At 09:39 PM 6/25/2012, mcneely4@cox.net wrote:
>Hmmm..... .  All automobiles?  My Honda Accord has the combustion
>air intake immediately over the battery in the engine compartment, a
>really dumb arrangement, I would think, since any corrosive gases
>from the battery would be sucked into the intake.

If you look, I'll bet you find that the intake horn is lined up with
some convenient opening facing forward.*  You don't care that much if
the car isn't moving.  It's more of an issue with the Vanagon where
the engine compartment gets a lot less ram air to keep it cooler.

>   However, I'm not going to argue with Honda engineers given that
> the vehicle is at 203k miles and counting, with no work beyond
> ordinary maintenance required yet.

Grrrrr....I guess it's not a '98 Accord.  Dealer: "Nobody in the US
knows how to fix these transmissions.  We just throw them away.  Yes,
the recall is just for the V6 but we have lots of trouble with the
4-cyl too.  Too bad, sorry.  You've really had a lot of trouble with
this car, haven't you?"  Paid 6k, put in ?4?, would have been another
4+ for transmission, traded in for 2k on wife's $6k Outback and
haven't thought of it since until today.  Although she's paid more
just for repairs on the Outback than the total outlay on a '95 Geo
Prizm ($2k) and all repairs since.  She took the Geo with her when
she left and I swapped the Accord for the Geo when she bought the Outback.

*On my '78 Horizon they did seal it to the outside, and they put the
ECU in there to keep it cool.  Too bad they only potted the ECU with
silicone RTV halfway up the ceramic disk capacitors.  Five years
later, every time it rained hard...there *was* a recall, so the
dealer sprayed it down real well with a hose to verify the problem
before sealing up the caps with more silicone.  Three miles down the
road...ever see a CAT glowing red hot in daylight?

Sunbeam, Fiat 128, Saab 96, '78 Horizon (the one CU rated "not
acceptable"), Vanagon, apparently the worst Accord ever built,
another Vanagon...oh, and some Toyotas but they don't count except
for one -- the Accord replaced a '93 Camry I got for $1200 to replace
the Geo that S took with her.

I cleaned the mouse condominia out of the ventilating system, found
out that Toyota's heater blower  resistor lasts about five seconds if
it isn't in the fan airstream, was getting really really really sick
of the mild smell of mouse (but oh, those seats.  Felt like a sin
every time I sat down), when it was stolen out of the driveway in
broad daylight with the neighbor watching.  Found out that the State
PD got it back that night when I got a bill for two weeks
storage...collected it, the thieves had been gentle but left in a
hurry and left behind the stripped key they used.  Turns out '90-95
Camrys ignition locks wear out and you can turn them with a worn out
key that you've filed down a bit more.  Paid the $500 for storage,
drove it home and at one o'clock next morning watched it drive around
the corner.  Those thieves weren't so considerate, so I gave it up as
a bad job and paid real money for the Accord.  Boy was I glad to see
that Geo back!  It's a beater, but it just keeps on beating.

Yrs,
d