Three noobie questions

[noel]

Hi All

Many thanks VT3C for your most comprehensive and helpful reply, and to the guys suggesting a fuel change.

A dealer responded to my query about seat covers using some acronym, relating to the passenger seat, without further explanation. VT3C expanded on that nicely - now I know what the dealer was talking about. Great, mate! Our issue with seat protection is two dogs, so I'll continue to cover the seats with towels. Children don't ride in the car (no kids at our place; never found out what causes them, actually!).

It's hard to explain the vibration, other than to say it's not there when cruising, but appears under moderate acceleration and, at times, seems like it could be coming from the gearbox in the lower gears. The vibration is not from something loose, or say, mis-aligned exhaust system, but can be felt through the go pedal and the driver's footrest; it's not like the "power surge" that tells the right foot (even with the bionic throttle) the car is accelerating.

It also depends on the weather whether the vibration comes in; hot, overcast and humid, it's not there, particularly at night. But, on a dry, warm day, it can be expected. To be fair, the dealer who road-tested the car said there wasn't an issue - but the weather was "right" for it not to raise its head.

Could the vibration be associated with Honda's practice of using running-in oil?

The vibration was present on taking the car home after delivery, ie, on the F3 between Gosford and Newcastle. It's now done nearly 4,000kilometres. The engine does not ping.

I'll try running it on 95 and a bottle of injector cleaner. Our Xmas trip to near Mittagong returned under 7litres/100k's; perhaps the motor is running lean, as it probably hasn't loosened-up fully at 4,000k's?

Anyway, guys, many thanks for your interest in this one. It will be a week, or so, before the car needs petrol; I'll try some premium and report back on possible results.

CHEERS
NOEL
BTW Does Honda have a travelling engineer, who visits dealerships to try to sort out issues, such as this. Or would a trip to big-H in Sydney be advisable?