Over the last few months, I've been experiencing battery behavior that hadn't occurred before. The battery indicator will regularly run down to 2 bars and then very quickly indicate 8 bars, often with very little time spent in "recharge" mode. Yesterday, for the first time, the IMA and malfunction dashboard lights came on and shortly thereafter the IMA light went off but the malfunction indicator beneath it stayed on. Obviously, it's time to take it to the dealer since the car has about 148,000 miles on it and the warranty here in CA for the battery goes to 150,000 miles. I was wondering what ploys or misdiagnosis I should be aware of when I take it to the Honda dealership. It seems to me that the battery might be dying but I'm never stuck in a situation in which battery power shuts down and I'm still getting 40-43 mpg in mostly highway driving. I just replaced the 12V battery about a week ago so I doubt that's involved. Thanks in advance for any help that's provided.

 

FYI, this is a 2007 HCH.

 

Run, don't walk to your local Honda dealer. The warranty goes to 150K on the battery, and replacing them is anywhere between $1800 and $4000 depending on what you do. They'll be able to pull the IMA fault code and run the warranty replacement from that. However, at 150,001 miles, you're technically toast.

MY 06 HCHII has 164K and I got the dreaded light 2k ago, so I'm searching for other alternatives. Replace that puppy right now.

Jay

 

Myself, and several others around this forum have rebuilt our IMA batteries and as for myself I have also fixed my transmission shudder under 15 MPH problem, fixed my wheels cupping on the rear due to control arms, fixed my catalytic and O2's triggering a P0420 code, and spark plug change. I bought the 06 HCH w/ 165000 miles for $5000 and put $1000 into repairs and now am getting between 42-51 MPG. You can literally make this car last forever if done right. However, you have to be mechanically inclined.