r/HondaElement

Thought you guys might like to see the work I've done to my girl. She is going to be my mini camper. I already lived in this element for 18 months, but got the past 9 I've been fixing her up to ultimately travel the Pan American highway. Here is the front, the rear is still in progress, and nothing has been done to the exterior yet.

2004. 318,000 miles

Please forgive any loud music or bad photography.

I just picked up this 2007 Honda Element EX with 229K miles.

Single owner car and the owner is a good friend. Largely Southeast US highway miles.

I drove her 300 miles back home and everything felt pretty tight and steady.

Although well-maintained, I want to tap into the knowledge base in this sub. What do I need to work on first? What are some key watchouts?

Thanks a billion!

Update: it's actually a 2009 -- Great Honda Element with 180,066 miles. All the maintenance was on time and done at a local Honda Dealer, I can provide records if desired. I've got two small kids so it's difficult to have two car seats in the back so it's time to move on.

Everything is great, there are a few minor cosmetic things, but the tires are good, new battery, and after market stereo/DVD player. Clean Title. $9000 OBO

Update Again: Located in Fishers, Indiana outside Indianapolis. Also, the car does a "catcage" installed to protect the catalytic converter. It's also 4WD.

So excited to finally have an element! Man! It was a HUNT trying to find an AWD 5 speed that hasn’t been in a bad accident or full of rust!

Picked this bad body up for $5000 from a member in a FB group 20 min from my house when I was just about to loose hope lol.

Lots of little things here and there to do but I can’t get over how much I love this thing!

Lets see...Did a valve adjustment. Installed new valve cover and gaskets. All new bolts. Changed oil and filter. Switched from mobile 1 to valvoline restore. And detailed the engine bay. I have a slight leak on the oil pan gasket so it looks like I'll be ordering that here soon with some new bolts.

I am a woman, and I went in over the top of the engine with nothing but a ratchet and 10mm socket. No removing the oil filter or front passenger tire. I love working on my car. I thought I’d share for inspiration to others that may be hesitant to work on their own engines and I’m also very proud of myself.

So i bought the car around 2 months ago. Drove fine for a month just put new tires on it and got it inspected. See my last post for more details on condition of the car*

2003 with 154k miles. Needs lots of love cosmetically but as a body tech it didnt bother me and i just wanted one to slowly work on and restore it and use it as a daily while i work on my del sol.

Long story short i got the dreaded misfire and after doing a valve adjustment i fixed one of the two misfires i had and did a compression test which netted me 0 compression on cylinder 4.

Ive only had the car a short time and as a tech i decided to fix it myself. The head is now off and this is what i found. Looking for any advice and part suggestions so i can bring her back to her former glory. I will clean up and restore everything i have but i am going to need this car by winter atleast.

And so it begins. The rehabilitation of my '06 EX-P @ 149k miles.

Suspension:

• Front/Rear loaded struts (KYB)
• Inner/Outer tie rods (delphi inner/TRW outer, not pictured UPS was late)
• Front lower control arms (ac delco gold, one not pictured ^^)
• Ball joints (ac delco gold)
• Rear upper control arms (mevotech supreme adjustable)
• Front/Rear swaybar links (delphi)
• Rear toe bolts (moog)
• Front camber bolts (mevotech)
• Engine mount set (anchor)

Maintenance:

• Oil Filter (denso)
• Air Filter (mahle)
• Oil (mobil1)
• Spark plugs (bosch)
• Cabin filter (mahle)
• Serpentine belt (continental)

I'm so excited to finally have this thing driving the way it should as opposed to feeling every bit of 150k with an engine that wants to jump out and at least one scary ball joint. I've had this Element for just under a year, maybe 6k miles on it so far but she's not rotted underneath (very rare for a NY car) so I plan to keep this for the long haul.

I may do some bushings in the rear (trailing arm) depending how things look when I get it apart, but I didn't want to order all that prematurely... also was not 100% sure what to order since I have never wrenched on Hondas before. I got 4 new axle nuts, and brake rotor screws in case I have to take the knuckles out... but again not sure if that is even required. Would appreciate any tips.

Anybody see anything obvious that I missed or a "while you're in there" item to snag before I start pulling it apart, ESPECIALLY if it would impact alignment since I will be getting that done immediately after replacing all these parts.

$18 at Walmart, one kit is enough for 3 cars. I did both of my cars in 20mins, need to wait about 1 hour before last step.

Selling my 2005 Element. AWD. 268,979 miles. It runs great and I've put a lot into it over the last 15k miles (past three years) to keep it that way. Yes it's a bit higher mileage but there's a ton I've done to it to restore it... it's basically feels like it's one or two hundred thousand miles less than what it says.

Honestly kind of bummed to let it go. This thing has been an absolute tank for me. But my life's shifted more toward city driving... I don't drive as much and I want something more compact. It deserves an owner who'll actually use it for what it's good at.

Clean title. Located in the Tampa, Florida area.

Recent work done and new parts:

• Valve adjustment
• Valve cover gasket
• VTEC solenoid gasket
• All brakes + rotors
• Cat converter
• Oxygen sensors
• Starter
• Alternator
• Rear struts and coils
• All sway bar links
• 4 new good-quality A/T tires... about 10k miles on them.
• New spark plugs + ignition coils
• Serpentine belt
• Rear diff fluid, trans fluid, brake fluid, power steering flush
• Regular oil changes every 4k miles since I've had it
• Condenser fan + radiator fan
• Pre-wired for a dashcam
• Android tablet wired in with USB outlet where the 9v used to be... runs Android Auto / CarPlay

Probably some more new things that I'm forgetting.

Asking $6k or best offer. Will be cross-posting on Facebook as well. Open to most forms of payment. Can provide you with some car shipping suggestions if you're not local.

Message me with any questions, or additional pictures/video you want to see.

I’m currently trying to do a full AC system replacement. Struggling to figure out how to get the dashboard out. There are no helpful videos online. ChatGPT gives instructions, but they’re not very clear as to where the bolts and connections are located. Can’t figure out if the outer shell comes out separately; followed by the metal structural cross beam second. Or can you remove it all as one?

What are your recommendations to keep this baby going forever(ish)?
I bought my 2007 green Honda element new and I love and never want to give it up.
I hit 170k and a few things started going haywire. I got the immediate ones fixed and asked for a general assessment of what else needs fixing.
In the photo, everything listed individually was fixed. The circled things were the recommendations that still need fixing.

Of course a bunch of people are like “why would you spend 5k on a car that’s worth 2k if you sold it?” but it’s not about what it’s worth for sale.
This car is the perfect car for me and there really is no other like it on the market. I move large stuff around all the time & make quite a big mess in my car for my job, not to mention I tend to be very clumsy and I don’t know any car where I can bump into a pole and not even leave a mark on it 🤣 this thing is a TANK.
Not to mention I feel cars now aren’t made as well, and are WAY too expensive.
My car is fully paid off and cheap to insure.

So to fellow Element lovers—-I’m looking for reassurance that spending another 2-3k on maintaining/refreshing my car is worth it and would love opinions from long term element owners or owners who have refurbished used ones. 🙏