I’ve had my Honda for about a year now, having purchased it for a token amount from my parents in October of last year. Then it had around 143,500 miles on it and just yesterday it rolled 159,000, making for around 15.5 thousand miles driven in the past year. It has served me quite well so far, and it passed inspection with no issues this year.

I’ve had to make a few repairs, most notably some suspension components right after I bought it and an exhaust leak that showed up in the middle of the winter. The old worn Dunlop summer tires were also replaced with Uniroyal Tiger Paw tires in the spring since they were no longer suitable. At the same time the left CV joint (half axle) was replaced which fixed a longstanding problem with a clunking/clicking in turns.

I also replaced the spark plugs and distributor cap and rotor myself. The manual transmission fluid was swapped for Amsoil Synthetic MTF late last October. Additionally, the car has been improved by the addition of an Icom IC-2200h mobile 2 meter VHF radio and a VHF antenna in the center of the trunk. There is also a TomTom One GPS unit.

I have tracked fuel mileage for 12,854.24 of the last 15,500 or so (accounting for 464.65 gallons). This is an average MPG of 27.66. The median MPG achieved across all recorded fillups is 28.19. Best MPG was 30.8, worst 21.28 (in February). Based on the price paid for each fillup, total fuel cost was $1,188.13 with a fuel cost per mile of $0.0924.

If I pull off another 15,000 miles in the next year the car might make it to 175,000 miles before it fails inspection due to rust… or perhaps longer if it manages to pass another year!

In the Volkswagen Golf, and many other cars, there is a light on the dash that illuminates when the cruise control is turned on. But the light reflects the state of the cruise control “master switch,” not whether or not the cruise control is actively controlling the throttle. Since the Golf is a drive-by-wire car, the pedal doesn’t move when it is manipulated by the cruise control. While the master control must be on to enable all cruise control features, it does not actually take control until you press set or resume.

On an aircraft, there would be one light for the master enable and a second light to indicate that the cruise control is actually active. Or, commonly, a light with an amber (armed) and green (active) indication. This is perfect for vehicle cruise control indicators as well. That way the driver always knows the state of the system with a quick glance. I don’t know why more manufacturers don’t do this - it merely requires using a dual color LED.

Recently I was looking up the EPA mileage figures for my 1992 Honda Accord 5-Speed and Abby’s 2003 Volkswagen Golf TDI 5-Speed. The fueleconomy.gov site is now listing the new revised MPG figures for new cars. But it looks like they have also adjusted older model years for effective comparison.

My Honda used to be listed as 22 MPG city, 29 MPG highway. My own driving has averaged around 27 MPG with around 25% city, 75% highway. On long trips, it has usually beaten the 29 MPG highway estimate with around 30 or even 31 MPG, despite highways speeds generally 70 and sometimes above. And that average of 27 MPG (since last October, most fill ups included) includes winter driving with shorter trips. And I usually accelerate swiftly frequently with high revs and full throttle (hey, full throttle in this vehicle isn’t that much power!). And, I have a toolbox in my trunk and radio gear, including an antenna which certainly creates drag. What am I doing right?

The EPA has revised the estimate for my Honda to 21 MPG city, 28 MPG highway. I don’t get this. I’m pushing the engine hard, with cold weather, high speeds, full throttle.. and I am rewarded by beating the EPA highway mileage by 2-3 MPG?! I can only imagine what kind of mileage I would be getting if I started driving like a grandma.

Abby’s Golf was originally listed as 44 MPG city, 49 MPG highway. The Golf has easily bested 50 MPG on our customary long trip from New Hampshire to Georgia. Last year the whole trip also included significant long distance commuting which pushed the total to near 4,000 miles. Despite winter tires, heavy loads, high speeds, air conditioning in the south, and cold temps up north. And that car doesn’t get driven gently either.

The EPA revised estimate for the Golf is… 35 MPG city, 44 MPG highway. This is around 6-8 MPG lower than what we typically get on the highway, even under demanding conditions. City is probably around 8-10 MPG lower than what we’ve observed. Is our experience unique? It boggles my mind that anyone could regularly drive the Golf in such a manner that it would get 44 MPG on the highway. I believe you could drive a long highway trip at 85-100 MPH and get 44 MPG.

I suppose I could see how someone could drive the Honda even harder than I do and get worse mileage. But that would certainly not be the way an average driver drives. I would say typically people are more gentle than I am. What is the point of these insanely low estimates released by the EPA?

I am curious about other people’s experiences, so please drop a comment if you keep track of mileage at all. It would be interesting to see how things compare.

Earlier this evening I took advantage of nice weather to replace the distributor cap and rotor in my 1992 Honda Accord as part of an ongoing 150k mile service. Earlier I replaced the spark plugs. The distributor forms another part of the ignition system on this engine. The purpose of the distributor is to mechanically assign the spark voltage from the ignition coil to the particular cylinder that needs to fire. New cars sold today rarely have distributors, instead opting for full computer control with a separate coil for each cylinder (or shared by pairs of cylinders on some engines).

On my car the precise ignition timing is electronically controlled (it used to be fully mechanical on older cars). But the mechanical distributor is still used to assign the high voltage pulse to the cylinder that needs it. There is only a single coil, and the precise ignition firing is triggered by electronic sensors.

The distributor itself consists of a rotating shaft which is attached to the end of the camshaft. On the end of the shaft is a rotor, which is a plastic piece with a metal connection going from a contact in the middle to a contact at a particular point on the edge. The distributor cap has four metal contacts on the inside which are connected to the four spark plug wires. In the center is a contact which is connected to the coil. As the camshaft spins so does the rotor, synchronized with the rest of the engine. As the electronic ignition triggers an ignition signal, it is increased to high voltage by the coil and sent through the distributor, where everything has aligned to send the spark to the correct cylinder.

Since the distributor is a mechanical system, it is obviously subject to wear. My quick and dirty estimate indicates that the rotor inside the distributor will have made around 45,000,000 revolutions during 30,000 miles. Eventually the contacts wear out, grow dirty, and so on. Thus typically the rotor and the cap are considered wear parts and are replaced periodically when the ignition system is serviced.

Here is my old distributor on the engine. The spark plug wires have been removed for easy access to the annoying screw on the bottom. If you are going to try and replace the cap and rotor on this engine I highly recommend a stubby Phillips screwdriver. The job would have been much more frustrating without it since room is tight between the distributor cap screws and the airbox/cooling pipe on the left.

Once the distributor cap is removed you can see the rotor. The metal contact is visible at the top. On this car the rotor is simply held on the shaft with friction — a lot of friction. It did take considerable effort and prying to get the rotor off.

The gray plastic dust cover covering some of the sensors inside was very brittle, likely due to age. It cracked and I was not able to reinstall it. It is only a $1.10 part.. but I think for now the purpose of the dust cover is pretty much redundant. I will include a replacement in my next parts order and install it then.

With the dust cover and rotor removed you can see the sensors inside. These electronic modules are used to detect the exact position of the camshaft so the spark timing can be adjusted. Precise timing of ignition provides big benefits in emissions, power, and fuel efficiency. Again, systems today are much, much more complex and sophisticated!

Here is the finished product with the new distributor cap installed and the spark plug wires reconnected. You need to make sure you connect the wires in the correct order. The firing order is not 1-2-3-4! In fact, it is 1-3-4-2! That particular firing order was likely chosen to keep the engine’s operation smooth.

You can find some ultra-high res images in the gallery.

Back in October 2006 I became the proud owner of the 1992 Honda Accord I learned to drive on many years ago. Obviously it is getting to be an old car at this point, although it only has 151k miles on it. Although I don’t have perfectly complete service records for the car, I knew it had been around 30k miles since the spark plugs were last changed. Thus I replaced the four spark plugs with new NGK ZFR5F-11 plugs. These were identical to the removed plugs, which you can see below.

Since the old spark plugs have been directly in the combustion chamber, it is possible to discern things about the condition of the engine from the used spark plugs. Unfortunately there is an issue with some of the seals on the spark plug tubes on my car, and this causes some oil to leak into the tubes. The quantity is not significant but as a consequence the plugs do come out with some oil on them. However, you can still get a good look at the electrodes. NGK provides some spark plug reading images which you can use to diagnose.

This is one of my old plug ends. I believe this represents relatively normal wear for the change interval. The new plugs have that characteristic “V” groove in the center electrode — the groove is not from wear. The only worrisome thing is the small deposits on the ground electrode, but I think those are normal. Wear seems to be acceptable. I did notice that the car seemed a bit more lively in the upper RPM range (4,000+) compared to before, but there is a good chance this just represents the placebo effect.

Next up for the “150k mile service” is to replace the distributor cap and rotor and recheck/adjust the ignition timing. I’ll also be removing the valve cover to adjust the valve clearances (”valve lash”). Hopefully this should also yield some interesting photos of the condition of the valve train. And, replacing the valve cover gasket might fix the oil in spark plug tubes problem.

Working on this engine is very nice, especially compared with the Chrysler 3.3L in the van we had before. On a 4-cylinder there is a lot more room in the engine bay, and with a transverse mounted V-6 the read spark plugs are often extremely difficult to reach. Plus, the ignition service will be simple with a distributor instead of electronic coil packs. The engine itself is in very good condition, and I haven’t had to add any oil between oil changes (although I’ve been running short intervals due to an engine flush regimen).

Unfortunately the suspension is 15 years old and on the unscheduled maintenance list is a clicking CV joint. The best repair for that is usually to replace the half-axle. Since the car is already so old and we use road salt here, I’ll probably just try to put a remanufacturered half-axle on which will probably buy enough time to outlast the slowly rusting body. If I manage to gather the cojones to do the half axle, I’ll post pics of that too.

Apparently, many people are not aware of the proceedure for stopping a runaway car. Here is the correct proceedure:

1. Regardless of whether you are driving a manual transmission or an automatic, shift to neutral. The engine will rev up and hit redline, but the car’s computer will prevent the engine from damaging itself. The transmission will not be damaged.
2. Use the brakes to stop the car and the steering to stop the car. In a car with a gasoline engine, power brakes may be slightly less effective. Just continue braking. Steering ability will not be diminished as long as the engine runs.
3. Once you get the car stopped, set the parking brake securely.

These are the don’ts:

• Don’t turn off the engine until you are stopped. You will lose power steering and brake assist.
• Don’t try to brake before the vehicle is in neutral, unless the vehicle is stuck in gear. In this case, use your muscles to brake over the engine until you get the vehicle under control.