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Never hose out a Honda Element

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Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#261

Post by ungamed »

Tabular-Iceberg wrote: post #194
ungamedplayer wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stripped bare is a feature. Less shit that can go wrong.

> Stripped bare is a feature. Less shit that can go wrong. I don't understand this attitude. Stripped bare also means you have less shit that can go right. Don't just do a cost analysis, do a cost/benefit analysis. Better cab ergonomics leads to less driver fatigue, which leads to less accidents and therefore less downtime. Sometimes it actually pays off to have a higher maintenance workload, especially since most of…

> Don't just do a cost analysis, do a cost/benefit analysis.

This is exactly why I have reached the conclusion that I have. The extras are not a considerable enough benefit in situations that I find myself in. Doing industrial work doesn't lead to the benefit of the extras.

It may be that those of us see this don't overvalue optional extras that have significantly less practical value than the marketing suggests.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#262

Post by zamfi »

tokai wrote: post #241
irrational wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LOL What? Do you seriously remove the driver's seat when you are car shopping?

Don't you lol what me. You are making this about car shopping. mmaunder wrote about removing the carpet to clean. Ofc you don't remove the carpet of a car you want to buy. I would never had guessed that you meant 'see the metal' in a car shopping context, as it's as easy as breathing to flip some carpet over and get a sense of the floors state.

mmaunder also wrote:

> 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.

which is probably what the parent post was addressing with how do you check this?

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#263

Post by jason_slack »

byoung2 wrote: post #3

My wife had a 2006 Element. The salesman at the dealer told that hose it out lie. A quick Google search back then debunked it, thankfully.

I had a 2007 Element and loved it. I held on to it until it started having major problems. I never hosed mine out, but mine was from Canada and had a drain hole in the the front and rear.

I never hosed it out though even when it really could have used it. We camped in it a lot.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#264

Post by RajT88 »

exikyut wrote: post #257
RajT88 wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My friend is for sure the inattentive type. This extends to road conditions. Getting stuck on medians, taking a corner in the rain too fast. Not noticing a tree while parking. Not noticing brakes making horrible screaming sounds. Not noticing after weeks of screaming sounds that the car starts diving for the left lane.

With my other comment upthread taken into account, and some awkward but necessary discussion about mental health gotten out of the way, I wonder if it might be an interesting idea to try track/rally racing. My thinking is here that if your friend has ADHD, that naturally imposes a "don't want to develop focus on details because not interesting" "unaware of details in everyday life because no developed subconscious aw…

I don't think he is mentally dysfunctional, beyond possibly ADHD. He just finished his PhD, and is fluent in 3 languages (English, Spanish, Japanese). If he finds something he's interested in, he'll dedicate his whole life to it and even minimize his social life until he's achieved whatever goal he's set out. I don't know what you'd call that. Driving is a thing he does in between the things he really wants to do, which is work and study mostly.

> if this person was prepared to listen to everything the trained driver in the passenger seat was instructing them to do

Not really his personality. Definitely a "figure it out yourself" type, and puts boundaries around the help and advice he asks for. Fiercely independent is I guess what you'd call it, definitely because of how he grew up (which I gather his family housed him, and fed him, but he mostly took care of himself emotionally).

Definitely one of the more interesting people I know. Incredibly brilliant and talented at certain things, and wayyyyyyyy behind the curve in other areas.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#265

Post by SmallBets »

tbran wrote: post #208
SmallBets wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know, it's unreal - the Cat itself is 2500, then 02 sensors, the frame harness, and labor are the rest

That's crazy! If you're inclined to keep it, Rockauto [0] is a cheap place to get auto parts, and often cheaper than the local stores for the same stuff. $368 for a Walker cat for an '08 Element [1]. I know that some repair jobs can be a lot because of how modern cars are designed, but if the labor is a couple grand (sounds like it is), that sounds extreme. [0]: https://www.rockauto.com [1]: https://www.rockauto.com/…

Thank you, I will look into this. I am worried about it happening again lol

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#266

Post by Tabular-Iceberg »

ungamed wrote: post #261
Tabular-Iceberg wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Stripped bare is a feature. Less shit that can go wrong. I don't understand this attitude. Stripped bare also means you have less shit that can go right. Don't just do a cost analysis, do a cost/benefit analysis. Better cab ergonomics leads to less driver fatigue, which leads to less accidents and therefore less downtime. Sometimes it actually pays off to have a higher maintenance workload, especially since most of…

> Don't just do a cost analysis, do a cost/benefit analysis. This is exactly why I have reached the conclusion that I have. The extras are not a considerable enough benefit in situations that I find myself in. Doing industrial work doesn't lead to the benefit of the extras. It may be that those of us see this don't overvalue optional extras that have significantly less practical value than the marketing suggests.

Industrial work is precisely where the extras start to really matter.

In a truck used purely for recreation the stakes are pretty low. Being mildly uncomfortable to and from your fishing trip isn't realistically going to cost you anything financially, and your unpleasant memories of the drive will soon fade in favor of the pleasant memories of the fishing. And even if you are hauling colossal boat on a big multi-axle trailer, the tires are probably going to go bad from age long before you need to replace them due to wear.

But if you're maintaining a big fleet of work vehicles, the stakes are suddenly a lot higher, because everything you do is going to affect your bottom line. Poor cab ergonomics will affect people's entire workdays and workweeks, and will cost you in higher employee turnover, and higher delay, rework and accident rates. And fuel, tires and other wear items are also going to be huge items on your operating budget, so it would be foolish not to try to see what extras you can find to mitigate them.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#267

Post by IE6 »

kamranjon wrote: post #144
aabajian wrote: post #90

If you want a hoseable vehicle, buy an FJ Cruiser. I take my dogs to the car wash (it has heated water), and hose them off without taking them out of the back.

Is it possible that your FJ Cruiser could get rusted out in exactly the same way as the Honda Element from doing this?

Yes - jeep wranglers are hosable and they will rust in this same way - if you don't completely remove the carpets and really let everything dry out you will get rust.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#268

Post by iancmceachern »

Tabular-Iceberg wrote: post #192
uuyi wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. They chassis and bulkhead is made of steel though. This tends to rust very quickly when bonded to aluminium parts.

> This tends to rust very quickly when bonded to aluminium parts Isn’t it the other way around? Aluminium has a lower reduction potential than iron, so the aluminium should be the first to go. Even lower than zinc, which uses the same mechanism in sacrificial anodes and galvanisation. I once had the idea of attaching “sacrificing cathodes” made of iron to aluminium beverage cans to make them go away faster when disca…

That's a super interesting thought, the sacrificial anode thing to break down cans faster. If only there was a mechanism like that we could harness to accelerate the breakdown on plastics.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#269

Post by yencabulator »

djrogers wrote: post #73
kube-system wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wranglers have fabric and plastic trim, and they specifically advertise that the floor can be hosed out. The difference is that it has drains (and floor != seat).

They do not advertise that (at least not in North America) - the carpet will get ruined.

The carpet is specifically mold-resistant and even removable. I guess if you're in a humid climate, you need to make sure it dries fully as soon as possible; not as much of a concern in the Southwest.

Re: Never hose out a Honda Element

#270

Post by supermatt »

ungamedplayer wrote: post #182
supermatt wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having worked in "extreme terrain" conditions for much of my adult life, and now work my own farm, I completely disagree. You don't want to be spending significant portions of your day in a "stripped bare" platform. Maybe thats ok for a couple of hours rock crawling twice a month (not that I would call that extreme terrain!), but not for any actual utility.

Why is this, what features give you value ?

In no particular order, but equipment I recognise I use frequently. Probably missing a bunch of other stuff.

  - Cab heating (keep warm when cold)
  - engine block heater (start vehicle below -25C)
  - windscreen wipers (clear snow/dust from windows)
  - demister/deicer (quickly clear fog/ice from windows)
  - air suspension seats (stop spine popping out of butt)
  - Cab air-conditioning (keep cool when hot)
  - cab air filtration (reduce chance of nasty lung conditions / death)
  - power-steering (be able to turn without arms falling off)
  - wet-braking (nice to have breaks when you need them)
  - a handbrake that works (safely keep vehicle running while unmanned)
  - multiple lockable diffs (you WILL get stuck in mud without these)
  - multiple range gearing (go super slow without stalling and also go fast enough on highway)
  - quick-reverse (switch from forwards to backwards quickly)
  - reversing/positioning cameras (so you dont hit stuff you dont want to hit, and do hit stuff you want to hit)
  - bluetooth entertainment system (podcasts, audiobooks)
  - soundproofing (soooo loud otherwise)
  - winch (get unstuck without waiting for help)
  - CTIS (save about 20 mins a day solely adjusting tyre pressure from field/road)
Im sure you can do without a bunch of that, but you will just be miserable for much of the year (or you dont actually spend much time operating).

I guess you could add safety equipment to that as well. Rollcage, multi-point harness, etc. Theres also the obvious stuff that you just need to do the job - tow hitches, 3-pt mounts, PTOs, etc.

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