fleetw00d : 2007 Honda Element EX AWD

[Fleetw00d]

Bling for when the Element comes home in May.

20200328_185427 by Paul Kemme, on Flickr

[SSMAccord]

This looks good!

[Fleetw00d]

Switched plans; the valve and intake cover went on a blue Element I bought in May. This one got a new serpentine belt, oil & filter, transmission drain & fill, differential drain & fill, power steering 3x drain & fill, replaced one damaged wheel since it came home.

[Straight Success]

How many miles does it have now?

[Fleetw00d]

Rolled through 192,000 just last week.

[Fleetw00d]

Supplementing my Accord parts collection with Element parts. My son and I hit the yard Saturday (2004 and 2005 available) and picked up a 4WD drive shaft, rear differential, pair of side view mirrors, three tail lights, rear hatch struts, and a few other odds and ends.

[Fleetw00d]

A light clunking from the rear end. I suspected rear sway bar bushings. Got it up on ramps, just a little looseness in one bushing, but it looks like the left rear spring is cracked in the top coil. Elements have a history of stuck lower shock bolts also. I needed something to do this weekend.

Edit: Well, I guess it may have needed them anyway. Sprung for a set of OEM rear spring/shocks because this vehicle is headed to TN on Wednesday. Heard a lot negative feedback on aftermarket spring/shocks. Once I got the left one out, the spring itself wasn't cracked, just the coating. I was lucky (cause I know I ain't living right), the lower shock bolts came out relatively easily. They were Honda shocks, don't know if they were still the originals.

20200815_115637_resized by Paul Kemme, on Flickr

[Fleetw00d]

Daughter had a water leak from the top center of the windshield on the way to school in FL. Had Safelite replace it Sept. 8. Good timing, it survived Sally's assault on Pensacola. The college campus registered 36 inches of rain.

[Fleetw00d]

Finally uploaded some photos from summer. Got carried away with a 150 ft. roll of striping tape and some lettering (the "O" stuck before I was ready). Installed stripped, powder coated, truck bed liner coated rear bumper beam from my son's Element (installed a new one from Honda in his). Wire brushed, a little sand blasting, treated and truck bed liner coated rust under the rear hatch where the bumper cover slides in.
20200718_095634.jpg by Paul Kemme, on Flickr
20200718_121823 by Paul Kemme, on Flickr
20200718_125634 by Paul Kemme, on Flickr

20200801_180801 by Paul Kemme, on Flickr
20200801_183009 by Paul Kemme, on Flickr
20200813_184409 by Paul Kemme, on Flickr

[Tishock]

Looking good. did you ever install the painted valve cover?

[Fleetw00d]

Looking good. did you ever install the painted valve cover?

I put it in the other another Element I bought in May for my son (the lower mileage Element in my sig). It is Atomic Blue, so the valve cover went with it better. I will probably take that one and have it powder coated for this one - maybe candy red.

[Fleetw00d]

This one is home from college with my daughter for a few weeks; flew to Pensacola on Thursday morning, she picked me up at the airport (noon central time) and we headed home, terrible traffic in Montgomery, AL; didn't get home until 4:30 AM Friday. Figures, new windshield in September, got hit with a rock on the way home and left a star. Oil & filter change, rotated tires, cleaned the wheels today. Now at 196,625.


WOW! Safelite wanted $134 to "repair" the rock chip/star - that's almost half what it cost in September to replace it. I used a Permatex kit on it; it made it less noticeable. No idea if the Safelite repair would have been any better. It is on the far upper right, so not evident to the driver.

Edit: Got this back yesterday.

[Fleetw00d]

Valve adjustment, engine bling, catalytic converter anti-theft shield.

[SSMAccord]

Good job on the upkeep on the Elements!

[Fleetw00d]

It's always something. The exhaust system shifted a little and started banging against the shield. I tried to push the shield further away. There is an exhaust hanger not too far behind the converter; I cut a second hanger, put one half inside the intact hanger on the bottom and the other outside of the intact hanger on the top side to force the exhaust system away from the shield. It stayed in place for the whole trip to FL yesterday taking my daughter to school. 25+ mpg for the trip down.