[Matt Allen]

Thanks much Cap269, really appreciate the advice. To that point, I guess it’s best to also replace the pads and the rotors? I’m presuming that poorly designed pads, or pads w/inferior material composition can affect the life of the rotor just as much as the other way around? Anyone have any recommendations on rotor manufacturers, i.e. is Duralast better than Napa, etc.?

[Matt Allen]

Hey thisisbuod – thanks for the quick reply, I really appreciate that. The procedure that I’m using is to hold down the Trip Odometer, turn to ignition on, without starting the car, and then in about 10s, the Maint Req’d light goes off and about 1s – 2s after that it comes right back on. At your suggestion, I did in fact, disconnect the positive batt cable for about 15m, reconnected, and still the MR light stayed on. Just for grins I repeated the process and still no go. I’ll drive the car for awhile to see if the condition changes but I can’t believe that it will. I also can’t believe that I’d have to take it to a dealer to get it cleared, seems a bit ridiculous to me that Honda would require that. Again, thanks much for the suggestions. Open to additional suggestions if you or anyone else has them.

Thanks all for your time.

[Matt Allen]

Thanks Eric – I concur, to do this properly would require quite a bit of time, and some cost to purchase all the filters, etc. I did some searches and found these links where some home mechanic actually did what would consider some pretty good tests. Folks might want to check these links out. Granted, there is some subjective data but, and he admits that, but none-the-less, he disassembled all the popular filters, provided pics, pricing, filtration ability, etc. Check them out if you haven’t seen them:
Oil Filter Study: http://www.gmtruckcentral.com/articles/oilfilterstudy.html
Oil Filter Grade/Value Sheet: http://www.gmtruckcentral.com/articles/oilfilter/gradesheet.htm

[Matt Allen]

Great – thanks much for replies. I’ll check it off my maint list for now and monitor. Thus far have had zero problems with it, car just turned 100k a few weeks ago. Looking forward to getting another 100k or more out of this car.

[Matt Allen]

Thanks for the reply. Then if the owner manual is saying it’s time to replace the fuel filter, I guess I should replace the whole pump assembly with the sending unit and the filter bag on it? Dang, seems like an unnecessary expense if that is true.

[Matt Allen]

I concur. I actually like the filters that start with ‘F’ because of that stupid little black stuff they put on the end. Maybe it’s psychological, but it just seems easier to get off when the time comes. I would trust Eric’s review over anyone else on the net so would love to see him weigh in on this.

[Matt Allen]

Thank you for those that replied. Yesterday, the intermittent problem caused failure again, which was good so that I could diagnose it. I finally found the schrader valve on the fuel rail. I did connect the fuel pressure gauge and it showed zero pressure at ignition on. I also monitored with a few different apps on my Android smart phone. I also verified spark, so I concluded it was a fuel pump. I spent the day yesterday dropping the tank and replacing the entire pump assembly. Of course some of that time involved reviewing again some of Eric’s helpful videos. BTW – great suggestion on the pocket screwdriver to pry into old ‘sealed’ hoses. That was probably the most challenging part of the project, as Eric had stated in his video. Also, I ran into some unique connectors which I had to research for disconnection best practices as I didn’t want to break them, specifically the one connecting the fuel line filter in from a Y connector on the tank. After some research I figured out all I had to do was simply squeeze the connector ends but since that’s been there for almost 300,000 miles and it was in a difficult position, it was a challenge. It was nothing that a pair of channel locks and some patient persistence couldn’t overcome. BTW – another useful tip from Eric, be patient and take your time!
Here is what I was trying to disconnect

This is what it looks like finally disconnected

Also, reviewing Eric’s video of replacing just the pump (vs. the entire pump assembly) on the 99 Taurus, which apparently had a different connection type, made me decide to just purchase the entire assembly. I figured that way if there was anything else wrong with the pump assembly, it would be replaced, it was also faster IMHO and I knew I would run out of daylight during the replacement.
Pics of old pump and new pump and the tank with a lot of crud on it.

Of course I also replaced the filter. Had my son help me put the tank back in the underbelly after he got off work, another great tip Eric, get someone to HELP put it back! We put everything back together, did 4 or 5 ignition on sequences to prime the pump. Man you could really hear that thing unlike ever before. Anyway, cranked the car over and voila, started on first time.

Thanks again for the replies and to Eric for a great site and YouTube channel.

Attachments:

• Connector-001.jpg
• Connector-002.jpg
• DisconnectedYConnectiontoFuelFilter-001.jpg
• NewPump-001.jpg
• GasTank-001.jpg
• OldPump-001.jpg

[Matt Allen]

Thank you for those that replied. Yesterday, the intermittent problem caused failure again, which was good so that I could diagnose it. I finally found the schrader valve on the fuel rail. I did connect the fuel pressure gauge and it showed zero pressure at ignition on. I also monitored with a few different apps on my Android smart phone. I also verified spark, so I concluded it was a fuel pump. I spent the day yesterday dropping the tank and replacing the entire pump assembly. Of course some of that time involved reviewing again some of Eric’s helpful videos. BTW – great suggestion on the pocket screwdriver to pry into old ‘sealed’ hoses. That was probably the most challenging part of the project, as Eric had stated in his video. Also, I ran into some unique connectors which I had to research for disconnection best practices as I didn’t want to break them, specifically the one connecting the fuel line filter in from a Y connector on the tank. After some research I figured out all I had to do was simply squeeze the connector ends but since that’s been there for almost 300,000 miles and it was in a difficult position, it was a challenge. It was nothing that a pair of channel locks and some patient persistence couldn’t overcome. BTW – another useful tip from Eric, be patient and take your time!
Here is what I was trying to disconnect

This is what it looks like finally disconnected

Also, reviewing Eric’s video of replacing just the pump (vs. the entire pump assembly) on the 99 Taurus, which apparently had a different connection type, made me decide to just purchase the entire assembly. I figured that way if there was anything else wrong with the pump assembly, it would be replaced, it was also faster IMHO and I knew I would run out of daylight during the replacement.
Pics of old pump and new pump and the tank with a lot of crud on it.

Of course I also replaced the filter. Had my son help me put the tank back in the underbelly after he got off work, another great tip Eric, get someone to HELP put it back! We put everything back together, did 4 or 5 ignition on sequences to prime the pump. Man you could really hear that thing unlike ever before. Anyway, cranked the car over and voila, started on first time.

Thanks again for the replies and to Eric for a great site and YouTube channel.

Attachments:

• Connector-001.jpg
• Connector-002.jpg
• DisconnectedYConnectiontoFuelFilter-001.jpg
• NewPump-001.jpg
• GasTank-001.jpg
• OldPump-001.jpg

[Author]

Replies