Well my dad was the one driving it home. I never actually drove the car while the assist and regen were working. I do know it was working before we left the dealership. or at least it appeared to work. Should I clear the code and see what happens? or wait and see what the dealer says? Like I said getting it to the dealer will take a week or two.
What if you throw in an assist/regen disable switch first, then clear the codes? Perhaps you could avoid nuking your high cell by using the switch to avoid regen when your SoC is high. Use the HV battery only for engine starts and to emerge from FAS, which is what you want to do for good FE anyway. I would rig up an LED to come on when your battery fan does, so you know when to lay off the battery.
Get it to your dealer asap. It is still covered under the 150,000 mile 10 year extension for the hybrid system.
If you think you might want to try and get out of the deal: No later than tomorrow (time is critical), you might what to check with your state consumer protection department. You may have a certain amount of time to back out of used car deals. If I remember the ad you did not buy it from a Honda dealer. Correct? IMA light is not on? I would not reset it until a Honda dealer looks at it. You might want to give Ron a call. Wayne
I bought the car at Toyota Direct in Columbus Ohio. Everything looked OK when the guy drove it for me and it worked fine when my dad drove it home. But right as we got home the check engine light came on and the IMA light. I don't want to return it. Even if I do have to get a replacement battery. Ron said I should check with Honda to see if the warranty is still available for my battery. I plan on giving them a call first thing Monday.
Back out? No. Call the seller and twist his arm. Worst he can do is nothing. Unless of course Honda will take care of it for you, which is an adequate resolution.
Ron, Ron Hansen...owner of www.hybrid-battery-repair.com, specializing in Insight and Civic battery packs, in NYC.
Just check the build date of the car. It says 05/2000. I'm guessing it wold take another 2 months before it was sold. So My guess is that it may still be under warranty. If not I hope Honda has a grace period. I did call my local Honda dealer to see about the warranty but I had to leave a message and I'm waiting on the call back.
What you need is the "in service" date, which any Honda dealer should be able to look up. If it is <10 years ago you should be covered. If it is <10 years ago and the dealer or US Honda says no, we can help you find the Honda bulletin that says that the 10year/150K warranty was extended to cover Insights sold in all 50 states. Sometimes even US Honda can't find the relevant bulletin.
I found the bulletin. I think it was in the files here on this site. I tihnk I found out what the mystery box is under the dash. Its listed as airwolf and design tech. A search for airwolf results in an automatic car starter. And the switch is some kind of valet mode switch. Still don't know what the other black box does. Only markings it has was the 555U.
It is neither impossible nor illegal. My wife bought me one and had it installed in my Elantra about one year before I joined this site (after which I never used it again ). It does require a bypass of the clutch interlock switch but they make that safe by insisting upon a particular sequence of events. In the case of my car, you had to arm the car for starting while off using the remote. Then when you come to a stop after driving the car you must leave the car in neutral and idling, put the emergency brake on, then remove the key while not touching any of the pedals. You then have 20s to exit the car -- after opening the first door, the next time all doors are closed the car locks itself, then turns off the engine, then beeps to let you know it is armed for remote starting. If any of the pedals, gearshift, or emergency brake are fiddled after this (say by someone still in the car), the alarm goes off and the ignition system is disabled. Unlock the car without using the starter function and the remote starter is disabled until you go through the above routine again. <shrug> Seems pretty safe to me (if fuel guzzling). It was nice while I used it to get the car cooled off and it had a 2 way remote so that I could do things like getting alerted when the alarm went off... or a cool knock feature so that I could know someone was at the car and unlock it for that person (if I sent him/her, that is!). I used it a few times during the day to be sure the car would start after work on really cold days (the parking lot was wide open and fairly windy... I did have issues starting the car a few times after a 10hr cold soak). Convenient but a total waste of fuel. I look forward to the day when I have an EV that will let me precondition remotely... I'll just park where I can plug in.
Just got the call from Honda. Car was delivered on 1-14-2001. Looks like I still have a warranty. :Banane44: My appointment is Friday.
