I may be all wet, but since the 120 Volt "hybrid motor" starts the car not the 12 volt one under the hood, it just supplies power for backup of the 12 volt electrical items. The "hybrid motor-generator" charges the 12 volt unit. I haven't had a chance to read the schematic but I expect that the 12 volt battery has a inverter to charge the 120V pack as well as the 120 volt system to charge the 12 volt unit.

The question is was the state of charge indicator less then 5 bars when the car wouldn't start. if so then the jumper cables should be left on until the state of charge bars are above 5 before trying to start the car. and all accessory's should be off so that any power surges are reduced.

I will have to review the service manual this weekend and if I find out something different, I will post it here.

 

Thanks everyone for all the help with this. I'm going to give the 1-800 number a call for Honda to see if they can give me any help. So far I've had absolutely no luck with the dealer. :/

Things look grim.

 

After reading this post I went to the manual and then to the service manual. This is what I found.
12 volt battery doesn't start the car!

The hybrid battery (IMA) does.

The IMA charges the 12 volt battery. The 12 volt don't charge the IMA battery.

The 12 volt battery runs the IMA computer. So if it goes dead the IMA is off.
Jumping the 12 volt battery will turn on the IMA computer and start the car. As soon as the car starts the IMA will try to charge the 12 volt battery.

So care should be taken when jumping the 12 volt battery. One use clean power jump with just a battery, you do not want to cause any excess voltage levels that may fry the IMA computer.

I would for safety reasons charge the 12 volt battery with out it connected to the car terminals.

If the IMA battery is low the car may not start, check with the dealer, I found no easy way to charge the IMA battery externally.

Remember If we have an EMP pulse all is gone.

 

Thanks for the info,

Its just that I have no legal information to back up the possibility that jumping my car is what caused the damage to my IMA module. I can't get Honda to back it up, and I don't have an expert to speak on my behalf in a court case.

Unless someone is willing to speak for this in court, I'm out $2200 dollars.

 

Thread necromancy!

So, I happened upon this thread while searching google for "jump starting honda civic hybrid".

A sad story, to be sure, but I felt it was left a little open, and I just had to comment, even if it is 3 years after the fact:

Unfortunately, the dealership scammed you. Maybe it was ignorance on their part, and while they "shouldn't" default to the most expensive option, it's obviously in their interest to do so.

I just recently jump started a 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid. The owners manual says to connect a booster battery to the 12V battery, using a large bolt on the passenger's side of the engine compartment as the ground. It even says that if it's connected to another car, that car should be started and run at a fast idle, which will provide ~14v, from which we can conclude that the 12v system isn't "super sensitive" to input voltage.

When I jump started the car, I used just a standalone, charged 12V battery. All the auxiliary systems came to life instantly, and the engine started instantly. The engine is started by the IMA electric motor, which is powered from the 144v battery pack.

Interestingly, when I removed the 12V battery shortly thereafter, the car died again. I would surmise that the ECU requires a minimum voltage in the 12V system, or a minimum run-time to ensure sufficient charge in the 12V system to keep the engine ECU alive. It's also possible that it takes some time before the 144v-to-12V converter can come to life.

When the 12V battery was reattached, the car started easily again. While running, the red battery icon on the dash board was on. The headlights, which are run off the 12V system, were also quite dim.
The user's manual gives a very cryptic explanation of what this means, "If the light is on, the 12V system is not charging, go to a dealer).
After allowing the car to run, with the external battery still attached, for 3-4 minutes, that light went off. At that point, I removed the booster battery, and the car ran fine.

The user manual also points out that the indicated charge state of the main IMA battery will be incorrect for a while, 30 minutes or so. This was the case ; after a drive and a shutdown, the IMA battery level was much lower than was previously shown.

So, if you car was still able to start, run, and charge the 144v pack, then your inverter and IMA control unit were functioning properly. The most likely explanation was that the car was simply indicating a distress code from some transient, undefined condition, related to the jump starting. Maybe even a simple blown fuse or something.
It could have possibly been in a "limp home" mode that a lot of cars have, in which they can run with minimal working systems. If this was the case, then it would have just needed to have the codes read, cleared, and the ECU reset.

Even though this is advice-after-the-fact, in situations like this, you should demand that they turn over the replaced part to you. This will usually discourage them from trying to get you to pay for unneeded repairs, wherein they resell the still-working part out of their back door.

Unfortunately, this is the future we are going to have to deal with.
My father drives a 2011 Prius, and we've had to leave 2 dealerships behind after they've tried to sell us fictitious parts or service; one of them attempted to charge him for "replacing accessory belts", and listed parts for a 2007 Prius, and the 2011 has a belt-less engine.

Cars are becoming more and more "closed". While OBDII exists, and is mandated, it's limited, and the increasing complexity of the car systems and the "mysticism" surrounding hybrids and the nefarious, elusive electron, allows for ample opportunities for people to be locked-out.

 

The reason for connecting the negative cable from the jumpers to a metal part of the engine rather than the negative terminal on the battery is to reduce the possibility of the battery exploding. I don't think it has anything to do with the voltage or amperage. That is the standard way to connect Jumper cables.

A battery can leak explosive gas (hydrogen I think). When you connect the negative cable you can get some arching (sparking). If there is gas leaking from a battery, it could explode. Connecting it to a place away from the battery reduces this possibility.

 

Neil is partly correct. A dead battery could conceivably be dead because of a short circuit inside the battery. Hooking up a 12.0V or 14.4V source to such a battery would lead to an ignition and rapid expansion of the hydrogen gas in the dead battery (that is, a battery explosion). Attaching the final jumper connection to a chassis ground vice the negative terminal keeps your face away from such an explosion. It also keeps sparks away from either battery, preventing the ignition of stray gas (as per Neil's assessment). So in the end, it's about keeping your face pretty, and not about protecting either car's electrical system. As such, your dealership sold you a bill of goods. But, on the bright side, at least you helped your local economy.