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400,000 miles

45K views 68 replies 32 participants last post by  CafeRoaster 
#1 ·














 
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#3 ·
Awesome! Congrats Pierre. Your E is my E's role model.
 
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#6 · (Edited)
I had just enough time to put the pictures up before I left the shop today, had dinner plans.

But holy crap! I never imagined I'd ever put this many miles on one car, myself. And I don't see an end. What surprises me the most, at this point, is how many things I have not replaced. I still have the factory original water pump, yes I swear. Let's see... what else. Window regulators, power door lock actuators, thermostat, power steering pump and rack, every single rubber hose and vacuum line is still original, drums and rotors (had the rotors turned for the first time last month), rear wheel bearings and pretty much every single sensor on the car except the o2 and v-tec oil pressure sensor. Those are just the obvious things that I never would have expected to last this long but go through my list of what I have done and see. If it ain't on there, I ain't done it. I am currently dealing with two intermittent problems with my o2 sensors and my driver side seat belt tensioner throwing up a code every once in a while but it's not urgent. Other than that, it's tip top. I would still trust it more than any other car I know to go on any trip, anywhere, anytime.

God I love this car!
 
#60 ·
I had just enough time to put the pictures up before I left the shop today, had dinner plans.

But holy crap! I never imagined I'd ever put this many miles on one car, myself. And I don't see an end. What surprises me the most, at this point, is how many things I have not replaced. I still have the factory original water pump, yes I swear. Let's see... what else. Window regulators, power door lock actuators, thermostat, power steering pump and rack, every single rubber hose and vacuum line is still original, drums and rotors (had the rotors turned for the first time last month), rear wheel bearings and pretty much every single sensor on the car except the o2 and v-tec oil pressure sensor. Those are just the obvious things that I never would have expected to last this long but go through my list of what I have done and see. If it ain't on there, I ain't done it. I am currently dealing with two intermittent problems with my o2 sensors and my driver side seat belt tensioner throwing up a code every once in a while but it's not urgent. Other than that, it's tip top. I would still trust it more than any other car I know to go on any trip, anywhere, anytime.

God I love this car!
Do u still have the element? How many miles now?
 
#13 ·
I'm not alone. There's someone on here with more miles than me. I saw their post a while ago I just can't remember who or where.

The locks, I just never use them. I've had remote start/entry since March '08 cause I knew good and well that the locks were crap. I bought it new in '05 and by '08 I already had to repair the drivers door lock twice.
 
#12 ·
There have been three occasions where it went above normal. Two of them were when my fans quit on me, it still didn't overheat. And once when the radiator blew it's top, literally. The plastic part on top of the radiator exploded while I was driving on I295. I was still able to drive it back to my shop stopping periodically to let it cool down and add coolant. I drove it with the heat on full blast to extract as much heat as possible. The gauge got close but never went to red.
 
#14 ·
My jaw dropped when I saw that many miles. Amazing! 400k and still running strong. Even my gf whose driven Hondas most of her life said she can't believe that a toaster would last that long. This gives me hope that my toaster will last as long as yours.

Are these mostly highway miles, what are your basic maintenance/repairs, and how would you describe your driving style?

Thanks for sharing and keep us posted

Sent from AutoGuide.com Free App
 
#15 · (Edited)
Are these mostly highway miles, what are your basic maintenance/repairs, and how would you describe your driving style?
Mixture of everything. City, highway, country and hours of idle time while on site. I guess I could describe my driving style as "what's necessary". If I'm not in a hurry I just relax and enjoy the music while I watch everyone pass. If I'm in a hurry I go a little faster than most but within reason. But I'm not afraid to push the car to it's limit if necessary. Sometimes I do it on purpose to remind me where that limit is, it's good practice if you ever need it. I haul some pretty significant loads with my trailer, the heaviest I think would be an entire pallet of bottled water from BJ's. I tow my boat with it and I've even pulled a flooded Chevy Astro with trailer out of the water with it. Oh yeah, and I pulled Chevy SUV's out of the mud twice. It's an animal!

The life long list is here.
 
#18 ·
carring over my list to add to it

1. AAA Emergency Services vanity plate.

2. Fog lights.

3. Many headlight bulbs.

4. Protective screen in front of radiator/condenser to catch bugs and things.

5. Radiator flush every 100k mi.

6. Battery X3 and when I got tired of that.

7. Optima yellow top battery. Along with that went a beefier power and ground cable for the 2000w inverter.

8. Oil change every 5k mi with Castrol 5w-20 Synthetic Blend. There have been a few times I used 5w-30 or some other brand due to lack of stock.

9. Serpentine belt every 100k mi.

10. Motor mounts once, all of them.

11. Valve adjustment every 100k mi.

12. Transmission fluid every 100k mi.

13. Oil filter every 10k mi.

14. Air filter... I really don't know. I just pull it out, smack it around to bit to dislodge some dirt and see if it needs changing. If you hold it up in the air and you can see sunlight through it you don't need to change it.

15. Extra fuse box for stuff. It gives me 6 more fused circuits and it think I'm using 4 or 5 of them.

16. Front brake pads every 100k mi. Except for the time I didn't grease the sliders and the passenger side caliper got stuck. The inside pad got chewed up pretty quick that time.

17. Compliance bushings once, recently.

18. One windshield at about 30k mi... then I learned not to tailgate (that one oughta piss a few people off).

19. Dash cam. A USB webcam mounted in front of the rear view mirror.

20. Tweeters. Since there was a place for em but it didn't come with em.

21. Yoda bobblehead.

22. Remote control for remote start etc.

23. All the instrument cluster bulbs cause I got tired of it being so dim.

24. Radio. Who hasn't done that.

25. Aux input for radio. On the trim piece just to the right of the radio.

26. Velcro in certain spots on the dash for certain things to stick.

27. Code Lock.

28. Start button.

29. Hidden button to take out of park.

30. Disabling the ignition so the remote works the way I want it to.

31. Relays and stuff inside the dash for the remote start and stuff.

32. Steering wheel knob.

33. Extra 12v outlet to the right of the shifter.

34. SC center console.

35. Laptop stand.

36. Laptop.

37. 4 way USB adaptor.

38. Radiator fans. The thin one twice and the normal one once.

39. Tires. The factory tires lasted only 30k, I've gotten 60k+ out of each set since.

40. Alternator, once.

41. Starter, once. By the way, taking the intake manifold off to get to it was not as hard/scary as it seems.

42. Spark plugs every 100k mi. I tried something other than the NGK iridium once and will never make that mistake again.

43. Screen covering the inlet for the vents to keep leaves and things from getting into the blower.

44. Blower motor once.

45. No more overpriced cabin filter.

46. Boston Acoustics to replace the factory speakers.

47. Flashlight holder on door panel.

48. That bead thingie on the seat to help keep me cool in the summertime. These seats do not breathe at all.

49. Vent Visors.

50. Tint.

51. Lowered lock button so I don't lock the doors when I hang my arm out the window.

52. Subs in the rear doors.

53. Roof racks made from an aluminum atv ramp.

54. Solar panel mounted in between roof racks to keep battery charged while on site making keys and stuff.

55. 2000w inverter.

56. 12v outlet in the rear.

57. Fluorescent light at the rear hatch.

58. Chrome "Locksmith" and EOC sticker on the hatch.

59. '03 center caps for the black on black steelie look.

60. Compacted all my work stuff to the very back to have back seats again.

61. Trim rings to finish off the steelies.

62. Radiator @ 353k mi.

63. Reese class 3 receiver hitch.

64. Honda trailer hitch wiring harness.

65. VTEC oil pressure switch.

66. A/C compressor @ 356k mi. (it's freakin hot)

67. CV axles.

68. Transmission @ 370,000 mi.

69. Catalytic converter @ 370k mi.

70. Rear Shocks @ 385k mi.

71. Tensioner pulley.

72. Swapped out the rear control arms for adjustable ones to get rid of the funky looking toe in on the rear tires.

73. Front wheel bearings for the first time @395,000 miles.

74. Same for the front ball joints.

75. Front left hub.

76. Lame attempt at rear wheel bearings where I crushed my finger wide open. Still need to replace them. The bearings, not my fingers.

77. Left and right tailgate latches.

78. Driver side seat belt tensioner.
 
#23 ·
I originally would get most of my parts from Majestic Honda, www.hondaautomotiveparts.com. Then, cause of my company, I got a wholesale account at a local dealer. Majestic is selling parts to anyone at wholesale prices, you just have to pay for shipping. I also get a few things from Advance Auto Parts but I always get the best quality. Especially brake pads, always ceramic. One recent exception was the starter. Honda didn't have a new one in stock and I'm not impressed with the Honda remanned one so I got a remanned one from Advance cause it had a lifetime warranty.
 
#55 ·
...but I believe the original lasted over 300k miles.
sweeet! i am currently at 187k and that makes me feel alright. I baby my element and stay on top of all preventative maintenance stuff. I have AAA and travel the country alot but its good knowing this starter could potentially give me another 100k. I really believe honda went all out on quality with the elements, i hear stories left and right on how they go the extra mile.

Sweet line up btw!
 
#25 ·
I have stuck with Honda transmission and power steering fluids but not brake, coolant and oil. I've had zero problems with coolant labeled "mixes with all colors". No one seems to carry halogen fluid though, might be why I go through so many headlight bulbs.
 
#37 ·
i was going thru about a bulb every 6 months (i do a LOT of night driving)... nearly 2 years ago, i switched to LED...haven't changed one since. they were 160$ at the time...pretty much already paid for themselves... i just bought a different brand of LED for my tacoma a few months ago when one of the bulbs went out... 99$, and WAAAAAYYYY better than my 160$ set.





i'm gonna order a set of these for the rallement pretty soon. they're SOOOO BRIGHT! brighter than halogen, for sure. more like HID. and last forever. you WILL need to adjust your headlight height if you get em tho.
 
#27 ·
If you always forget the halogen fluid, covering the bulb in pink highlighter liquid prior to install works wonders on life extension. Make sure its the pink and not yellow, a lot of cars have the yellow highlighter and it just doesn't cut the mustard.
 
#28 ·
Locksmith is my idol....I "only' have 150k on my 2008 EX auto 2WD .... hoping to go at least 200k with this Element - I love it !
 
#29 ·
80. Cam chain and guides. (which lead to)

81. Oil pump chain, tensioner and guide. (which led to bending an intake valve, which led to)

82. Pulling the head to get re-manned.
 
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