Need Gen1 mechanic in West Palm Bch., Fl.

[thegreenfrog]

I have a 2000 insight with 80,000 miles. Now the IMA & chk Eng light just came on.
It's been trouble free since new +/- and serviced by Ed. Morse dealership.
Haven't been driving it much lately, as no work to go to.
Past couple weeks the charge has been droping & recharging alot. it has usally been at half most of the time over the last 10 years.
I Feel like an idiot with the tech stuff. So I guess I need to find a good/honest hybrid mechanic.
Any recomendations for one in the West Palm Beach, Fl. area?

Udate to Mech. needed in W.P.B., Fl. (IT HEALED ITSHELF?)Took car to Ed. Morse STEALERSHIP Nov. 15 2011
They charged $140 to do O.B.D. check and said it needed new battery
codes P1449, P1568, 58
But the would replace ECM under bulletin 07-038 and had to leave car till next day so they could get part from wharehouse. Got call at about 11am nextday that car was ready. Thought Damn they work fast (replace ECM & do oil change)
Picked car up with IMA & chk eng light still on.
Noticed the inv. said they reprogramed keys (They only had one key and didn't mention needing the others)
Did some research on InsightCentral and figured I'd risk my life to see about unpluging BCM and driving it without IMA.
Started taking out all the stuff in the back & noticed mat was wet on the right side, diging down to piont Stealership would of had to, to replace ECM and discovered spare tire was underwater.
Figure I was screwed and it was time to consider swaping Eng & Ima for a Hemi.
Bailed about 3 gals of water out of the car & cleaned mildue off of caulking with bleach.
Set fan to blow into back of car for about a week to dry it out. with 12v disconnected & IMA turned off.
Sunday 12/4 I decided W.T.F. I'd see if car would run or blowup. It started with 12v starter, with no IMA light on and it proceeded to charge up. drove it a couple miles and SOC came up to full and Assisted & regended like new.
WHAT GREAT LITTLE CARS THESE ARE!!!
But now I'm was pissed, Stealership tried to get me to buy new battery ( Would have probably of said it needed all new electrics after the found the water).
I notified Honda America that Stealership was stealing from them, As
1. Time car was at service dept was to short to do the work they stated.
2. Keys were not reprogramed as would have been required if ECM was replaced.
3. They didn't mention the water flooding the spare tire well.
I'm guessinf that becuase of the water, that the tempture sensors did.t like the wetbulb/drybulb difference.
So for now the Green Frog gets parked in the garage and i'm going to get a cover for it to keep the water out when it's parked outside.
Thanks to you I'm still driving the car, & am going to get MIMA & grid charger.
B.T.W. mpg just improved from low 50's to low 60's the few miles I've since driven it.

[Eli]

Originally Posted by thegreenfrog

I have a 2000 insight with 80,000 miles. Now the IMA & chk Eng light just came on.
It's been trouble free since new +/- and serviced by Ed. Morse dealership.
Haven't been driving it much lately, as no work to go to.
Past couple weeks the charge has been droping & recharging alot. it has usally been at half most of the time over the last 10 years.
I Feel like an idiot with the tech stuff. So I guess I need to find a good/honest hybrid mechanic.
Any recomendations for one in the West Palm Beach, Fl. area?

That will do it.

Unfortunately your options are very limited as there are less than a handfull of people that recondition the IMA battery. Any dealership or mechanic will just tell you to replace it at a cost of $3000+ dollars.

Do not do this. Hybrid Battery Repair has higher capacity, more robust replacement cells available for $1800 for a pack.

[thegreenfrog]

Originally Posted by Eli

That will do it.

Unfortunately your options are very limited as there are less than a handfull of people that recondition the IMA battery. Any dealership or mechanic will just tell you to replace it at a cost of $3000+ dollars.

Do not do this. Hybrid Battery Repair has higher capacity, more robust replacement cells available for $1800 for a pack.

Hi Eli. Thanks for reply
Got a P1449 code on friend's OBD, Chould it be a fan problem?
Any recommendation as to shop in So. Fl. that can do the swap?
Looks way to techi, and most of my electrical experiance has beed shocking.
As warning label say "May cause death or injury" I best not risk it myshelf!
What's the cost of a new battery shipped to So. Fl.?

[Eli]

There are several P1449 subcodes, but the most common is P1447-78 "Battery Module Deterioration", also known as P0A7F in the Advanced Diagnosis of the service manual. AKA "She's dead, Jim."

Any shop should be able to do a battery swap. It's not a technical procedure, just a lot of dismantling. It takes about 2 hours for someone who has never done it before.

If you don't drive the Insight much, you will need to invest in a grid charger to keep your new battery healthy.

I believe the BetterBattery is around $2000 shipped.

[InsightGary]

Eli told me about the SOC reset procedure. I had the same problem as you, after doing it, I am back running fine again. It is easy to do yourself and is worth a try.

See this thread:
Can MIMA-L Whack the pack?

I had the IMA light P1447 CheckEngineLight problem twice before while I was still on the extended warantee. The dealer put in two new (rebuilt) packs but I now bet that that was not really needed

Oh, I was baby'ing my pack (hypermiling) and only letting the car sit for long periods..
BOTH problems apparently. After you reset it, drive it harder, all the way down and all the way back up on the gauge.

Gary

[Eli]

Yeah, it wouldn't hurt to do some resets and drive the car until the IMA light comes back immediately after a reset. That might buy you some time, possibly many months if you learn to baby the pack.