Honda Insight Repair and Upgrade Blog by Mike

I decided it was finally time to take out the EGR plate and see how badly clogged it was. I wasn’t disappointed!!

In a couple of places the carbon cutoff all flow of egr gases. This will be a huge factor in the Insights drivability.

Look how high the carbon is piled up on the gasket. Combined with the carbon in the passages made this egr system inoperable.

Another completely plugged egr passage.

That crusty looking egr valve was from another Insight that a guy was parting out. The whole unit was bent. I straightened it in a machinists vice. The pintle was bent too. Now after the Insight is all back together I will swap between egr valves to see if there is any difference.

Just used this small screwdriver for most of the carbon removal and then a paper towel and carb cleaner to wipe of the the very smooth gasket surfaces. I didn’t want to use scotchbrite pads as it would scratch the surface up.

The engine to egr plate gasket part number for my 2002 Insight.

The gasket has sealer bonded to both sides. So reusing an old gasket won’t be as reliable as a new one.

Freshly tested, ultrasonically cleaned, and soda blasted injectors right from Fuel Injection Corp. All new o-rings too.

I have the gasket for the egr plate in hand, and the intake o-rings on order. I plan to take out and clean the egr plate as it has 220k miles. Here is a link for the egr plate procedure. Also the injectors are coming out and I’m driving them to a place to have them cleaned and flow tested while I wait, in the morning.

My theory on the clutch bucking/chattering, especially in reverse, is that the thrust bearing on the crankshaft gets worn particularly bad on this car. Whenever we are at a stop and the engine goes into auto stop, you have to have the clutch in for the car to restart. When the clutch pedal is pressed in, the crankshaft is pushed toward the other end of the motor. Since the oil pressure is zero, then there will be more wear on the thrust bearing of the motor, than normal.

My theory is based on the experience I had with an old Plymouth that I had replaced the clutch and pressure plate on. I had the flywheel surfaced. I dial indicated the flywheel, used new pilot and throwout bearings too. Still the clutch chattered. When I dial indicated the crankshaft end play it was about at max spec as I recall. Putting in a new thrust bearing completely cleared the clutch chatter up.

Granted, we have motor mounts that really need to be in good shape to keep our engines from chattering when the clutch is engaged, but starting up the motor so many times with the oil pressure at zero has to have a price. I’m aware that there is oil still present on the bearing and crank surfaces, but without pressure the thrust of the pressure plate, probably 10-20 lbs on this tiny car, pushes the crank journal snugly up against the thrust bearing. My Plymouth had a heavy duty pressure plate and it put 3000lbs of thrust on the clutch disk, divided by the leverage of 50-60, puts about 50-60 lbs of thrust directly on the crankshaft. So again, our Insights are a lot lighter duty, but I think the lack of oil pressure over the incredible amount of miles that these cars can last up to, supports my theory. The thrust washers are p/n 13331-679-003. 2pcs required. The two end seals for the oil pan are also needed, and a tube of sealer for the rest of the oil pan rail.

I fixed the Insight headlight switch, but I did not add a relay. After looking at the crimp and wire that were damaged, it was easy to see that they were over heated. Not a surprise since the plastic around the pin in the headlight switch were melted. Here is a pic of the damaged crimp and wire after removal from the Insight wiring harness. This pic shows that the copper wire discolored from over heating. It’s very easy to see with the naked eye. Not sure if the pic shows it well enough. But the insulation is definitely darker nearest to the crimp end of the wire. The copper wire discolors and the connection to the crimp gets worse.

Here is what I thought would help keep the connection in better condition as it ages. I soldered it. This will take out the ability of the wire to affect the connection. We’ll see how long it lasts.