My car has a dual personality...great

[porshuh]

Originally Posted by Rainsux

This sounds normal to me.

Oh, okay. Reading this...

Originally Posted by 02insight

When I am able to drive my whole 30 mile commute without any 12v charging, I am usually able to get 80-85mpg. But with heavy 12v charging, I usually stay around 65mpg. With the 12v charging, it seems 55mph at 70-75mpg is the best I can do, but without it, I can usually do 55mph at 85mpg.

...led me to believe that if it was charging (voltmeter showing 14+ volts across the battery terminals) just about the whole time you are driving, that this was not normal...

[Balboa]

That jerkiness you are describing when it goes just out of lean burn may mean your Egr needs cleaning. A bad EGR will definitely make the car run like crap. Mine was dirty and I noticed that I had a hard time keeping the IMA battery out of assist mode! Also my car was so jerky it felt like the engine was going to explode. Unmounting the EGR and soaking it with carb cleaner seemed to help mine. Make sure to order a new egr gasket before removing.

My gasket basically tore in half when removing.

I want to run seafoam through the brake booster. Anyone use seafoam on the insight yet?

[Rainsux]

Mine stayed at 13.4-13.6 this morning with the lights and heater on. I'll watch it closer, but I don't think I've seen it go down to 12V while driving. I know my "real" car doesn't.

Sam

[Eli]

It will always read 13+V when the lights and/or blower is on. Try during the day without any accessories on.. it cycles on and off quite a bit. I've never been able to make any sense of it.

[porshuh]

Thanks to all for the input and comments!

So it seems like my 12v is functioning normally. I think I might just freshen up the following to give the car a bit of pampering

1) egr plate
2) egr valve
3) 12v battery
4) spark plugs
5) rebuilt cats

These cars are so great, they deserve pampering, don't they?