Where to begin with a dying Insight?

[mikedel]

I've been 'handed down' my wife's 2000 Insight after the birth of our first child and it's already died me. Normally, I research and attempt repair before querying for answers on a forum but there is an overwhelming amount of information here and after sorting through it for a few hours, I'm at a loss on exactly where to begin and proceed. So I'm hoping there's some patient folks out there to throw me a bone here and give me a clue (including what half the acronyms mean).

Quick history:

After a dealership to for oil change, on the ride home from dealership, wife noticed the IMA light on (again) and the battery not charging. (This happened roughly 15k (2 years) ago and the battery was replaced under warranty.) She brought it back there and they said the battery needed replacement again but it would be ~$1800. We asked if it could be driven in it's current state and they said yes.

Fast forward about 3 weeks. I drive the car a few times a week (roughly 12 miles per day). One day, in addition to the IMA light, almost all of the dash lights illuminated (12V, check engine etc). A day or so later, on a short drive, the radio quit, car started bucking, every light on the dash started flickering (including speed etc), lost AC and power steering but the car continued for another few miles before stalling and not starting again and had to be towed home.

Right now as it sits in the driveway, it starts up easily and the dash looks 'normal' and car behaves 'normally' for a few seconds and then it starts having problems (dash lights illuminate and rough idle) again.

I'm a fairly confident do it yourselfer and I'm assuming the first step is to read the "codes" using a scantool. Can someone point in me in the direction of the tool I should use/get for this and any other triage steps I can perform to get it back on the road?

Sorry for the generality of the post but I'll greatly appreciate any help I can get here. Thanks!

[Need4Speed]

Possibly broken or corroded ground straps? What state/city do you live in?

[Willie Williford]

Charge the 12v battery up for a start to help alleviate some of your problems. It can be driven with a malfunctioning IMA battery for a very very long time. Your main problem is that you do not drive the car enough. The 12v battery gets charged by the engine at a very low amperage. Ground straps are another issue, but if it an original Fla. car, that should not be an issue, but check them anyway.
HTH
Willie
(Lived in BeeRidge Fla. for many years)

[Eli]

The ground straps break both from corrosion and engine movement, once your rear engine mount goes.

Check all four ground straps(G1-G4) and report back. This is likely your problem.

[mikedel]

Thanks for the quick replies. I'll check the ground straps at my next opportunity and let you know what I find. The pics are a tremendous help here... thx! Happy Thanksgiving as well.

[E27006]

After the ground straps and 12V battery, I would start checking at the under bonnet fusebox, corrosion of the fuses/connectors etc. you will benefit from access to the Insight electrical troubleshooting manual, I think it available as a free download on Insight Central.

Just about everything seems to go through the fusebox, see page 10 "Power Distribution" of the electrical manual.

One component which has failed on other Honda cars such as the Civic is the main relay known as PGM-F1, has anyone ever changed this part on the Insight?

[kennysmith]

Nice photos, Eli. Do you know how I can save those pictures?

[Hitech]

Do the "forced re-learn" procedure about three times. (disconnect the 12 v for 15 sec or so and remove the EPS fuse. start and run at 3500 RPM until the SOC comes up to full. do it three times and then drive normally (can take up to 10 min or so for each time)

[Eli]

Originally Posted by kennysmith

Nice photos, Eli. Do you know how I can save those pictures?

Right click on them, save as? lol

I just copied them out of the FSM.

[kennysmith]

[QUOTE=Eli;209909]Right click on them, save as? lolQUOTE]
You make it sound so simple. Oh wait, I guess it is. Thanks! Happy Thanksgiving