Hi im new to this but is there something wrong with my car?

i am only getting 33mpg?

 

It's hard to tell, especially if you're only taking a "snapshot" of 146 miles.

What kind of driving was it? Mostly short trips? Air conditioning on the whole time? Lots of uphill driving? Lots of stop and go driving or traffic jams, all these things can really bring your mpgs down.

Try to get a measurement over the course of an entire tank. Do a manual calculation of miles driven for that tank per gallons taken at fill-up.

Read over at cleanmpg.com where there are comprehensive articles detailing various ways to maximize mpg for your particular car. It may be that your car has a problem, but it also may be that you are new to this, and need to get some driving tips. I wouldn't make a judgment based on a mere 146 miles of driving.

 

Getting good MPG can be a zen thing- relax, focus, see the light is red a half mile away and take your foot off the gas.
I get a steady 41 MPG and I don't work at it that hard but a bad week at work can lower it to the high 30's and it pretty easy to get what your getting if i'm in a hurry running errands.

Ways to tell if your car is working like it should-

Fill the tank, reset both odometers and take a drive- on a fairly flat road with light traffic where you can maintain 60-65, with cruise control on, reset the B odometer and see what MPG you get after a few miles. It should be well into the 50's

increase the tire pressure, but no higher than it says on the door sticker.

breathe.....

 

I'd have to say yes, although I agree that it depends on how you spent those 146 miles. Frequent stops and air conditioning will drop the mileage.

That being said, my first tank was 44.7 over 5 years ago. last tank was 48.5 with tires a little low and a lot of A/C use due to the heat. Since the initial tank I have never been below 46 for a tank. 33 MPG is what a non hybrid civic might get. I'd guess an IMA problem.

 

Check the 12V. Make sure it is holding the charge. Test after sitting over night. Should be showing over 12v , if not think about a new one. H

 

My 06 got 35mpg on my first tank. After filling the tank for the first time I drove about 30 miles on the freeway. After that I've done almost all city driving with my AC on the entire time. I just filled up today for the second time. The odometer has just over 100k mile on the clock. Everything seems to work fine but I'm not all that familiar with how the IMA should work. It seems when I punch it a little to get ahead of someone the assist comes on and the battery graphic goes down to 2 or 3 bars. For the next 5 or 10 minutes I drive normal and all of a sudden the battery graph shoots to the top. This usually happens when I drive the car for the first time or after sitting for a while.

Are the IMA batteries really $5k Are there any other battery companies that make replacement batteries for these hybrids? Can a mechanically enclined person change the batteries themselves or does the dealer have to do it save the warranty. I dont' mean to hijack this thread but my mileage seems a little low too but maybe I am just not used to driving it the way other hybrid owners drive.

 

Jeep_daddy, the 2 bar issue you described is called a recal. If it happens too frequently then you have issues. As far as if Honda will do anything about it, probably not.

 

It seems to happen every time I accelerate a little more than moderately like going up a small hill or passing another car etc. It takes 5 or 10 minutes of normal driving an then the battery graph shoots to the top and then it seems normal until the next time I need a little more power to pass or get up to speed like merging into freeway traffic. I'm thinking that it's not normal when it does this.

 

Jeep_Daddy - your battery is in a bad state (but usable). It will never fix itself (I waited a long time with the new software). There are a few ways to approach this:

1) If you have warranty you can keep bugging your dealer about the re-cals and they may test and get you a new battery (others have been successful).

2) you can look into a 'grid charger' that would balance out the weaker cells in your battery pack. the first gen Insight owners have been doing this for years and claim it gets rid of the re-cals.

3) you can look for a low-mileage battery from a junk yard/recycler. However you would need to grid charge this to balance the cells also.


I bought a junk battery, did a grid charge, and I get no re-cals anymore. My next step is to try to re-vive my old pack that would do the same thing yours is doing. It would re-cal when you tried to use a better amount of assist.

 

I have a good friend that works for Hond of America. I'm going to tap into his resources and see if he can get something done for me. He's helped me in the past with my Honda motorcycle.

I don't want to mess with NiMHi batteries. I'm no engineer but every laptop battery that I've owned goes bad with use and over time. They don't ever get better. If a grid charger will bring them back to life that would be great. Laptop batteries are expensive too.


Again, I'm not battery expert, but why would I need to grid charge a good junk yard battery. Its either good, or it aint. I don't know, you know a lot more about this than me and maybe after sitting for a long time they need to be jump charged or something to bring them back from a long state of hybernation. I don't get it.

Hunter, you are a wealth of information and I'm glad you responded with these options. To me, the only option is for Honda to make these batteries last the "usefull life of the car". I did see a hybrid battery web site recently that sells the Honda IMA battery for about $1600. If I can't get anywhere with Honda I might trust them for a new battery pack. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Also, my Honda friend may be able to get a new IMA battery at cost for me. (whatever cost is)

One question you might be able to answer for me Hunter is how difficult is it to get at and R&R the IMA battery on a 2006 Civic? I believe it's behind the rear seat. Does the seat come out like the seats of old? Push down and in on the bottom cushion then remove two bolts for the back cushion? And the battery - is it just bolted down with a couple of fasteners? how about the wires? just a couple of plugs? and she's out? I can do that.