I thought that lawsuit a few years back regarding odometers extended the warranties by 5 percent or so which which would cover your car.

 

Mine's being replaced today (under warranty). When I first took in last week (see Post # 76 below), they of course did only the software updates. When I picked up the car it was after hours. I turned on the engine - only 5 bars (presumably the technician had driven it and left it fully charged). I drove 100 feet from the parking space over to the building at which point the bars were down to 3! I left a note for the service manager (and a long voicemail) and carefully monitored in the following days (little to no improvement). The service manager called back 2 days later and said that after talking to the tech and telling him my experience, they had talked to Honda and got the replacement authorized. Yay! So - I will see tomorrow how it works on my 48 mile commute (and in the 100+ degree weather here in CA)!

 

Had mine replaced last Thursday. Car DEFINITELY seems peppier when accelerating and IMA charge indicators seem much more "normal." My mileage, however, has not improved and a 48 mile commute where i used to get 45-48 MPG is still hovering around 39-40 MPG (although this is only commute day #2 after replacement and the weather is beastly hot, for what that's worth).

 

I haven't been on the forum in a good long while. I have a 2007 HCH-II with approximately 117k miles on it (I drove 140 miles a day for a good three years when I first got the car - all interstate) which seems to be doing this same re-cal behavior for maybe the past year, though it hasn't presented quite as badly as it has for some others.

I haven't noticed if it's any worse when it's really cold or really hot (and it's been REALLY hot on the east coast here the past few weeks), but I'd say my car re-cals at least once a day, if not more. Usually after it's been sitting a few hours and it tends to happen if I sit at a light for more than a minute or two right after starting the car (which is either leaving home or leaving work). I can usually get it charged back before getting on the highway, at which point it's fine most of the way.

I need to take the car in for a B123 maintenance minder appointment this week, so I may have them check the IMA battery out, the light came on for like four hours at one point a few weeks ago, but then went off, so who knows. The car is completely drivable, aside from this nagging issue.

 

Recently my IMA light came on. After taking it to the dealership they told me I need to replace my battery pack. The first dealer offered me 50% off of 3600, the second dealer I went to gave me 75% off. I read up on the matter and saw on several forums that the battery was covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. When I mentioned this to the dealer they said that there are 3 different brackets that the car can fall into, low emissions, ultra emissions and ultra low emissions. I happened to fall into the category that isn't covered, ultra low emissions. Despite all the information I gathered I still had to pay. I am hoping to get enough information to go to small claims court to be reimbursed. If you own a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid that has had an issue with the IMA and your dealership replaced it for free please let me know so I can bring this evidence into court. Thank you for your help.

 

I was told a year ago that my battery needed to be replaced based on a readout from the onboard computer. Since then I've been paying more attention to the battery charge display on the dashboard. The battery is still charging and discharging. It's fine. So even if your mechanic says it needs to be replaced, it may be OK.

 

Hey all!
I have 2004 HCH (bought in late '03) w/ 155K & the IMA light just came on ~ 2 wks ago. Looking into re-furbishing IMA battery-about 1/3 cost of replacing; but not local. Also trying to see about salvage prices...Good Luck!

 

You can continue to drive your hybrid civic w/ IMA light on, but is really losing MPG--mine ran 35-42 before & at present is about 28 avg--gonna re-condition hybrid battery.

 

Hi,

I'm a newbie here and have a 2004 HCH Manual that just turned over 85,000 miles. I bought the car in 2006 with 53,000 miles, from a local Honda Certified Used Car dealer. The car has seen mostly urban driving cycles the past 2 years, with the occasional bi-monthly highway trip. A/C does see seasonal use in May-Sept.

On a side note: I recently replaced the under-hood 12V battery (this was NOT really necessary, I just wanted the peace-of mind with winter fast approaching),

And as far as I know the IMA (144V) battery module has never been replaced. The car performs well and typically gets an indicated 38 - 42 mpg in city use and close to 50 mpg highway. (We do live at 5000 ft ASL, which reduces mileage and power.)

About a week ago the IMA and CHECK Engine lights came on. (P1600 and P1433). At the time they come on the SoC dropped from 75% to roughly half that. Throttle response becomes noticeably sluggish, but the REGen/ASSist meter still works. And the SoC gradually moves up and down. The most I have seen it come back to is about 67 % when the codes are thrown.

When I clear the codes, I observe the following: REGen/ASSist immediately at idle shows (GREEN) charge and the SoC rapidly comes up to 100% within a couple of minutes. When the car is driven, throttle response is crisp and instrumentation shows "like-new" REGen/ASSist and SoC behavior in urban driving.

Then, usually with a day or so (usually less than 20-miles) the same codes return (P1600/P1433).

To the best of knowledge, the ECM has NOT been re-flashed or "Upgraded" by Honda.

1) Is there a way to determine the ECM Version level?

2) If Honda flashes the ECM, will it potentially mask the P1433 code? Making them less likely to replace the IMA battery of DC-DC converter under warranty?

3) What is actually happening when the P1433 code is thrown? It seems to put the system into "LIMP" or "LAME" mode?

4) Does anyone have experience with Honda's Certified Used Car Warranty or Third-Party Warranties, with respect to IMA failures?

Any advice (or dare I say Insights?) would be greatly appreciated.

Lee

 

Bought '05 HCH new, have ~88,000 mi, dealer just replaced battery. Does anyone know what that "new" battery is? All new cells, rehabbed replacing only bad ones, what? More to the point, what capacity and longevity can I expect from it?