Green Zone - Maintain Your Ride

At Zone 5 we have a Honda Odyssey company van. It gets a 0 for sex appeal but a 10 for usefulness. It’s great for deliveries, pickups and general business logistics. We keep the oil changed and throw some new tires on every few years. It’s always been very reliable. However, a couple months ago IT happened. The dreaded check engine light came on. If you have any car experience you know that this seemingly harmless little light has the potential to be a major pain. It could mean anything from a loose gas cap to complete engine failure. The mechanic wants to charge you eighty dollars just to diagnose it, nevermind the money it will cost if there’s actually something wrong with your car. Luckily Matt has the solution. He bought a code reader that you can plug into any modern car and it will decipher the codes. Our van threw two codes including the EGR valve and catalytic converter. Both are very important parts when it comes the environment. The EGR valve recirculates gas that didn’t get fully burned back into the airstream of your engine’s intake to give these noxious fumes a second chance at being ignited. Further down the line the catalytic converter neutralizes carbon monoxide and other toxic compounds in your vehicle’s exhaust as it passes through the converter. Both of these items are crucial to keeping your vehicle performing well and minimizing the emissions coming out of your tailpipe.

After diagnosing the problem the next steps were to get part quotes and mechanic quotes. Honda wanted $800 for the cat. The mechanic wanted hundreds just for the installation. Both of these were a complete joke and I wasn’t about to waste that kind of company coin on a couple easy installs. I hopped on ebay and found a brand name aftermarket converter new-in-the-box for $170 and got a factory EGR valve for $140. Next, break out the torch, impact driver, ramps and rust bust spray and man up! A couple hours of rolling around in the driveway and victory! The van was back to it’s original cargo hauling glory. 

As always, a little extra effort and determination can make the difference to the environment and your wallet. Total savings was $1000+ and I got the personal satisfaction of carving another notch in my mechanic’s belt. Everything better all the time, even if better only equates to getting back to where you were once before.