I change it myself with the engine oil, use honda cvt fluid, every other change I do the inline filter. I also clean the drain plug too. Last time it had a slight silt like coating. THis time around Ive been more agressive driving. Wonder if Ill see any changes?
OK, just had my software updated yesterday. Here is my story.
I'm in the Southern Suburbs of the Twin Cities in MN. I got one of the first Insights off the boat back in the spring of 2009. I called two dealerships, neither knew about the updates, they checked on their computer looking for relevant service bulletins but no joy.
Apparently the only way to find out about the updates is to bring in the car and have them connect up their computer to the car, then presto, the computer informs them that there are 3 software updates available. They will not normally hook up the computer for normal maintenance such as oil change, only if there is a problem or if you specifically request it.
The car is performing much better, a better driving experience. Initial indications are that I picked up 3-4 MPG in my nearly 100% suburban driving, no difference on the hiway. The jerkiness on start from a stoplight is nearly gone. Most importantly, the forced battery charge while going up a hill is no longer there. This was a real pet peeve of mine. The car now behaves like it has a bigger battery also. I drove around randomly yesterday because it was different enough and fun.
The dealer performed the update for free (38,000 miles). He pulled me aside, gave me his card and asked to please let him know the results of the update. He said no one had ever requested it before and he was very interested.
Attilla - thanks for sharing those details. I only recently discovered this forum although I'vs had my I2 since 2009. I called my local dealer, and he had no clue. I'll definitely get in there and have them plug the car into the computer. The regen uphill is a real annoyance. That fix alone could dramatically improve my MPGs on the steep hills I'll see at Christmas time.
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They did hook me up for the tpms reset. I notice my map reading was blank on my sg2, cant say anyother differences. The dealer I use to go to said its basically 100 bucks to take the car around and I need to make an appointment.
The other dealer I may of burn my bridges with as i had to use my ebrake to get out of the service bay after they blocked me in when I complained about the tpms light coming back on and how they needed my car for the whole day to fix it.
For the approximate 300 miles during this trip there were 2 forced regens going up hill. Both occurred on the way back (none on the drive down). The traffic was horrendous on the way back. The first regen occurred shortly we got going and was on a shallow upward slope (somewhat unusual). The second regen occured on the last hill climb on the I5 going into the Santa Clarita Valley, right at the end of the journey, The climb is several miles long. So all in all the number of "bad" forced regens was very low on the trip. The mpg readout on the car was 55 mpg. IF this was true than it would be fantastic as we hit bumper to bumper traffic for several hours on the trip home (and heavy traffic going down). Unfortunately my wife filled the car on her trip up North the next day and did not fill it up. So I don't know the actual mpg. I know that the speedometer is 3% optimistic. I am guessing that the 55mpg should be closer to 50 mpg, 10% optimistic. (I am basing this on the gas gauge position at the end of the trip and the computer estimate of how many miles were left to go before the tank was empty). I believe that the dash readout mpg error is higher than before and I am not sure why. Still 50 mpg is very good considering the heavy traffic encountered in both directions. Other than the strange regen at the start of the journey heading North, I was very pleased with the improvement in the way the IMA system handled the regens.
So I called the local dealer, and they want $100 just to hook it up to the computer! What a rip off! It takes them what, less than 5 minutes? Cobb- I see you had the same experience. If resetting the TPMS doesn't trigger the check, does anyone know what will? Sadly, I may have to do without this update, nice as it may be. It's really frustrating that Honda won't proactively maintain the software on their products. Could you imagine what it would be like to live in a world in which Microsoft never updated their software for existing customers?
We paid, if my memory serves me, around $50 for the dealer to update the software. As it was piggy-backed onto a regular service the price was more reasonable. My suggestion is to wait when you are getting a service and add on the request for the updates. My guess is that most dealers will discount the update in light of the known regen problem. Some will do it for free, as has been the case for several people on this forum.
I kind of miss the service the toy dealer had. They were always ready for me, always had a choice of loaner cars and any diagnostic fees were applied to the service if they performed it. So, a hundred bucks to check something, if they serviced it, you got 100 off.
Lets not forget the free goodies in the waiting area.
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