r/HondaElement

Just a post to complain, and to show that you need to do a pre purchase inspection.

Bought my first ever element, 2007 LX 163kmi for 7,300 last week. Had the best service records I’ve seen since I’ve been hunting, immediately bought it. Drove it home no problems.

The day after it stalled at every stop light, had to tow it to my mechanic. They had to replace the solenoid, and did a diagnostic as well. Basically had to empty tubes, replace all my cabin air filters, clear the sunroof drain because it was leaking into the cabin, replace the rack and pinion, and correct an exhaust leak.

Safe to say my 7,300 dollar car is now a 10k car, but will last me until I eventually have to do the struts and shocks in the winter.

I have a 2000 Miata, and a 2020 accord. Wife wants us to always have something with more than 2 seats that is reliable and we both love the element. I am considering selling the accord (have some equity there) and buying an element outright.

The only thing is I can't find anything under 100k miles, seemingly because everyone with one is holding onto it. The few people I know that had one just drove it into the ground reaching 3-400k miles so I assume they are just reliable as hell. I am specifically looking at one with a single owner at 140k for 6k USD

I guess my main question is for anyone in the states that works on their element, how available are parts, and how easy to work on? The Miata is a beloved car with a rich history so it is easy getting just about anything I need, whether that is parts/advice/general information.

I get FOMO every time I see a Honda element:,)

Is it common knowledge that is one speaker wire is a little loose it causes all 4 speakers to lose sound? I have an Atoto S8 9" head unit in my 04 with the factory amp and sub, everything was working great for a while then recently I lost all sound from the speaker however the subwoofer still worked. After some digging and wiggling I discovered when I opened and closed my rear driver door the sound would come and go from all the speakers. One of the connections on the speaker was a little loose but it surprised me that one speaker can kill all 4?

In any case, we are back up and bumping so if anyone needs that particular information, here it is!

I remember once upon a Time seeing a post about replacing the liftgate struts for the tailgate of the Honda Element. I have an 08 and the struts have gotten lazy. If memory serves me correctly, someone said that you could actually get new struts that lift the door a little bit higher. Does anybody have the part info for doing that?

Heya! I just found myself homeless with my cat. Lucky for me, I have a 2003 element. I don't mind taking out my back seats at all, but I need room in the car for a box fan and some storage. What's the best mattress for this? Preferably nothing I need to blow up.

I assume the answer is yes, because that's what I read everywhere, but with gas being record expensive and 87 being often $0.70/gallon more, is it a necessity? What makes this engine need 87 gas?

edit: I live at elevation and we have 85 Oct gas. not e85.

I'm in a position where I probably have to give up owning an Element. I need almost 6k in work done, owe 4k on the loan, and it's only worth about 2k. Is there another Honda SUV that feels like an element? I know I'm at a negative equity but it seems more cost effective to trade in for a different vehicle and add the negative equity to a new loan. I got it in 2022 when prices and interest rates were horrific

So both of my headlights, low beams went out at the same time, but the high beams work. I called my local backyard mechanic who fixes my car most of the time, brakes and stuff like that. When I called him, he said it sounds like there’s probably something in the switch because very rarely will you see both headlights go out at the same time if the highbeams are working it sounds like there’s either a short or there’s a problem with the switch. Anyone run into this problem before and if so, can you give me some insight?

In my previous post I showed a few pics of my new, rusty Element. I've made some progress I thought I'd share. Join me as we bring this toaster back to life!

I got the interior fully stripped out:

https://preview.redd.it/euxw39jdy5kh1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5eefac7b885e684140dc772ab0bb7e7a76d8e8d0

Most of the white padding underneath the rubber floor mats was either badly stained or still damp, so I'm going to have to replace all of that. Pulling out all the flooring helped me locate a few more small areas of surface rust. Nothing too bad, though.

https://preview.redd.it/srqqfr6ry5kh1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=70d2df75478ce1ad9907da3fc9e67e28d73219c5

You can see in the wheel well a few spots. Nothing some OSPHO can't handle.

Here's a view from the other side after a thin coat of OSPHO, 24 hours dry time, and some Rustoleum Rust Stop Primer. (I'd prefer some Epoxy Primer, but I have none on hand at the moment.)

https://preview.redd.it/bmfdfs31z5kh1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d320b961b9f2f42136f6b87068be2457fcf7479

With the floor mats out, I got my drill and scrub-brush attachment and some various cleaning solutions and got to scrubbing. This...wasn't that successful. I got the easy stuff off, but these are well stained. I tried Simple Green, some Vinegar and Water mix, and a few other household cleaners, but nothing got out the stains. Any suggestions?

https://preview.redd.it/660ms3mgz5kh1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fb091615ccd1ea03a1667dbe96f85f743360f123

https://preview.redd.it/0jd9d11jz5kh1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a1a699ad5a6c8c976c81a4d8c91bffa9d1b04285

I also pulled out the center console bracket - it was pretty rusty, so it got a full treatment and some primer for now:

https://preview.redd.it/jrhnqifoz5kh1.jpg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3b0dd77364175ccfe955e6117da83e746114c2c0

Now on to the rust holes! Now, I am very much an amateur welder. It's been 6 years since I have welded, and I wasn't that great back then. Plus, welding thin sheet metal is HARD.

Anyway, I decided to start on the driver's side floorboards, since there are only two small holes to deal with. The smallest is a quarter-sized hole by the side door here:

https://preview.redd.it/1n47rb0i06kh1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2dbb313a6fa6ecee4d6ca224b5c8903edd4c2f7d

I started with a paper template:

https://preview.redd.it/flt51lfn06kh1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4972899d92b9e3617014b50279152edbef0dd369

...transferred that to some thin steel, and fiddled with it for a hour or so to get it just the right size.

https://preview.redd.it/4newa89s06kh1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cf770acc01276afa0ee5d87476470b4974b650ab

And then tried welding it up. I blew like a dozen holes in it - it was super frustrating.

https://preview.redd.it/sh8tptux06kh1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f13549d37ce0faf471a55a184d69c89ecb5bdf92

After getting frustrated and re-checking all of my welder settings and leaving it overnight to think about, I tried again and did finally get some decent penetration without blowing through too much.

Yes, these are ugly welds, but this will all be covered, so I'm just going to keep rolling.

https://preview.redd.it/73qf8t7i16kh1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e35ffd1f06d23bd42391ee97c8bfe1bae5992962

I dressed the welds a bit more, then primed it and moved on to the spot on the front floorboard. I made a paper template, cut it out of steel, and fitzed around with it until it was close enough to fitting.

https://preview.redd.it/8z8gd7nu16kh1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7377a017b31e8cc510ac55bec811ad8801d81fd6

Some more really ugly welds later:

https://preview.redd.it/2vo30lxy16kh1.jpg?width=5712&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c24a5c9b8cefedbbb528a510f0945b7e1360f7fd

This is where I thought I was going to stop for the night, hence the picture. But I knew I'd have to put everything away and then pull out all my tools again the next day, so I changed my mind and kept going. I filled in all of those holes, and dressed and primed it. So now at least the driver's side floorboard is done! (I was so tired I forgot to take a picture of the finished product.)

I'll crawl under and work on the one spot on the frame that's rusted out later this week. It's coming along!

The passenger side is the bigger issue. There's a pretty decent hole in the floor, the whole side of the crossmember that the seat mounts to, and the lower section of the rocker panel to be replaced. I'll build my skills with the small stuff and work up to that.

I hope that this post will inspire folks. Even a chump like me with no money to throw at this can do these types of repairs. It's certainly not show car worthy, but if I can get one of these cars back on the road for a few more good years, I'll be happy!

EDIT: I forgot to explain the title. I've decided to call this Element "The Rogue Element". This is the concept image I created to show my goal:

https://preview.redd.it/5c5p8xtx36kh1.png?width=1195&format=png&auto=webp&s=57d2a6093024c78392c257609839ba7698569242

I learned back in art class that a good concept is to have two main colors (green and grey), but then to have a third, complementing accent color used sparingly. That will be the yellow. The stripe, and yellow H emblem, and the yellow fog lights is just enough to kick it up a notch. I liked the color scheme, and it reminded me of Rogue from the X-Men. The green and yellow were colors she wore a lot. (I read a lot of comic books as a teenager.)