Finboy buys another Honda: 2004 Honda Element 4wd 5 speed

[finboy]

My other car is a 94 octane chugging Subaru, bad mileage is second nature to me at this point

[tonytiger55]

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Great buy @finboy . Very rare find as it's AWD AND 5 speed. That's awesome.

Love my Element. 362K and still going. My only gripe is the gas mileage on KO2s.

EDIT:


I know in my case, the tires make the car a bit more thirsty for gas, but regardless of the tires, it could be drinking more than usual the last couple years. What issue should arise if the car becomes less fuel efficient?

Good question. Im not sure, thats what I was told to look out for. So this is the story. What I do know when I owned my CRV. I looked at how long the engines last and what problems may arise. I was at around 280K a few years ago. My I spoke to my mechanic about anything else I need to do to keep the engine sweet. He said I have a K series engine and then pointed at the Honda Odessy next to mine. He said thats at 400k and they are just doing a oil change. Every time I asked about my engine. He always just said the same thing. Just change the oil and do not let the oil go low as it stretches the timing chain. He said I don't need to do anything else as the engines are generally fine. But he mentioned if the car starts to drink more fuel. Then thats a issue.
Things around the engine did brake or needed to be replaced. This was natural wear and tear or items going waay past the engineering shelf life. There were some hilarious things that happened. To name a few, the car would not start one time as the battery connectors disintegrated completely. The AWD drive shaft just fell off (it still drove). At -17c you got Christmas lights all over the dash (it still drove fine). The plastic A frame cover on the drivers side partially decided to come apart on Deerfoot on one occasion. But the engine itself was ok. The only issue on the engine I had was a oil leak, but that was a easy fix with the seals being replaced.
So I always tracked the gas I fuelled up. But you are right. The fuel milage can be a number of things.

So I had three engine codes. One was the 02 sensor. The other two were the two catalytic sensors. I drove with these for over 4-5 years. The last two I think may have caused fuel milage to drop slightly. I would get to 550-560km(summer) then the gas light would come on. Ive pushed it to 585km before filling up. In the last year the fuel light came on earlier around 510-520km. That could have been one of two reason. 1. The car is friggin old. 2. It was running slightly rich due to the sensors on the Catalytic converter sensors needing to be changed. Also the Catalytic converter/exhaust was starting to feel slightly off. That might have been it. I would not say thats a big engine issue though.

If you are at 362k, the maintenance is done, and oil is checked regularly. I actually would not be worried about the engine. Just the Cat sensors (USE OEM) and I would keep a eye on the rust on the rear brake areas, brake shield, and connecting rods. Mine rusted away. To change all that was not worth it as some of those bolts were 19 years old. I know on the CRV forum, one guy had some pretty good rust proofing that was done by a previous owner.
If maintained, the engine will outlast the body.

[haggis88]

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Kind of, disassemble/reassemble:

https://www.elementownersclub.com/th...n-the-e.54609/

Going by that, a set of Recaros would be simple to do

UKDM Evo VIII FQ340 seats were my favourite, higher bolsters and more lumbar support than their JDM equivalents.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

I still love these things.

[finboy]

Went to go jack up the rear end to get in the swing arm spacers, jack stand isn’t tall enough, welcome to truck life

[JordanEG6]

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Kind of, disassemble/reassemble:

https://www.elementownersclub.com/th...n-the-e.54609/

This seems interesting. Never thought about switching the seats. This would be a cool mod but I'm not sure if my car will last.

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I would get to 550-560km(summer) then the gas light would come on. Ive pushed it to 585km before filling up. In the last year the fuel light came on earlier around 510-520km. That could have been one of two reason. 1. The car is friggin old. 2. It was running slightly rich due to the sensors on the Catalytic converter sensors needing to be changed. Also the Catalytic converter/exhaust was starting to feel slightly off. That might have been it. I would not say thats a big engine issue though.

If you are at 362k, the maintenance is done, and oil is checked regularly. I actually would not be worried about the engine. Just the Cat sensors (USE OEM) and I would keep a eye on the rust on the rear brake areas, brake shield, and connecting rods. Mine rusted away. To change all that was not worth it as some of those bolts were 19 years old. I know on the CRV forum, one guy had some pretty good rust proofing that was done by a previous owner. If maintained, the engine will outlast the body.

I barely get 410-430km on my current tires. Even with my all-season road tires, I would only gewt about 450km, IF that. Haha.

[G-ZUS]

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This seems interesting. Never thought about switching the seats. This would be a cool mod but I'm not sure if my car will last.




I barely get 410-430km on my current tires. Even with my all-season road tires, I would only gewt about 450km, IF that. Haha.

Im getting about the same. 03 crv automatic with stock tires. 323 k

[finboy]

You guys are living luxury, I’m lucky to get 350 on the Subaru on 94, so anything is a step up at this point

[tonytiger55]

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This seems interesting. Never thought about switching the seats. This would be a cool mod but I'm not sure if my car will last.
I barely get 410-430km on my current tires. Even with my all-season road tires, I would only gewt about 450km, IF that. Haha.

What tires are you running?

[loweg]

Owned a few elements in my day. AWD auto and fwd 5spd. Great vehicles but crud when you start having babies. Now that my kids are older I could definitely be back in one. Was cleaning up the garage yesterday and recaros for my truck for driven and decided to clean the extra sets I have too. So if anyone is looking for ep3 recaros I've got a freshly cleaned set and have the OEM rails for them too!

Recaro cleanup https://imgur.com/gallery/54GKkq9

[JordanEG6]

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You guys are living luxury, I’m lucky to get 350 on the Subaru on 94, so anything is a step up at this point

Yikes! I guess I should feel fortunate lol. If you manage to get over 450km on your E in the Summer, that is good mileage.

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What tires are you running?

At the moment, I am running some heavy BFG KO2s, so that contributes to the low mileage. But even with my Firestone Destinations, I was getting only 420-430. Maybe 450 if my drives are mostly highway, but I've never ever hit 500km.

[90_Shelby]

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You guys are living luxury, I’m lucky to get 350 on the Subaru on 94, so anything is a step up at this point

I feel your pain, I get similar km on 94 with the Trackhawk.

[finboy]

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Owned a few elements in my day. AWD auto and fwd 5spd. Great vehicles but crud when you start having babies. Now that my kids are older I could definitely be back in one. Was cleaning up the garage yesterday and recaros for my truck for driven and decided to clean the extra sets I have too. So if anyone is looking for ep3 recaros I've got a freshly cleaned set and have the OEM rails for them too!

Recaro cleanup https://imgur.com/gallery/54GKkq9

God damn that collection, if I wasn’t terrified of fucking up alcantera I’d be coming over to drool on those

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I feel your pain, I get similar km on 94 with the Trackhawk.

Gotta support that economy

[tonytiger55]

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At the moment, I am running some heavy BFG KO2s, so that contributes to the low mileage. But even with my Firestone Destinations, I was getting only 420-430. Maybe 450 if my drives are mostly highway, but I've never ever hit 500km.

[loweg]

It's easy to work with . Ep3 recaros have a full plastic back on them so they can take some abuse from kids feet on the back. Had them in a little Honda that's from Japan that I used to drop my kiddos off at school for kindergarten-grade 1 and grade2-3. They survived pretty well ! Everyone is scared to clean alacantra but it's quite easy actually. I was so scared my first time though.

[finboy]

I worry more so about wearing through it, the lift on this thing means a lot of drag on the side bolsters

[vengie]

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Owned a few elements in my day. AWD auto and fwd 5spd. Great vehicles but crud when you start having babies. Now that my kids are older I could definitely be back in one. Was cleaning up the garage yesterday and recaros for my truck for driven and decided to clean the extra sets I have too. So if anyone is looking for ep3 recaros I've got a freshly cleaned set and have the OEM rails for them too!

Recaro cleanup https://imgur.com/gallery/54GKkq9

We should throw some of these in my Fit....

[killramos]

I think with racing buckets inside, a fit would have an irresponsible amount of interior space.

Similar to rages GLA recaro seat hack but at a whole new level.

[ExtraSlow]

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I think with racing buckets inside, a fit would have an irresponsible amount of interior space.

Similar to rages GLA recaro seat hack but at a whole new level.

a savage amount of space.

[finboy]

Where would I find a key cutter for this? Preferably not dealer