Does my car have an attitude?

Yes it is the weekend and I'm bored

Ok, this goes back about two weeks. I needed to go to Roanoke VA to visit with the new owners. So I drop my daily driver, yes the beloved 89 LX-i, and take the road warrior (07 Pilot). The weather is nice so the wife uses her Saab convertible.

Trip goes fine, I still have a job. Once back the wife is still using the Saab so I stick with the Pilot. Don’t get me wrong but driving the Pilot is kind of nice vs. the poor old fella. I like the little guy but the AC hasn’t worked in years.

I did get the little guy out last Saturday for a short trip, about 10 miles. Yes I’m too cheap to pay someone $30 a month to pick up my garbage so I take it to the county dump about five miles from the house on Saturdays.

So the car swap stays in place for this past week as well. Only one small change, Friday the wife needed to haul some stuff so she was taking the Pilot. Well when I get up on Friday to go to work I was going to take the old guy, well it was blocked in. I was going to have to move the Saab, then the Pilot before I could get out of the driveway. Since the Saab was at the end of the line, what the heck, I’ll drive it.

So yesterday, time to take the garbage. I start the little guy and let it warm up while I get everything loaded. No issues, sat there purring away for at least ten minutes. Then I start on the short trip, not even a half mile from the house the CEL comes on, just great. I nurse the little guy there and back home, some of you might know I’ve been chasing an intermittent EGR and IAC. So I’m expecting one of those two.

Get home, check the code and it is the IAC. Usually I pull the fuse, let it sit and then start the car back up and the issue is gone. Well not this time, it comes right back. Turns out the IAC has finally given out, open across the pins. I guess after 25 years and over 235K miles things wear out . So time to source a new/used IAC.

Did the little guy get mad that I drove the Pilot for so long? Or even worse, get an attitude about me driving the Saab over it on Friday?

The funny thing is the wife gets home later in the afternoon and I tell her the little guy is down and out until I get some new parts. Her answer to me, well lets go buy you the new car you’ve been looking at. Even sadder, if it wasn’t like four in the afternoon I would have taken her up on that.

 

Yes, the old Accord was feeling neglected. Fix the IAC problem, give it a wash, check the tire pressure and it will be back to normal once again.

 

Yea, you are right....now that I think about it I washed most of the cars two weeks ago. Guess which one didn't get washed

Wish I had an answer on your door seal issue? All I got right now is get some black weatherstrip "glue" and stick those jokers back up there.

 

Accords definitely have feelings. Mine sprung a valve cover gasket leak the day I put her up for sale. I think I also recall a dead battery that same week.

If you don't have a new car by the time I get back I'm going to drive you to the dealership myself.

 

Ok, deal. If I at least have it ordered that will count. Again, I'm hung on the stick vs auto and to get the stick SH I have to order it as no dealer has them on the lot.

Of course if I don't do something soon the whole thing changes. No TL in '15 and the '15 TLX only comes with an auto.....8 or 9 speed, can't remember.

 

You want the manual.

 

Last January, my old 98 Accord was running great, just got a few things fixed up ready to sell it. Put up the classified, got the call in an hour, When time for the test drive, the buyer got in and the ABS light came on.

 

Similar, in the Saab community, there's talk about "the continuum". That's where anytime someone finally fixes an on-going problem with his Saab; that causes another Saab, somewhere, to come up with a strange problem.

Some people have enough Saabs in their family, that they observe the continuum to work within their collection of Saabs.

 

I think mine "jumps" from the different cars I have. The Saab has been throwing a "trans range switch" code for a few weeks but stopped about a month ago? It was like the more she drove it the less it came on.....humm.

I went ahead an got the part ordered today at work. New one cost me ~$115, rockauto wanted ~$150......I'm getting to the point in life where my time searching thru bone yards, taking a chance on e-bay, ect aren't worth it. Just buy it and move on....just like the wife wanting to go to the dealer and getting a new car

For giggles, hope, I tried it again yesterday.....same thing. I got out the "good" volt meter and tested the resistance again - lesson learned. The good volt meter showed ~600 resistance (cheap one read open), still below the 800~1500 in the manual.

I did order some other things from rockauto......some goodies for a friends car and a cond fan for the boys.

Need to find some good convertable top stuff. I "water resistance" stuff on the Saab needs a touch up - when it rains or you spray water on it, it seems to soak in more than I like. So I need to find a good cleaner and a good "water protectant" for it.

 

Got the new IAC (EAC is what they actually call it on the 3rd gens). Now the fun will be the o-ring gasket.

New one did not come with an o-ring and the part is no longer available from Honda. So I will play around tomorrow and see what I can come up with......go to Honda and try out some "double o-ring" gaskets from other gens (4th ?).

Then look for o-ring stock or o-rings that I might be able to cut one and "seal" to the other.....maybe add a thin paper gasket -cut to fit - as well.

I tested the new one and have ~1250 resistance on it so I think I should be good if I can figure out how to seal it.