I got the IMA light the other day and pulled code P1447. My 2000 has 36,725 miles, and the first IMA light and code got me a replacement battery and computers three years ago. So my second battery replacement comes with 12000 miles on the car since the first replacement. My trend line is not going in a promising direction. I try to drive conservatively, and I am careful about keeping the vents unblocked, so I can't understand my short battery life.
When the dealership (Kendall Honda in Eugene, OR) called to give me the bad news this morning they told me that I was out of warranty by three months. I pointed them to the SB that extended the warranty and we eventually agreed that I have another year and a half to go before the warranty runs out. Thanks to all for the info this site has provided over the years, and particularly to those who have kept us updated with Honda Service Bulletins.
I'm on the mima list since it appears that it may be useful in keeping the battery conditioned. I would really prefer some sort of basic installed battery conditioner. I've been following some of the discussions about this sort of thing, and it seems to me that our cars are going to be untenable without something of this nature when the warranty eventually runs out.
Even with the IMA light on and the 120 cell battery disabled... the Insight can run for years as a straight gas car... you just loose auto-stop, Assist , and Regen.
Also the IMA light does not mean the battery is bad or lost... or at the end of its life... all it means is that the BCM does not like the current condition of the battery... nothing more.
But more details are on other threads... such as the one I started here:
My 2000 has 36,725 miles, and the first IMA light and code got me a replacement battery and computers three years ago. So my second battery replacement comes with 12000 miles on the car since the first replacement.
IMHO, this is very disturbing. Unless you simply had the misfortune of getting a dud battery pack (I suppose there is a bad apple in every bucket), the idea of the replacement battery going bad is disturbing -- especially with the updated BCM and MCM, which is supposed to prevent this. I hope you are the exception, and don't become the rule.
-Bryan
Roughly 14,000 miles on my replacement battery, BCM, and MCM -- and hoping for many, many, many miles more.
Perhaps a key here is also time on the clock. (for the original IMA pack anyways)
True. Of course 3 years of life on the replacement pack is short. What I find interesting in this is that over the last three years, he has driven only 12,000 miles -- an average of 4,000 miles a year. There has been speculation on this site that there might be some correlation between low mileage Insights and IMA failure. My personal case and the case of the original poster (along with some others, of course) might back this up. In my case, my battery went bad after 7 years BUT only 25,000 miles. Two months after getting my battery, BCM, and MCM replaced, my commute changed. I'm now putting 18,000 miles a year on the Insight. Hopefully, I'm in the clear now. But I wonder if perhaps the updated BCM and MCM don't address this potential low-use battery pattern?
Interesting point about low use. My commute pattern for the entire time I had the replacement was a 44 mile roundtrip 8-10 times per month with about 60% highway. I drive the speed limit and tried to minimize IMA usage. Recently I moved across the country and the commute is now 2-3 times per month of 220 miles round trip. The new commute is 98% freeway. If low use is a killer I'm toast!
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P1447
