looking at a 2000 mt Citrus

[pennyduke]

I saw a 2000 Citrus for sale at a used dealer in the country today. They want $3500. It has some cosmetic damage and a rear bent rim. I went to start it and the 12v battery was dead. Jumped it with a box and it started right up. Maint Req'd light is on along with the EPS light. the battery indicator light showed the battery empty. It idled for a few and 2 bars came up. They would not let me drive it because of the rim. Went back today and put one of my tires on it and took it for a drive. When I started it the battery was full. It did go down during the test drive and was recharging and assisting fine. It has alot of power and shifts fine even into second at high speed. Is there a way to check the battery pack to be sure it will be ok? It's only getting 42.3 lifetime milage. It has 152k on it.What do yall think? This will be my 2nd 2000 mt if I buy it.

[Eli]

Terrible deal! Don't buy it! Instead, PM me the information of the people selling it so I can.. um.. tell them what bad people they are for trying to rip people off like that.









Just kidding. Sounds like a great deal. If you don't end up buying it, please do PM me the information.

As far as telling if the battery pack is good, it's really hard to tell. The only thing you can do is drive the piss out of it, try and use as much assist/regen as possible and see how the pack behaves - particularly noting when it does negative and positive recalibrations.

[pennyduke]

I kinda thought it was a good deal so I put a deposit on it. They are waiting for the new rim to come in Friday. What is the deal with the EPS light being on? Anything to worry about? Thanks Eli, I will email you some pictures of it.

[Eli]

Dunno, you would have to pull the code.. could be a few things I guess. I wouldn't worry about it though? I've never heard of the EPS going out or anything like that, though I suppose it's possible.

Maybe check the fuse.

[insightbuyer]

Could you let us know if its automatic or manual. How many miles? Just curious to know what kind of deal you are getting because I paid 3500 for my 2000 insight, manual, 152K miles. What kind of cosmetic damages does it have?

After paying 3500 I realized that mine needs lots of work.

1) battery was obvious bad as the ima light came on after few weeks of owning it.
2) 2nd gear syncro was bad
3) needed front brakes
4) needed hatch struts
5) has no underbody panels
6) need 3 bulbs replaced for the front lights
7) had crap aftermarket tires, cost me $320 for the bridgestone tires

Lucky for me the car had no major cosmetic issues, seems to be accident free from what I can tell and I looked hard. Car rides and runs very good. Since I fix my own cars, I was able to most of these fixes myself, and will rebuild my own battery.

Anyone think I paid too much $3500 with all these issues I listed? Should I have paid less?

Eli, what can be determined when it does its negative and positive recalibrations? My battery does this at least once a week. What should I look for with this?

[Kenpo]

3,500 is a good price, specially for that color. I wanted one but they were all too expensive 6500+ and they where all from out of state. You should ask your dealer if they can check the codes for you and see what it is. Also see if you can get it down to 3,000, lol.

[Eli]

2000 cars were only available in manual transmission.

The farther down you can get the SoC gauge before the negative recal, the better. Likewise, the higher up you can get the SoC gauge before the positive recalibration, the better. Unfortunately I can't quantify that into anything really meaningful. How long the battery lasts will depend entirely on useage patterns.

For example, when I bought Insight #1 back in 2007, it would do a negative recal at about 1/3rd up from the bottom(5-7 bars or so). Slowly over time this got worse and worse - 10 bars, 14 bars, 18 bars.. which finally culminated in an IMA light in early 2010. I knew my battery was getting weak, so I avoided the use of assist as much as possible, and worked to keep the battery full. I think that's why I was able to make it last another 3 years.

I wasn't aware of the positive recalibration back then, so I'm not sure when it was happening, but in my experience it's about equal. IE: If you can use your battery down to 10 bars, the positive recal will happen around there also.

[porshuh]

Originally Posted by Eli

IE: If you can use your battery down to 10 bars, the positive recal will happen around there also.

Proof that exercising your battery is a good thing Probably why running it all the way down on the way home, and then slowly (350ma) grid charging it back up has freshened up so many packs.

[pennyduke]

Insightbuyer, Its a MT with 152k on it. There is a large chip out of the passenger side mirror, 2 softball size dings and a 1 inch by 1 foot scrape in the paint on the same side. the left rear rim is bent and the wheel cover is missing. The tires are new bridgestone on the front and newer off brand on the back. Every thing else works fine and the brakes are pretty new. The 12v battery is a Honda battery and I think its weak. It should pass inspection just fine. Headlights are a little faded but thats an easy fix. Very clean car with no leaks that I could find. He may take $3000 if I can convince him the Battery is going bad on it. lol

[Eli]

Here's what you can do. It's likely the car has sat in the lot for a while....

Get the battery down to empty..drive around using as much assist as you can, avoiding regen, until the battery is empty.

Then HAMMER it with regen. Full regen for as long as you can.. Pulse and regen if you have to, but keep it as high and consistent is possible.

You may be able to get an IMA light out of it if the battery is weak. If not, this will be a pretty good test at least.. lol. If the battery takes this type of abuse without balking too much, it probably has at least a year left.