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Bad ground or?

7K views 35 replies 6 participants last post by  helpstranded 
#1 ·
Started with the speedometer not working or flickering. Then replaced 12v battery. The 144v battery has beed disconnected a while. I found one ground wire loose but still something is wrong. The 12v battery has now run down! Anyone have any guesses, because I'm at a loss here.
 
#2 ·
Recharge your 12V battery in the meantime; Check terminal connections to the 12V battery that all are shiny. Use steel wool if req. to clean if oxidized. Careful of arcing.
Make sure good grounds to vehicle as you've mentioned. ..has the BCM been disconnected or just the IMA switch under the cover been turned off.?

To run without the ima system and still charge the battery : search "bcm disconnect" as keywords to see the two plugs that need be removed from the battery control module, hopefully that should bring up the recent thread.
 
#3 ·
Battery connections are very clean, BCM totally disconnected since last winter. Driving down the road sevens like something has come loose since speedometer would flicker once in a while and try to work. Other gauges were working. But when it flickered, the engine seemed to stutter. I'm to the point of replacing all the ground wires. Maybe one is broken and I can't see where it is.
 
#4 · (Edited)
#6 · (Edited)
#7 ·
Cleaned all the grounds, charged the 12v battery. Have test driven serval times, checked all the fuses, speed sensors, replaced brake pads while in there, no speedometer and no fuel economy gauge. Tried to get it to flicker, it did once. When that happens the brake light and the 12v battery light flickers as well. By wriggling the parking brake lever the brake and the 12v battery light also flickers. I'm not applying the parking brake but when in the off position wriggling it side to side. Very strange. Taking a break and then going on the road to test the brake lever side to side to see if the lights come on.
 
#8 ·
Fishtrap:
Maybe include your location in the details of your profile.
You do have an emergency hand brake switch to activate the light so that could be the problem. (Interm, short or loose connection)

Willie
 
#10 ·
Disconnected the hand brake plug, no difference. Ran up and down the road wiggling the hand brake and the speedometer would flicker, don't touch the hand brake and the brake light and battery light stays on until I accelerate some and they go out, but still no speedometer. I'm pretty good at figuring things out but this is stumping me.
 
#11 ·
Time for checking for "mice" action on the wires.
Time consuming.
Good luck.

Willie
 
#13 ·
Replaced, cleaned all the grounds, still no luck with speedometer. One interesting thing is when sitting still and car running, pull the parking brake and the 12v light comes on and blinks. Tested l sat night, and lost 12v power, when speedometer blinks and try to come on I have 12v power.
 
#17 ·
If your 12V drained after 4 miles, you have a definite short.

Willie
 
#18 ·
I agree! I have the back lid off and have been checking everything that I can see. Sitting there with the car idling and all the doors shut. When the brake lt and bat lt blink I hear a very faint click. Cleaned the connector plugs and tried to wriggle almost any wire except the ima wires. But no luck on those lights nor speedometer. Have an electrician coming over soon to look for a short or a bad ground, he wires autos and multi million dollar yachts and loves a challenge.
Question,
Would a short on a speed sensor cause all this?
Thanks
 
#21 ·
Been tracking things down and checking connections.
QUESTION: would a bad DC to DC converter cause the speedometer not to work?
I put a voltmeter on the output side and drove the vehicle and watched it. Never went over 12.3v and when I turned on lights, wipers and fan it dropped below 12v and didn't show that I was getting anything from the converter.
I've wired 6boats up to 65ft both AC and DC this is really getting to me!
I found no wires cracked, chewed, chaffed or anything, pulled many connectors and sprayed cleaner on them. But still have the Battery and Brake light on or blinking or faintly lit and speedometer not working.
The reason that I ask if the DC/DC not working the speedometer is that some marine electronics will not work unless you have at least 12v
 
#24 ·
To tell you the truth, I was hold that out as last resort. Not real sure what that entails and scared that I'm going to break something. Trying to figure out which plug it is and disconnect it there and see what happens.
I checked the fuse on the side of the IMA.
There has to be a ground or short somewhere.
 
#25 ·
Just did a test run down the road. Voltmeter hooked to the back of the DC/ DC converter.
No battery/brake lights this time but also only read 12.2v and with head lights and heater motor on 11.8. This is a new 12v battery and been test running the car so that is all normal.
Still no speedometer.
The DC/DC converter should read around 13.7 correct?
Still looking under the dash for a short.
 
#27 ·
Update. After pulling and checking the large fuse on the side of the IMA battery, the brake/bat light turned off. After it sat a day I drove it to work this am, the 2lights came back on BUT faded off as I went down the road, so I'm guessing that the DC/DC conv is putting out. Speedometer has not tried to work for 6 days of trying. The back cover has remained off. On the way to work, one time the speedometer tried to work and when it did I heard a crackle like a loose or bad connection. I'm going to replace the body ground from the DC/DC conv and double check all connections again. The noise that I hear was behind the drivers seat like it was the neg or the pos wires, but going to check them all. If anyone has heard of a problem back there, please let me know.
Thanks
 
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