Any ideas on what these blink codes mean?

[elcerritotom]

I've got an '01 CVT I bought salvage that has maybe 125K total miles. The original pack was replaced under warranty for a previous owner at about 80K miles. This weekend the Engine and IMA lights came on while headed out of town. I disconnected the 12V battery, the SOC indicator dropped to nothing, lights went out, SOC came back to full, everything looked good for 45 miles, then same thing. Again, disconnected 12V battery, went maybe 65 miles before same thing. Got to where I was going, parked it for 2 days, drove back. Driving back the Engine light was off, the IMA light was on the whole time. Also, the SOC indicator showed mostly full the whole drive back, but the charge/assist indicators never came on (although the car had normal acceleration, so I assume the IMA pack was assisting, and it felt like the regen was also normal). Following the awesome blink code sticky posting (thanks!), I seem to have the following blink codes. (Only light on now driving is the IMA light):
IMA 78 (battery module deterioration)
Engine 69 (what the heck is this? I can't find a listing for blink codes anywhere except for the IMA light)
EPS: 22,23
ABS: 11,12,61,81

Is this car's second battery at the end of its life?
Is it a problem to keep driving the car? (most driving is weekend use going a long way from home and out into the mountains where it sucks getting stranded. I know: I broke the oil pan on a dirt road 165 miles from home some months ago!)

I really appreciate all of the great advice that this community has available in the form of the old threads in the forum. It's been very helpful as I've done some small things to the car myself. If anyone has any advice or 'insight' to share, I'd be grateful. I talked to a hybrid garage in San Francisco (northern California) today, and they basically said they would only put in a new pack, and wouldn't attempt any cell repair/pack rebalancing/etc.

[Eli]

Yep, battery is toast. The reason being that you only drive it on the weekends.

It's not a problem to drive the car as long as the 12V battery light on the dash doesn't come on. My suggestion is to pull the negative cable to reset the codes and drive as gently as possible to avoid the use of assist.

Is there a "clutch switch mod" for CVTs?

The 69 CEL code is related to the IMA light.

Dunno what the SRS and ABS codes are.

If the IMA light was on and the assist/regen section of the dash wasn't doing anything, you weren't getting assist or regen.

[elcerritotom]

Thanks Eli. Ouch! I think tough decisions loom in my future. I disconnected 12v cable, and when I hooked it back up, lights were off, SOC indicator was down to nothing, it rapidly came back up to full within a short distance, and I drove the car 10 miles, with everything looking good (no indicator lights, and the SOC charge and charge and assist worked well without any problems.
I confess my ignorance about your question on the clutch switch mod, though; I don't think I even understand the question.
I wonder how long/many miles I have with this pack. Is it 100 miles, 1000 miles, or 10K miles (assuming I drive gently to minimize the amount of assist from the IMA pack).
Thanks again.

[Eli]

Yeah, sorry, that wasn't really directed towards you per se - more of just a general forum question.

My other suggestion is to invest in a grid charger. It is likely that with weekly or monthly grid charges, you can continue to drive your pack normally for some time to come.

Do you know the in service date of your car? It's possible that you're still under warranty.

[elcerritotom]

Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I'm not under warranty since the car was salvaged, and I'm at 125K, and it's a 2001. I've just read through the forums trying to learn about grid charging, and it sounds like a smart (almost essential) way to go for a mostly-weekend driver. It sounds like Mike D will have some for sale in the not too distant future, so if I can buy one from him, that would be great. Any advice on if I should try to buy one before those are available, and if so, who might sell them? Is it something I can install myself? I didn't read all the 114 pages of posts on the grid charger thread, but I did read quite a few, but I still have no idea what the pricing might be.

I've also realized based on reading posts this morning how I killed the replacement Honda pack. I had a loud sound that was diagnosed as the CVT going bad, so I basically parked the car for about 10 months. I tried to get multiple dealers and Honda corporate to fix it under the CVT judder warranty, but no one would touch it, and the cost of a rebuilt or new-from-Honda CVT seemed astronomical for my low budget. Turns out it wasn't the CVT (a bad diagnosis by a dealership, as well as a repair shop); it was just a wheel bearing, but I think having the pack/car sit for that long is what did the damage. But it also looks like if I drive it gently, minimizing assist (which is completely how I drive the car anyway to try to get high MPG) I can keep going even when the IMA really starts to get weak for quite some time.

Anyway, I've read a heck of a lot of helpful posts this morning on other threads, many from you Eli, and I appreciate how generous you have been with your info!

[Eli]

Ah, yep.. that will do it. Due to the way the car manages the battery, sitting for more than a few weeks can [will?] result in rather quick death once driving is resumed.

Yeah, missed the salvage part, sorry.

Yes, grid charging is pretty much essential. Of course, we have no long term data yet, but it is believed that regular grid charges could extend the life of a pack from 3-7 years to 10-15 years. In the case of infrequent driving, it could mean the difference between a few months and many years.

I suggest buying Mike's charger, as it is robust and feature packed.

Grid Charger - MIMA Honda Insight Modified Integrated Motor Assist

Especially since your pack is only a few years old, you might be able to salvage it with a grid charger. It will probably never be the same as new again, but there are quite a few people around here driving their cars normally with regular grid charges.

I'm in the middle of testing an IMA-light-throwing pack in Insight #3. I will show how a grid charge can improve such a pack and to what level soon. I also hope to do some testing regarding how long the IMA light stays away with each grid charge. But of course this is only one pack, each one will be different. Still interesting information though. So far my testing has only involved the MIMA Pack Whack, which unfortunately isn't accessible to everyone.

With the advent of Peter's OBDIIC&C Gauge, and the ability to set SoC manually, I am hoping we can use this as sort of a poor man's pack whack. I will be posting data along those lines eventually too.