Out of Warranty Battery Replacement

[bciesq]

Just wanted to pass along my story. I have a 2000 Insight with 88K on the odometer. My IMA light came on a couple of weeks ago and a scan at the local autoparts store revealed the dreaded P1447.

I purchased the car almost exactly two years ago from a Honda dealer. I called Honda customer service and inquired as to the date of service on the car and learned that I was at two months outside of the ten year battery warranty.

I asked the CSR if there was anything she could do and she responded that if I was willing to take the car in to a Honda dealer for a diagnostic, that she would recommend that Honda give me some assistance with the battery if it needed to be replaced.

I decided to buy that $80 lottery ticket and take my chances.

The Honda dealer verified the P1447 and recommended replacement. After a week of behind the scenes negotiations between Honda and the dealer, they offered to cover 90% of the battery replacement. In other words, they are asking me to contribute about $300 towards the work. Unfortunately, they are not giving me any assistance if the BCM or MCM need to be replaced so I am still looking at a potential $2000 repair, but I can live with that.

I don't know if my experience with Honda customer service is typical, but I think they were fair with me and I'm pleased so far.

[Eli]

That is awesome.

If they aren't going to replace the BCM and MCM, then just forget about it. It's not necessary, IMO.

[timny1984]

you should now go buy a real lotto ticket! After which i would like a 5 speed any year, any miles, just in decent shape. Thanks

But really that's a great deal. How many miles are on your car? if you were well under the 150k maybe that's why they decided to help you out.

Tim

[bciesq]

Originally Posted by Eli

That is awesome.

If they aren't going to replace the BCM and MCM, then just forget about it. It's not necessary, IMO.

I agree and I'm not looking to have either the BCM or MCM replaced. I'm just comparing the worst case scenario with what it would cost to through hybrid-battery-repair.com.

[bciesq]

Originally Posted by timny1984

you should now go buy a real lotto ticket! After which i would like a 5 speed any year, any miles, just in decent shape. Thanks

But really that's a great deal. How many miles are on your car? if you were well under the 150k maybe that's why they decided to help you out.

Tim

I only have 88K on the car. I think that was a factor.

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Originally Posted by bciesq

I agree and I'm not looking to have either the BCM or MCM replaced. I'm just comparing the worst case scenario with what it would cost to through hybrid-battery-repair.com.

$200 for the pair.

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Originally Posted by bciesq

I only have 88K on the car. I think that was a factor.

No. You bought it from a dealer 2 years ago. That's the factor.

[bciesq]

I dropped the car off before leaving for vacation. I just received the following email:

Mr. XXXXXXX,

Heeellloooo. Hope you are having fun out of town. I just wanted to send this email to let you know that everything went very smoothly installing the new ima battery in your vehicle. Also, I am happy to inform you that no further repairs are going to be needed to the ima system.

Your total came to $242.71 with tax.

If you have any questions, please give me a call XXX-XXX-XXXX ext XXXX

Sincerely,

XXXXXXXX XXXXX

I'm really impressed with how Honda handled this.

[bciesq]

Just picked up the car and everything was as advertised. Unfortunately the test report was printed on thermal paper and left on the dash for several days in the Florida sun so it is mostly illegible. I can sort of make out the words "Rating: 290 CCA"; "FLOODED"; a picture of a battery with the words "Good Battery" and some codes I can't read; "Battery Good" and "Test Code 5WI 1S 59W10".

To the extent I could read this accurately, do these codes make sense to anyone? Should I ask them for a reprint? Is "FLOODED" a good thing?

So this is how an Insight with a fresh battery drives ... nice. Before I had about two or three hard accelerations from fully charged without getting into forced regen territory. On the ten mile drive home I flogged the car pretty hard and couldn't get more than three bars below the top.

[Eli]

290CCA, Flooded..

They were talking about your 12V battery.