Hi Guys,

I went to inspect a 2.5 Year old HCH 06 today. Seemed to drive okay, but 5 minutes into the trip, I noticed the IMA light on, and a light that on any other car would look like a Check Engine Light. I don't know if they're linked, or if there is a problem with both the gas motor and the electric motor. I have no idea whether it turned on during the trip, or it was on since start, and I simply failed to notice it.

Anyway, after I noticed that, I noticed the charge indicator would go up and down very quickly - as in full charge from the regen stage in 2 minutes, then back down to the regenerative stage almost as quick. I've only ever driven a Prius before, and I know that it takes ages to charge the battery and ages to run it down again in most situations, so this seems odd to me.

The car in question is selling for $19,990, when the next cheapest is $22,900, and the majority is selling around $26,000 (this is Australian, if you're wondering why the price is so high, brand newies sell for $36,000)

I've heard that in a large number of cases, it's just the failure of one or more cells in the battery - or sometimes just an unbalanced cell pack. We have a shop in Australia called Battery World that can repair and repack large NiMH batteries - including singular cells if it's cheaper that way.

If I can knock the seller down down a few thousand more for the IMA light on, it might be worth the risk that it's "only" a battery issue, would it be worth it? Or is it a case of "don't take it even if it's free"? How frequently is it "just" the battery?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Being in the US, some of the things I'd do:
- Take to a service shop you trust and have them look at it, before you buy it. Give seller a $1000 deposit and say the purchase is contingent upon a clean check up, and you get back the $1000 is it doesn't work out. Or even have the selling dealers service dept go over it, but they probably have a vested interest in saying it's all ok.

- Can you take the vehicle to Battery World and have the light checked out before you purchase?

- Can you get/borrow a scan-tool from someone, and look at the DTC (diagnostic trouble codes) yourself? Examples of these tools:
http://www.iequus.com/product_info.p...gory_id=1_10_7 (amazon carries these)
http://www.autotap.com/products.asp

Dealers and brand name service shops (GoodYear/Gemini/PepBoys in the US) use multi-thousand dollar versions of these scan tools. That's the tyical $90 "Diagnostic Charge" they list. Somoene might want that much to look at your potential vehicle.

 

KEN;
I would take it to a Honda Dealer and have it checked out. Could be problem with cat. converter as well, and they are not cheap! How many Kil. on the car. Is it a private sale? Heat can be a killer with the IMA system?
Cheers,Hal

 

But in any case, the behaviour you described is NOT normal.

 

This statement is very confusing to me, the display is very different from a Prius, the SOC gauge is 2 parts, there should be a white bar on the left of the gauge, that is the relative SOC, to the right should be a bigger indicator that shifts up to white, down to green or goes blank, that is your demand/charge indicatior. It is very normal for that to be all over the place, white is assist and should light up when accelerating, green is charge and should light up when charging but, unlike the Prius, these indicatiors move about quickly as it is a real time indicator of where the power is going/coming from, like the flow screen on the Prius, it is NOT a cumluative screen like the bar screen of the Prius... If the white bar to the left was doing this, yes there is a problem.
You did not mention the mileage, is the battery still under warranty? I don't know Oz $$ values or car values is this at enough of a savings to fix the items the mechanic you have inspect the car finds. Be sure to go to someone who is versed in hybrids. Could be nothing, could be big, could have nothing to do with the hybrid battery at all, I am seeing a lot of odd things happen when the 12v battery goes bad (might be bad at 30 mos).
I don't claim to be a mechanic or know that much about the hybrid magic but, I do know to ask someone who does.

 

Is there any chance of putting up a photo of your dash? Some of it sounds familiar, but some of it sounds totally like "I don't remember seeing any of those lights at all".

With regards to everyone else's questions:

1. It has done 78,000km or about 50,000 miles. High for a 2 year old car, but not too bad, considering the main buyers of these cars tend to be fleet and other high mileage customers, since at this pricing bracket, they're the only ones who make fuel savings. The $23,000 cars have done about 50,000km, or about 35,000 miles, as a reference.

2. The car still has a remainder of factory warranty, as well as a 2 year reseller warranty. I would not buy a car knowing I had to claim warranty from the minute I drove it out the showroom floor anyway.

3. The dealer called me today, and I said I was no longer interested in the car. He said he'd have it fixed under warranty and would I still go ahead. My response that if he knocked off $1k off the price and kept the 2 year warranty, I would seriously consider it. I don't think I can get it to a workshop, even with a big deposit, but the National Roads and Motorist Association have full comprehensive inspections for about $200, which I might take up. They go out to the car yard and do an independant inspection for you.

I just hope I'm not buying someone else's problems.

 

This is not my dash, but should give you an idea:
https://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/...deskboard.html
to the left of the spedo, there is a tall slender bar showing. that is the state of charge, that should normaly show between 4-7 bars or segmants. Between the tall slender bar and the spedo there is an empty space, as tall, twice as wide, that is your flow, up (white) is load or discharge, down (green) is recharge, blank (like it is showing) is coasting or neither.
Here is a page from the owners manual:
http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/p...707O00068A.pdf
look at pages 69 & 70.
And yes, I would buy the car with the IMA light on if the dealer agreed to fix it and offer an extended warranty esp. considering you are indicating it is a bargin in OZ $$, it IS a honda and generaly a great little car.

 

I only paid $18,900 for a 2007 in July 2008 with 26,000 miles. and it had new tires. I traded it in on an 2009 and got $900 less than I paid for it for using it 5 months. they are discounting the 2009 almost $2000 now. I got no discount in November.

An 2006 is not worth that much money. you can get a 2009 for under $22,000 and new warranty and VSA.

 

Cars are expensive in Australia! H

 

.
.
.
.
That the car is still under warranty makes it totally worth getting as long as you can put up with it being in the shop for a bit. You can use the malfunction to drive the price down and have Honda fix it on their dime after you make the purchase. Honda has been really good about fixing their cars in most cases. Every once in a while you hear a story where someone has had trouble with Honda but these stories are rare and they are often resolved by simply going to a different Honda dealer. I'd be tempted to go for it if you can make a good deal and if you can put up with the car being in the shop to get fixed.

Are you sure the warrant transfers to the second owner?