Matt Prior: How a Honda misfire left me high and dry Car News

What does the subconscious know that the conscious does not know? Last Saturday I packed my bike for a road trip, first to Scotland, then to Lincolnshire for other work.

I think the bosses would have let me fly if I had insisted but honestly I didn’t miss Luton Airport but missed going around the UK.

I tested the bike and checked its levels and pressures, and for a few moments I thought about packing some tools. Concretely, I imagined my biggest cruciform screwdriver at the bottom of the bag, easy to handle. But don’t be ridiculous: this is an unbreakable Honda.

Also, I couldn’t imagine why I would need this screwdriver, in particular. I am in a crusade to rid my bike of the Phillips screws, even though, since they are Japanese, the standard screws are “JIS B 1012” type. These are supposed to be less likely to come out or strip if you have the right screwdrivers, but they’re still not as happy to resist breaking the bank – and your day – as the Allen bolts and star bolts that I did. gradually replaces them with.

So I thought it would be pointless, this voxy thing doing nothing but adding ballast for a week. So, I ignored the nagging little feeling in the back of my mind like the one you get when you leave the house telling yourself not to worry, you haven’t forgotten anything, only to realize an awkward amount of time. later that your subconscious was right.

Four days later, it was my troublesome time; halfway up a Cairngorm mountain was the inconvenient location later; and a chronic, sudden misfire was the troublesome problem later.

I will say this for rural Scotland: it is very well served with 4G data. Online forums suggested that maybe there was something stuck in the fuel line, but I wasn’t sure. Occasional flashbacks suggested to me that fuel was coming in but not igniting.

Either way, a big batch of basic tools would be to replace the fuel or ignition systems, I consoled myself as I limped to the nearest village, pondering the ignominy of passing 450 miles. in a tow truck.

And that’s when I saw the on-board computer asking me to reset it, which it only did after I had disconnected the electricity – as I had recently done when I was replaced the battery, then tightened the terminal bolt with my screwdriver. Not tight enough to keep it from coming loose for 1,000 miles, apparently.

In short, the village outdoor store sold me a penknife with a screwdriver; that assembling a small custom toolbox is my first job when I get home; and that obviously the problem was always going to be Prior, not Honda.