I never go anywhere without a spare starter. That's why I need sport coats with large pockets.

 

Don't forget about the unibody having a stress cracking around engine mounts or strut wells. It's not a bad idea to have a spare hinda fit body shell to be handy in the garage, or better yet, tow it behind the main fit so the swap could be done right on the side of the road.

 

That certainly is a lot for 09. My 2011 has only a quarter of that. Hopefully I can get that out of mine.

 

This thing has sat for so long, my jump pack couldn't get the damn thing started. Had to use the Insight to jump it.

Once I got it started, I took it to a dealer my friend works at - he was the one that has worked on this thing for the most part while the original owner had it. Got the passenger axle replaced under the recall and he did a valve lash adjustment for me.




Odometer is at 590,2xx miles. I only drove it the past few days because of the recall and I didn't want to drive the Insight to the beach while it was storming. I've managed to avoid the flooded streets.

 

What was the condition of the axle that was replaced?

 

I replaced the passenger side in 2017 with an aftermarket one. It was still in good shape, but the boots were starting to crack.

The original one with 423k miles however was a different story...

 

Wow that thing is held together with hope.

 

It was not a fun time when the axle broke. Coasted it to a parking spot at a friend's apartment, but it required a permit. "Oh, you should be fine!" Woke up the next day and the Fit was gone.

Being it was Sunday, we had limited time to figure out where the Fit went and get something to tow it out of the yard with before they closed. I was very close to blaming the tow truck driver on the broken axle to escape fees.

 

Wow!

423,000 miles on that axle, pretty impressive!

 

I'd be qurious to hear if you have already passed 600 k miles.

 

It is at 591k. I don’t daily drive the Fit anymore.

 

While it was below freezing temps, I have been driving the Fit a little. I've converted the Insight's IMA battery to lithium and driving it in temps under 32°F isn't great in the long term.

I also took it on a mini-day trip to Charlottesville, VA for some Insight parts last week.





Last night, I have installed LED H4 bulbs in the headlights. When I drove it daily, I would always buy Osram Night Breakers, but constantly replaced them every six or so months due to their short lifespan. I held out for a while because LED replacements were questionable and/or pricey. Osram now has a few, so I decided to try them out since now I'm going through the cycle again in a different car.

I had originally bought a pair (Osram LEDriving XTR) for the Insight, but they took forever to show up - they were coming from Powerbulbs from the UK. For S&Gs I bought a different pair (Osram LEDriving HL) from a US-based company, and the UK bulbs showed up hours later after being en route for a month. After installing the HL bulbs in the Fit, I noticed the high beams didn't work.

Remembering that the XTRs had little modules attached, I swapped with the Insight and noticed that the XTRs allowed the Fit to have high beams, and the HLs in the Insight projected the light much better in comparison to the XTRs. For once I've benefitted from being impatient.

 

Things just got a lot more interesting. Walked up to the Fit earlier this evening to run one more errand I forgot to do. Opened the door and heard something. Looked over and saw this...





Not sure if my opening of the door caused it or if someone had hit it, but I did find this and wonder if it's even related. https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...ow-broken.html

I found a replacement already and the packaging tape is now holding the shattered one in one place.

 

Here's to hoping this window isn't going to fall out.

Got a replacement rather quickly and from a 2012 to boot. Reused my clips from the old window since two out of three were missing on the replacement.

 

I like the shop manual up against the windsheld. I always reference it when I'm working on my FIt.

 

It has saved my ass so many times.

I have a collection of manuals (mostly FSMs) of various cars, some of which I've owned previously.

 

Julian- In the 3rd pic down that you posted of the shattered glass, it looks like there's a hole in the middle of the glass the size of a bb. All the cracks in the glass look like they radiate from there. Maybe a bb is the cause of the damage, or that was the point of impact from something else..

 

A BB pellet crossed my mind, but I didn’t see any on the ground. I’m sure something hit it though. When I opened the door, there was a very audible crunch but of course I wasn’t staring at the window either.

 

You know, my former automotive teacher told me ceramic balls (we had a ceramics class on campus) can shatter automotive glass at very low speeds.. i believe he said throwing them was enough. It was something surprising, because it prompted students to doubt and test the idea, which resulted in their paying for windshields.

I'd always meant to test it, but who has spare auto glass they want to shatter?
I also wonder if it was a deliberate break based on location..

In your earlier pictures it looked like there was an additional piece of glass at the fore end of the little window (maybe plastic). did'ja find a replacement for thst too?

 

I know these little windows don't take too much, its just very odd. I'm not losing sleep over it or much over this car lately. The Insight would be a different story.

If I'm correct, the piece you're referring to is a plastic piece attached to the fender. I just removed it and slapped it back on when I was done.