[andy80586]

Phoenix, in rush hour traffic, on the way to Oakland. My work is in SF, I live in Tucson, so it's 850 each way once a quarter.

I'd like to hit 400k+ on this thing.

 

[Marv]

Took me 4 1/2 years to hit 100k from the the 65k when I bought my E. A 5000 mile stint made up of 40 125 mile mostly rural roundtrips (5 days a week for 8 weeks) just put me over. The E performed flawlessly and books on CD and my heads up display were priceless. No tickets! I'm at 103k now and sniffing around for a second E for field and fence work. Something solid but of the '5 bales of hay' variety so almost certainly with the first 100k built in.

 

[andy80586]

Phoenix, in rush hour traffic, on the way to Oakland. My work is in SF, I live in Tucson, so it's 850 each way once a quarter.

I'd like to hit 400k+ on this thing.

Damn image won't upload. it's at 200k.

 

[Hammerheart]

162,000 miles and counting here. 2003 EX, been driving off road for over a year now with it. It needs a new tie rod assembly pretty soon I reckon. Struts next. It's VERY wet here in this tropics and I've had a few electrical issues, but I'm loving the car overall. Solved intermittent VTEC issues by using a heavier weight oil and putting seafoam in the oil to increase pressure. It's been running great! Will possibly clean out the top of the engine block and check the timing in the future. Whatever it takes to give it love and keep it running <3

 

[Ben10]

162,000 miles and counting here. 2003 EX, been driving off road for over a year now with it. It needs a new tie rod assembly pretty soon I reckon. Struts next. It's VERY wet here in this tropics and I've had a few electrical issues, but I'm loving the car overall. Solved intermittent VTEC issues by using a heavier weight oil and putting seafoam in the oil to increase pressure. It's been running great! Will possibly clean out the top of the engine block and check the timing in the future. Whatever it takes to give it love and keep it running <3

What oil weight do you run? I'm similar and thinking of going heavier than the stock

 

[Hammerheart]

What oil weight do you run? I'm similar and thinking of going heavier than the stock

I switched to a 10w20 synthetic based on some comments I read here. Apparently the Elements everywhere else other than the US use a heavier weight oil, but in US it was lowered because of some regulation or something. There's a guy on these forums that says he's at around 250k miles and uses 10w30 and it fixed his vtec issues.

It's worth researching more on your own and coming to your own conclusion. The added oil pressure helped me, but I'm no mechanic. I imagine the more oil pressure you have the more likely it is to leak, if there are any weak points in the system.

 

[Ben10]

Right on, makes sense. I spoke with a friend who's a Honda Mechanic for about 20 years and he suggested the 10w30.

 

[te1966]

162,000 miles and counting here. 2003 EX, been driving off road for over a year now with it. It needs a new tie rod assembly pretty soon I reckon. Struts next. It's VERY wet here in this tropics and I've had a few electrical issues, but I'm loving the car overall. Solved intermittent VTEC issues by using a heavier weight oil and putting seafoam in the oil to increase pressure. It's been running great! Will possibly clean out the top of the engine block and check the timing in the future. Whatever it takes to give it love and keep it running <3

Hammerheart: Thanks for your input here. My '03 EX has had a P2646 and went into limp mode twice intermittently, but both times it went away by itself and has been gone for ~ 2 1/2 months now! I haven't changed anything! Go figure!

One question: Did you add the Seafoam to increase the oil pressure; or did you add it for it's ability to break down and dissolve any particulates that may end up in the screens?

I just added 5 ounces (as directed on the can) of Seafoam to my oil yesterday, and we'll see what happens. The oil currently has ~ 4500 miles on it and still looks to be rather clean. The oil I'm using is Valvoline Synthetic Blend 5W20, with a quart of the thin Rislone oil additive. I've been using Rislone since the '70's in my cars with good results. Rislone too, with it's increased detergents, is good for breaking down deposits inside the engine. But I doubt that it would have any effect on the oil pressure.

I'm guessing it went intermittent because the screens may be partially clogged. But, ????????????????????????

So my plan is to wait another 500 miles or so to see what the Seafoam does, when I go to change the oil I'll also remove the VTEC solenoid to see what's going on with it's screen and electrical connections, stick with the 5W20 Valvoline, skip the Rislone, and go with a Wix oil filter instead of the cheap Fram I had before. I can only hope that fixes it!

One thing for sure: That P2646 code can sure give us a lot of grief! There seems to be any numbers of issues that set it off! And the opinions on how to solve it here seem to run the gamut as well! Some say never use anything other than 5W20, versus like your suggestion to try 10W30. Some say never use any oil additives, versus your suggestion with the Seafoam.

There are two things most everyone here does agree on though: stay away from cheap oil filters, and only replace the VTEC solenoid with a genuine Honda part.

Please let me know, Thanks! : - )

 

[nonford150]

My 2006 hit 327K; my 2005 is now @ 262K. Never had any real issues with the 06; somebody made a left in front and BOOM!
Replaced the transmission @ 227K on the 05 but I was second owner and had no maint records.