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 The car has 97488 miles and so the warrenty I have been told is out of date.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!

 

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?

 

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

 

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.

 

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/

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.