109, 500 miles old

It's a few weeks ago that Shifty had another AB service. This is a combined oil and filter change with an inspection service. These come along approximately every nine thousand miles.

I'd asked the garage to strip and re-lubricate the rear brakes.  Jazz cars seem to need this bit of TLC once in a while. However this time the report came back that I needed new pads.

I think the last pads on the back were replaced at 60, 000 so no surprise that a new set are needed 50, 000 miles later. I didn't see the last set but the garage kept this set to show me. They were almost down to the rivets - I.e nearly pushed them to the limit. Feel like I was being told off for being a bit neglectful. Not nastily - just a little disappointment from the service foreman.

Inspection also revealed that my Yokohamma BluEarth tyres are now below 3.0mm. That's well above the 1.8mm legal minimum but for ideal grip in the wet it's better to have more tread. Agreed with garage that November this year will be change time.  I'll probably get the FastResponse tyres on the front put on the back and go for a matching pair on the front.  The FastResponse's have been good so far - slightly quieter than the BluEarth's. They are also supposed to be better in the wet too but my driving style doesn't really test tyres.  I'm an early pensioner when it comes to driving - an eye on keeping driving costs down both in terms of fuel and in encouraging mechanical longevity.

So that's it for news.  Car is currently averaging 60 mpg which matches it's usual Spring behaviour. It was about 59 MPG overall this winter.  It was a mild winter though. So no surprise there.

All in all, apart from a few occasional squeaks over roadhumps taken too enthusiastically and the odd clunk from something in the front suspension settling down for my morning commute,  all is well.  And, yes I did ask the garage to check for the causes of these subtle wee moans but nothing was noticeably worn to any worrying degree. However I expect these will develop to the stage where component change will be necessary.

So nothing in the front suspension has been changed so far which is great considering for the first three years of Shifty's life twice a day, four times a week, it had to drive over a quarter mile long potholed farm track. Now it has just has to suffer ten road humps four times a week.

90, 000 and I-Shifting fine

It's that time again. The every 9000 mile odd oil change 'A' service and the check all those boots and joints and brakes inspection 'B' service.

I was wondering, watching the last 3000 miles to next A service indication tick by, when would it suddenly also ask for a B service too. It turned out it would be in the last 700 miles which happened just after I'd arranged an A service with the garage. Grr.

Worse still, since I was just expecting a quick oil change, I'd arranged the service on a Saturday morning when the mechanics work a half day and they figured they'd also have enough time to fit a new front bumper. To replace the one damaged in a low speed accident in December 2012.

To top all that I also had wanted the garage to look into two more areas on the day. One was some slight staining on the rear brake calliper - I was worried that it might be the beginnings of a brake fluid leak - and the other was a engine fault warning that was worrying me.

This fault showed up with the aid of a gadget bought to watch my driving efficiency.  The gadget is the Garmin EcoRoute HD. This is an OBCII to Bluetooth data sender that allows certain parameters of the engine management unit to be read. 

Garmin's free Mechanic app run on my Samsung Galaxy SII Android Smartphone reads data from the EcoRoute wirelessly over Bluetooth.

Garmin's Mechanic app, aside from aiding economic driving, also has a fault warning capability. It can indicate when something is being reported by the engine's management computer. It uses an icon similar to the familiar "Check Engine" light you would see on a car's instrument panel.

This is exactly what happened to me but, oddly, Shifty's own check engine light wasn't on. So was the Mechanic app wrong? Opening up the faults page on the app didn't reveal what the cause of the fault was. So I guessed that either the app was faulty or possibly didn't know how to explain the code under one of the fault categories listed.

So when I got Shifty back with a nice new bumper on, oil changed, inspection done with no problems or adjustments needed, I asked the garage whether their own diagnostic computer could find a fault.

It turned out that the Garmin app wasn't dreaming up a fault. There was a fault "flag" set. It recorded that there had been a single incidence of an I-Shift transmission out-of-spec detection.

This was explained to me that the "fault" was that there was one mechanical transmission operation that took longer than the 0.25s allowed. Once in 90,000 miles! I can forgive that. The garage cleared the flag and the Mechanic app is now happy showing Shifty as fault free too.

And the staining was nothing to worry about - it was due to cleaning spray residue from a recent rear brake strip-down, lubricate and reassembly service done a month back. I get this done whenever I feel that the handbrake is requiring more effort than I feel should be required to hold Shifty on steep slopes. This work is required less frequently than our previous Jazz 1.4 i-DSI CVT-7.

Well that's it - the next "service" is now 8000 miles and it's Shifty's first ever '8' service. Code 8 is an air cleaner element change service. It's Shifty's first air filter change meaning the current air filter has lasted nearly 100,000 miles!

Some general stuff:

• Fuel economy is averaging about 62 miles per imperial gallon which is in line with this time of year with average air temperatures during drives of around 14 degrees C. It should climb up to 65MPG come the summer proper depending on my air conditioner use.
• I've had to switch from Shell V Power 99 octane gasoline with molybdenum and cleaners to Esso Supreme. My local station stopped selling premium grade fuels and switched to another budget brand. I am convinced that using premium fuels with higher octane and those containing cleaning additives gives me a better MPG. The higher power output at lower engine speeds really works well particularly as Shifty's love of using the highest gear ratios in any given scenario.

Summary. Shifty still going strong, with minimal actual work on the car - just service items, fuel and tyres.

History repeating itself?

As I write this, Feb 2013,  the current automatic Honda Jazz models in the United Kingdom use a CVT based transmission. The hybrid automatic additionally uses the IMA (Integrated Motor Assist) system to provide sufficient torque to allow an engine set-up that if used alone wouldn't be generally acceptable. This engine set-up allows for an aggressively frugal approach to be taken and consequently despite the additional weight of the batteries, electric motor and additional hybrid drivetrain bits and bobs still has a better fuel efficiency than either the CVT or manual transmission Jazz models.

So I always assumed that the next car after Shifty would be back to CVT, possibly a hybrid but most likely still a Jazz. However I have been forced to feel that the 60+ MPG combined figure of  the Jazz hybrid wasn't really high enough above the 58+ MPG figure of the Jazz CVT to make it worthwhile.

In fact the 80+ MPG figure of the 2012 Toyota Yaris hybrid was looking a brilliant figure. This is an almost diesel like MPG figure without being a diesel! The drivetrain on the Yaris is pretty much simply a downscaled version of the Prius and Auris hybrids so they should be easily able to cope with the typical moderate annual mileages we do. The design is very good too with an Atkinson cycle engine and superb and complex transmission which is CVT based but has an electric motor incorporated in a manner such that, unlike the current Jazz hybrid, it can solely move the car at speeds up to 30MPH. There is also the option for the driver to select EV (Electric Vehicle)  mode - again not something possible in the Jazz due to the mechanical set-up of the gasoline engine, the IMA system and the CVT transmission.

However we're not considering a car change until well into the future - 2018 - five years away. So what could Honda have cooked up in that time. Possibly something that could close the MPG gap between their small hybrid Jazz and that of the Yaris? It just might happen. I came across some interesting news on Honda's World media site. I know they have a new design push going on called Earth Dreams - the latest thing in the UK is the new Civic 1.6 iDTEC - but I just found out that they're also doing something with their hybrid and transmission thinking.

The Intelligent Dual-Clutch Drive system is one new technology that may well become used in a small sized Honda like the Jazz. Honda has announced that they will be using the transmission with an Atkinson Cycle 1.5 litre petrol engine. The "iDCD" system will be a 7-gear, dual-clutch transmission with an integrated electric motor. And, it can also do EV at low speeds.

I guess this drivetrain possibility will give an automatic option to the smaller petrol engine in the current Civic range too. Currently, since the dropping of iShift on the 1.4 engine UK model, only the 1.8 litre petrol engine has an automatic transmission and a hydraulic one at that. It would also give the UK Civic a hybrid option using the same European Civic shape that is currently missing from the current UK range offering.

So the moral of the story is if you wait long enough history does repeat itself. In this case iShift, albeit improved with dual-dry plate clutch and sequential shifting and an integrated electric motor gearbox might be coming back and might just be in a Jazz! In that light, it could be that a new Shifty might just replace the old Shifty and we'll not ever have another CVT from Honda.

Painful lessons will have been learnt by Honda over the automated manual transmission (AMT) they put in the 2010 model year Jazz and which is at our Shifty's heart. I'm sure that all the naughty characteristics of iShift will have been tamed into what will become a well behaved predictable and smooth transmission. After all, they will have a whole new set of CVT experienced drivers to please and Honda already know that they expect very well behaved transmissions or, as before, they'll go elsewhere. With Toyota's open arms ready to greet them I hope the engineers at Honda will make a beautifully drivable but highly efficient (80+ MPG) petrol car and they'll offer it in the next generation Jazz.

Air conditioning and an over excited fan

Finally something has happened to Shifty.

Let me set the scene. Normally I run the air conditioning once per week for 20 minutes. The idea behind this is to keep the seals and flexible hoses in tip top shape.

I've read somewhere that if you don't regularly run the AC then the seals and hoses can be affected allowing the refrigerant gas to slowly escape reducing the pressure in the AC. Apparently there is oil in with the refrigerant and droplets of this oil travel along with the refrigerant around all parts of the system. The oil keeps the hoses and seals supple and lubricates the compressor.

However despite regular use eventually some of the refrigerant is lost and this causes the AC to lose effectiveness (stops cooling as effectively) and eventually to stop working properly altogether. Potential damage could occur to the compressor too if the level of oil in with the refrigerant gets too low. And a constantly running condenser fan will waste fuel and potentially wear out earlier.

I don't think Jazz owners generally know that they should really have their AC serviced once a year. The AC service can be done by a Honda dealer and includes a pressure check and refrigerant charge, and the cleaning and disinfecting of the cooling element in the car (the evaporator) to get rid of nasty and potentially fishy smelling yuk that can form there.

One symptom of low pressure in the AC system is that the condenser fan (the fan on the small radiator beside the engine's radiator at the front of the car) runs constantly when the AC is on. Usually it switches on and off as required whenever there is an insufficient temperature drop to the refrigerant passing through the condenser -i.e. when the car is at rest.

And that's exactly what Shifty was doing - I noticed the condenser fan running continuously when doing my regular AC maintenance run. A trip to my local Honda dealer and now all is well again.

They found that the system was pretty much empty of refrigerant. This worried them enough to put in an ultra-violet tracer in with the refrigerant. The idea behind this is if there is a pinhole puncture somewhere in the system then the leaking point will be easier to identify. Shifty is to go back in a month to see if there is any pressure drop and if there is they'll get out a UV lamp to look for the leak.

The good news is that the system was able to maintain a vacuum for five minutes before charging the system with refrigerant. So the leak (if there is one) isn't down to a big hole somewhere.

After driving home from the garage with the AC on, when I parked I left the engine running and the AC on to see what the condenser fan was doing. It wasn't running when I parked. After about a minute it came on ran for five seconds then went off for about forty-five, then on for five and off for thirty, then kept that up until I switched off the AC. I suspect the condenser fan wasn't running at all during the drive but can't be sure. You can't hear the relatively quite fan unless you're stopped because of road and engine noise.

So Shifty's AC seems to be working like new. I'll run it more frequently over the next month to see if the fan on/off durations get to be more on than off.

Will add some comments giving details after each test. Hope it turns out to have been normal dispersion of refrigerant rather than stone damage to the condenser, hoses or pipework.

Either way I've learnt a valuable lesson -in future I'll be booking Shifty in for an AC service each year.

81000 miles - and all OK

On our annual winter pilgrimage to the Orkney Islands we have to negotiate the Berriedale Braes on the A9 trunk road. It's a steep downhill followed immediately with a steep uphill. It's serious enough a hazard to include emergency escape sand traps for heavy good vehicles with failing brakes.

It was immediately after negotiating the 'Braes that we noticed a repeating chirping noise that increases in frequency as road speed increased. The chirping continued for a few miles after the 'Braes and then went away.

The noise came back again a week later, again after going through the 'Braes. Again going away after a few miles.

Since the car was due a service I decided to bring it up with the workshop when it was in the Garage. It was when I was talking to the foreman that I realised that the front brake pads and discs are the originals. That means that they have served an incredible 81000 miles!

Is this long brake life characteristic of I-shift? I know that the gearbox is good at downshifting during extended braking. So perhaps its attentiveness to road speed and car incline/decline means that its consistent downshifts help take load off of the braking system?