Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Practical experience with a 2004' HCH when I left the interior light on for three days. Overnight was fine the first couple times I did it, but leaving it on for the weekend drained the lead acid motorcycle battery completely a month or two ago. Jump started within seconds of having the jumper cables attached; all the car needed was enough to power the onboard computers to allow it to pull the juice from the IMA battery (which wasn't dead) and start the engine. That and I've read through the entire car's manual a few times. :P
-13th

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Folks,

The way conventional lead acid batteries work is that they like to be fully charged. You can leave the dome light on and fully drain it only a few times before your will need to replace it. If you never run it dead, it should last a good long time!

Dobe

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Brian, I am wondering, how does the car run without IMA. Are you still using the car or have you parked it? My 06 model runs OK without assist. I think I could live without the it? The only problem I can see is, is the engine battery being charged when the assist battery is down?

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

I sell cars at Carmax and find people think their old cars are worth something because they just replaced their transmission or engine. Most of the time you hear this about american cars. I just worked with a customer with a Chrysler Van withover 200,000 miles on it. They thought it would be worth $4000 because it had a rebuild engine and on its 2nd transmission. I always am hearing about new engines and transmission installed on american cars with over 100,000 miles. I guess what I am saying is Honda is still more reliabile than any american made vehicle.


2nd thing..... I really don't believe we are going to see a price break in the batteries unless there are going to be aftermarket companies selling them. Engines and transmissions have been around for a long time and they don't drop price. Unless a aftermarket company makes them. Honda, Toyota and the dealerships are trying to make money.

If you are the only one in town with the battery why drop your price! I wouldn't!


But, after saying all that... I cross my fingers that I don't have a battery problem!!!!!! I have 6 year or 120,000 miles before I have to worry about it!

Jeremy
Birmingham, Alabama

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

jscurrie reminds me of a story I think I may have told here before, but it's worth telling again.

I have an old friend, Louie, who drives an ancient little red Honda, affectionately nicknamed 'Big Red.' He lives out in the wilderness in Washington state and commutes some ridiculous distance like 100 miles to work every day. He also drives back and forth to Chicago and upstate Minnesota several times a year for work. Suffice it to say- he puts a lot of miles on Big Red. He was nearing the half-million mark, when word went around among our friends that when it hit 500,000, Louie was going to finally retire Big Red. A few months later, Louie drives into Chicago, still behind the wheel of Big Red.
"What happened, Louie?" we asked him. "Weren't you going to retire Big Red?"
"Yes, I did," says he. "So far, I like the new tires!"

This, says Louie, is why you should buy a Honda.

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

in 1993, i bought a brand new civic LX, 5 speed. it was my second honda. when we moved to the country in 2001, i bought a subaru forester, and hubby got the civic. i drove the subaru until 2004, when it just about died. i bought a honda CRV, which i traded a year later for my HCH, which i have had for 2 years. the '93? hubby is still driving it. it has somewhere in the high 100,000s for mileage and still goes 80 miles a day. plus......he can get over 40MPG with it. they run forever.......

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Wow...Re-Tired. That joke is a bad as most of mine :) The fact that it's a true story though makes it better than most of mine :(

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

I worked for a company that had several Lincolns and Cadillacs with half a million miles on them. Original engines and transmissions. I drove most of them. Besides feeling like they're old cars, they still drove pretty well. The highest mileage Lincoln that I drove was 670K miles.

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

After almost a year of searching I was able to locate an IMA battery from a 2005 vehicle at Pams Auto online the car had less than 11,000 miles and the cost of the battery with shipping was $ 450.00 , I had received instructions on how to replace the battery on JustAsk.com, a friend and I installed it this morning it took about 2 hours and we took our time, not much more than a
normal battery change yet you need to remove the back seat, make sure the battery discharges, measure the voltage and disconnect in the proper sequence and reconnect the replacement battery in the proper sequence.
The car seems to be running great, IMA light went off immediately upon start up. Honda Dealership charging $ 4000.00 is robbery without a gun at best.

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Wow! Awesome! Sorry to hear it took nearly a year to track down a suitable replacement. However, really happy to hear the parts were cheap, the install went well, and the car drives as it should once again! :)

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

I too have been told that my IMA battery needs replaced. My car was just in the shop for the CVT problem of hesitation and juttering upon take-off, when I drove the car home from the dealer no lights were on. After starting the car about 5 hours later to pick up my son from school, the IMA light and check engine light were both on. After talking with the dealer they told me to just bring the car in, and a computer probably just needed to be reset. After about 15 mins, I get a quote for $4300 because the battery is bad! Imagine my suprise. The car has 97488 miles and so the warrenty I have been told is out of date. My question is, I found a link saying that:

Taken from an internal service bulletin dated March 31, 2006

"WARRENTY EXTENSION: IMA BATTERY PREMATURE DETERIORATION DTC P1447 OR 1449

The IMA battery may be susceptible to premature deterioration in which case the MIL will be illuminated and DTC P1447 or P1449 can be retrieved. The warranty period on the IMA battery is extended to 10 years or 240,000km, whichever comes first.

AFFECTED VEHICLES:

2000-2004 .............. ALL"

Does anyone have a copy of this, and if so, where did the bulletin originate from? I am in Texas, so I am not sure if it would apply to me. If so I would love to save $4300!

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Melissa, I googled the link you found, and it seems to lead to an old thread from the Green Hybrid Insight forum:

https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...eriation-6755/

Maybe one of the Honda Insight folks has a link to the original service bulletin.

Good luck with your situation. Is the car still driveable?

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

You should call head office and look into this. I have heard of a few owners ,well past the warrenty ,getting the repaires done at Honda expense. So don't give up. Cheers, H

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Interesting thread, especially since I just turned 160,000 miles on my '04 HCH MT.
No problems...yet. I guess WHEN it happens, I'll weigh the option of driving without IMA, or replacing with aftermarket/used battery pack. Shame, these cars without IMA run 200-300k miles no sweat.

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Something Melissa might want to check into...
I was reading about this situation where certain Honda odometers have read higher than actual mileage and warranties have been extended by 5%.
Here is a link with various information about it. Not sure if the 5% extension would be enough to help in your case, but it is worth checking into.

http://www.odosettlementinfo.com/

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Is this it?

Date: May 12, 2006
To: All Honda Sales, Service & Parts Managers
From: American Honda Service Division
RE: Campaign Announcement

American Honda is announcing a product update to replace certain IMA components to help prevent IMA battery deterioration. We are also announcing a warranty extension for the IMA battery. Currently, this product update and warranty extension applies only to states where there is an abnormally high replacement rate for IMA batteries. These states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada and Texas. In these states, the warranty for the IMA battery has been extended to 10 years of 150,000 miles, whichever occurs first.

The IMA battery control module(s) allows the battery to overcharge.
Occasional overcharging is a desirable function, but too many frequently repeated cycles of overcharge can damage the IMA battery.
This damage is the result of excessive current and heat build up.
Unique local topographical and ambient conditions in affected states, combined with a driving cycle that typically keeps the IMA battery fully charged, creat this potential problem.

Repair Strategy
On 2000-01 Insights, the product update repair is to replace the battery condition monitor (BCM) and the motor control module (MCM). On
2002-04 Insights, the product update repair is to replace only the BCM. For product update repair and warranty information, refer to Service Bulletin 06-026, Product Update: Premature IMA Battery Module Failure.

Before beginning work on a vehicle for the product update, verify the elegibility by checking at least one of these items:

- The customer has a notification letter.
- The vehicle shown on your campaign responsibility report.
- The vehicle is shown as eligible on a VIN status inquiry.

In addition, check for a punch mark above the 14th character of the engine compartment VIN. A punch mark in that location means the product update has already been done.

To verify elegibility for the IMA battery warranty extension, you must do a VIN status inquiry. For more information on the warranty extension, refer to Service Bulletin 06-027: Warranty Extension: IMA Battery.

Customer Notification
Customers will be sent a notification of the product update and warranty extension the week of May 22, 2006. Approximately 4,700 vehicles are affected by this update campaign.

Parts information
A small quantity of IMA repair kits (for 2000-01 Insights) and battery control monitors (for 2002-04 Insights) will be available the week of May 15, 2006, through normal channels.

Sincerely,
American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
Honda Automobile Division

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

I would go to a higher level than the dealership.

At the least I'd expect Honda to partially absorb the costs.

Can someone connect an OBDII device such as ScanGage and get the code?

That could help a lot.

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

About two weeks ago my check engine light came on; so of course I took my car in and was told that my battery module was failing and that could run around $3,800. The service rep told me that he would call Honda to see if they would help subsidize the cost; he said they usually will help out up to 50% of the cost, depending on wear on the vehicle and mileage (I'm at 89,600 miles by the way). It was the weekend, so he waited to call the following Monday and called me with the news. American Honda agreed to pay for everything; he said he must of caught them on a good day, jokingly. So, he ordered the batteries and I took my car in yesterday for service. Everything was taken care of and the cost actually ended up being $3,056.85, but it was all taken care of under "warranty". In fact, my warranty slip says "One time goodwill per _____ at American Honda" in a couple of different places.

I'm thinking that Honda knows some things about the batteries and doesn't want unhappy customers.... So, any of you with issues, hound your service rep to call Honda and see what they will do. My car has a lot more get up and go now and my gas mileage should go back up; it was down to 29 MPG last week! Unfortunately, my A/C compressor is now beginning to fail (according to Honda) and that will be around $1,700. I guess they get you one way or another.... Good luck to all of you wish this issue.

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Great news, I am glad they're making good on that. Something you said sparked a curiosity for me though...

Is FE deterioration a common precursor to the battery problem? I have been experiencing a progressive drop in mileage. It started when I got new tires, but it stabilized after that and now it still seems to be going down a year later. My last tank was 37. A year ago I'd never had one below 40, nowadays I can't seem to get one above 40. It's at about 80k mi.

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Ok, so now I'm on my third tank in a row around the 37 mpg mark. A year ago I couldn't do lower than 42, after the new tires, 40, now it seems to be suffering even more. Is this a typical indicator of the battery problem? It seems the battery never gets fully charged. It depletes faster than it used to as well.

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Zimpop, try some differant routes. Maybe your normal route is not a good one for regen of the pack. H

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

My hybrid battery was replaced at about 75,000 miles. They said it was about $4,000 at the dealer. Of course, I didn't pay a penny, as it was under warranty. I wonder how long this new battery is warrantied for?

Also, I wonder if due to a new battery, I can get more for the car if I decided to sell (which I'm not seriously considering).

Around 45,000 miles I had to get the oxygen flow sensor replaced. Also, the steering column tends to creak really badly in spells, sometimes for weeks at a time, then it will go away for weeks at a time. Really strange. Otherwise, I love the car.

I just got 45.8 mpg (the car showed 49.9) on my most recent tank here in hilly east Tennessee. Tires at max sidewall (44 psi), doing the basics (driving 5mph<SL, DWB, trying to keep accels<2,000RPM). I haven't really tried P&G yet. I live at around 1650 ft. elevation, but most of my driving is at around 800 ft. The drive up the hills to my home really eats into my MPG.

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Dealer just replaced my IMA battery under extended warranty. This 2003 Hybrid has 85k miles, and the battery has never gotten above half a charge for over a year and a half. My gas milage had tumbled, as the car always seemed to be trying to charge the battery, in extreme cases, even while accelerating. After many, many trips to the dealer and a visit from the DSM, they agreed to replace it. I just got it back, so far so good. This car has been a disappointment. For various problems, it has been at the dealer more than in my driveway. I am now hoping all the issues are resolved and I can enjoy it for several more years.

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

Dealer just replaced my IMA battery under extended warranty. This 2003 Hybrid has 85k miles, and the battery has never gotten above half a charge for over a year and a half. My gas milage had tumbled, as the car always seemed to be trying to charge the battery, in extreme cases, even while accelerating or going uphill. After many, many trips to the dealer and a visit from the DSM, they agreed to replace it. I just got it back, so far so good.

Update -- Dec. 9 -- Gas milage is back up, and all is well.:)

Re: IMA Battery Needs Replaced
 

hey
im in california and i have 3 EV-PH6R5R24b's. my neighbor got them to make an electric vw. they are in great shape and i want to sell them . my number is 530-921-4332 or dancarter77@yahoo.com. ill sell them cheap!!!
dan