then I remembered that the pump before that died after only a couple of months (4? 5?) compared to the one before that one (8 years). I also think it might be related to the pressure regulator (as I mentioned in my other post)... but as I'm not a profession mechanic, well, I could just as well be WAY OFF here too. Who knows. So, since I already bought the new pump and bucket, I decided to just go ahead and replace it. I'm hoping it'll last a long while.

P.S. I actually did the parts swap on Wednesday night, started it and drove to check it the night after and finally used it for work yesterday... before posting now. One could say it's because I wanted to check things out before posting... or one (that knew me) could say I'm just a lazy ass and mostly forgot to post.

 

Goobers, you shouldn’t need to replace the springs just bc you replace the dampers. My swift springs are a few years old with either 40 or 60k miles (I really don’t recall) and they’re totally healthy and look great, ride right, etc.

 

I agree that I don't necessarily have to replace them. I think many, many years ago, it used to be thought that they should be replaced at 50k or so (pre-2k-ish). I know in more recent years they can last up to 100k or more.

The first set of Swift springs got replaced after about 65k or so... but they also looked like they were starting to "sag" a little in the rear (as in, the rear tires starts to tuck under the fender when sitting still, where there should be a visible gap). When I replaced the second set (seems like about 60k or so too), it also looked like it was starting to sag. I like the look with the Swift springs when they're new... I'm not fond of the tucking under look. The last set only has 30k-ish and isn't showing any signs of sag. But I figured, since I'm pulling out the dampers anyway, I might as well do the springs. If nothing else, so that I can judge the new parts as "fairly" as possible with matching (and new) parts, not new damper on older springs.

That said... I made a boo-boo.

I received the Tein kit not long after my last post but didn't do anything until yesterday. I only got around to doing the rear but apparently, I didn't torque the bottom bolt of the passenger side damper enough to secure it... it clunked while I was driving and completely fell out later. I heard the clunking for a while, but thought it was the top of the shock damper as if it was fully extending. I thought this because it seemed to clunk only when going over dips than when hitting bumps. I keep wanting to say that I should've checked it, but by the time I noticed even the clunking. I was already at work and didn't have the tools on me. I didn't realize what the clunking was until the bolt completely fell out and only after the clunking got worse did I check. Now the bracket that holds the bottom is a bit bent out of shape and of course the bolt is missing. I have a vague idea of where it fell out, I think. I tried to see if I could find it, but no luck. The bottom half of the damper is all scratched/marred from scraping against the bracket while I was driving. How unfortunate... I hope the little bit of driving with one completely disconnected damper didn't overwork the other one.

Thinking about it now... I think the place where I work should have some tools, but they're terrible quality (bought from Walgreens, if that means anything). I forgot about it... oh well.

Now I have to wait to get the replacement bolt. Until then... back to sitting in my driveway while I drive the HR-V.

On a side note... I don't know if its supposed to be the way it is, but the springs for the rear part of the kit look like they're binding up on top. I guess it's normal, if I consider that it does need to stretch or something if the rear lifts off the ground or something. But it doesn't look good, I guess.

--- Update 11/12/22 ---

Since there aren't any new posts and I don't like double posting (even if its been a week or two), I'll just add to this post.

Got the new parts the other day and finally fixed the rear shock dampers last night. I put new bolts for both sides. I don't think having one old bolt on one side with a new one on the other would lead to any kind of issue, but I treat things like this as sets, so I figured I'd replace both.

As for part of the metal that looks like two sides wrap under the damper (kind of shaped like an L on one side and j on other), I was able to bend one back, but the other was much harder. Since it was late, I didn't try hammering it back.

I replaced the rear hatch handle... OMG, it's so freaking easy to open now. The old one was super rusted. However, I did end up breaking a shit load of clips that hold the inside panel.

Apparently, the outer black trim (where the H emblem mounts) also had a part that broke, between the handle and left license plate light. But when pulling the trim out, I ended up breaking it near the corner of the handle opening... I hope it doesn't flop around... otherwise I'll need to buy a new trim piece.

Or maybe I should buy the trim piece anyway... then I can also replace all the broken clips.

 

Installed my Modulo wing.

 

Replaced my discount big brake rotors and pads. Three and a half years, bout 25k miles. The pads are ceramic pads meant for the '97 Integra type R.

 

Not bad. Mini rotors, right?

 

Funny story, I was given two sets of wrong rotors when I asked for those mini rotors, 280mm. That part number calls from a '97 Acura RL. I don't understand it, they're supposed to be the same size. But it's back to stopping hard, that brake pedal might be my favorite thing about that car, lots of confidence there. Maybe it's in conjunction with the rear swap I've done, dunno. I did them both on the same day.

Another funny story, last time I did brakes on mine I spent the night in the hospital passing a kidney stone. This time about 48 hours after doing brakes I spent the night in the same hospital with a broken arm. Car might have it out for me....