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Never hose out a Honda Element

fifthelementcamping.com

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Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#31

Post by cowmix »

bstar77 wrote: post #7
chrisseaton wrote: post #4

I don't get it - would you would think you can hose out a consumer car like this, with the fabric seats and all that plastic trim? I've hosed out Land Rovers, but they're clearly an off-road vehicle designed for wading.

I was looking at one of these at the dealership in the early 2000's and the sales guy told me I could just hose it out after a day at the beach. It seemed plausible considering there was no carpeting and the seats could be folded up.

Yup, I heard the same thing.

My buddy bought one and he would hose his out all the time.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#32

Post by everly »

luma wrote: post #10

I'm curious how this is currently the top story on HN. A now-discontinued and otherwise entirely unremarkable family vehicle is not able to be inundated with water without serious consequences, much like the overwhelming majority of passenger vehicles made before or since. Who is the audience for this?

It’s mostly the Mandela-esque effect of everyone seeming to remember it being a supposedly washable interior.

Plus the Element sort of has an outsized place in American popular car culture, not unlike the Pontiac Aztek. That’s my best guess anyway. Hard to explain but it makes sense to me seeing it here.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#33

Post by lb1lf »

chrisseaton wrote: post #13
uuyi wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having driven Land Rovers in the form of series, defender and discovery, I wouldn’t hose one out either. The upholstery rots and stinks and the fittings go rusty too. If you’re doing wading and off road stuff you need to tear the entire guts out and start again. And then the bulkhead equipped vehicles will fall to bits within a few years as well.

I've been hosing out my Defenders and wading them above the door seals for years and there's no significant rust yet. They have rubber floor mats instead of upholstery. But they are maintained professionally.

If memory serves - I have never put it to the test - my HZJ78 Land Cruiser owner's manual says wading depth is 700mm (doors closed), 875mm (doors open) - presumably the added depth with doors open is down to the reduced buoyancy.

Part of me really wants to try it out once, though.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#34

Post by mmaunder »

chrisseaton wrote: post #4

I don't get it - would you would think you can hose out a consumer car like this, with the fabric seats and all that plastic trim? I've hosed out Land Rovers, but they're clearly an off-road vehicle designed for wading.

Only time I hosed out a car is my uncle's car when it ended up in the ocean. Was low-tide and tons of seagrass on the boat launch. Lost traction and just slowly slid all the way into the ocean. Actually turned out OK after a serious fresh-water bath and carefully drying out everything.

Hosing out a car under normal circumstances is insane. I recently worked on a Dodge 12V diesel 1994 truck. Removed all interior carpet and WIPED out all the nastiness and vacuumed up the bits etc. Got it down to the metal and really nice and clean. Then layered up on Dynamat in prep for installing a high-end sound system and got a great result.

Unless you've destroyed the vehicle anyway by dipping it in sea-water, don't hose out your car.

A really great check to do if you're buying used is to look under the driver's seat for rust. It indicates flooding. In the case of pickups, it means they either submerged it or used it as a mudder. Red flag. Walk away.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#35

Post by jacquesm »

caycep wrote: post #8

that's sad...it would be the perfect vehicle from a form factor standpoint to do this. Would that they could just spend the extra production bux to put extra rustproofing and drain holes in it for this...

That's not that simple, actually. Drain holes by themselves are going to allow moisture in to the car as well, and being holes the edges will need to be protected, usually drain holes will have some rubber insert for that. But then they are no longer flush, so some water will pool. I've welded plenty of car bottoms where moisture had done a very thorough job of rusting things out, drain holes are typically a fantastic way to get a problem, rarely a way to solve a problem.

Some convertibles have this done the right way, but there the whole car is designed from the ground up for this, and that includes the upholstery, the electronics placement, the way the cables are routed and so on. If that isn't the case your best bet is to keep moisture and fluids on the other side of the bodywork.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#37

Post by mmaunder »

Barrera wrote: post #30
chrisseaton wrote: post #4

I don't get it - would you would think you can hose out a consumer car like this, with the fabric seats and all that plastic trim? I've hosed out Land Rovers, but they're clearly an off-road vehicle designed for wading.

It's in the video embedded at the bottom. What appears to be a representative of Honda says the following about the then-concept car (0:40): "It's got kind of a wash-and-wear interior. You can kind of completely hose out the interior if you wanted to."

This is why "kind of" is such a popular caveat.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#38

Post by numbsafari »

luma wrote: post #10

I'm curious how this is currently the top story on HN. A now-discontinued and otherwise entirely unremarkable family vehicle is not able to be inundated with water without serious consequences, much like the overwhelming majority of passenger vehicles made before or since. Who is the audience for this?

> entirely unremarkable family vehicle

That’s blasphemy right there.

It’s the best of a group Of vehicles designed by Boomers for millennials that ended up only being bought by Boomers, since discontinued for no good reason.

Honda’s major sin here was not updating it with modern electronics or a more efficient engine.

It is smaller than the current CR-V.

Such a shame.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#40

Post by chrisseaton »

lb1lf wrote: post #33
chrisseaton wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been hosing out my Defenders and wading them above the door seals for years and there's no significant rust yet. They have rubber floor mats instead of upholstery. But they are maintained professionally.

If memory serves - I have never put it to the test - my HZJ78 Land Cruiser owner's manual says wading depth is 700mm (doors closed), 875mm (doors open) - presumably the added depth with doors open is down to the reduced buoyancy. Part of me really wants to try it out once, though.

I think the new Defender is 900mm doors closed, which is pretty deep!
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