Just wondering what might be going on with my 2000 Insight (103K miles, manual transmission) -- I'm not getting auto-stop and not seeing any lean burn -- Took a drive today to Madison, WI (about 100 miles away), ambient temperature was ~43F. Engine was nice and warm, but only got 50MPG average for the day -- high was about 52MPG or so. Driving 65-70 MPH, actually trying to get into lean-burn when cruising on flat terrain, but never saw it pop up to ~75 MPG like it used to. When I got into Madison and was hitting some red lights I thought I'd see auto stop happen but it didn't.
I had David Hobbs Honda in Milwaukee check out the EGR valve in early December -- they said it was reading a bad value when they tested it so it was replaced. Still didn't seem to help at all, but I hadn't really taken it for a long trip so didn't want to jump to any conclusions. My IMA battery was in bad shape and I had been intending to replace it for a while, so I replaced it with a Bumblebee unit in late December, took it for a 300-mile trip right before Christmas and was still getting poor MPG so took it back to Hobbs and asked them to look it over again. Oh yeah -- and I pointed out to their Service Manager that the engine hadn't been put back together properly after the EGR valve fix -- see attached photo showing improper reassembly.
This time they said there was a bad oxygen sensor and replaced that (but I had never seen a warning light). Then I took it for the drive today and am still not getting decent MPG. And when I popped the hood to take a look, the engine was still in the same improperly-reassembled condition as before -- I'm pretty pissed off that they didn't fix that, given that I had actually pointed it out to the service manager on the last service visit.
So I'm wondering what would keep auto-stop from happening -- I know there are a lot of variables for lean burn, so I thought maybe I'd start with the auto-stop question. Like I said, the engine was nice and warm, ambient temperature was warm enough. What else might prevent it from happening?
And what approach would you suggest with David Hobbs Honda? They're the closest Honda dealer (there is a guy in Madison, 90 minutes away, who works on hybrids but that's an awful long way to go for service), but I'd expect Hobbs to be able to figure out what is wrong with my car and fix it. Though so far they aren't pumping me full of confidence. I actually called last week and left a voice mail for the General Manager with a brief message about what is happening and asked him to all me but haven't heard a peep out of him since.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this situation.
I had David Hobbs Honda in Milwaukee check out the EGR valve in early December -- they said it was reading a bad value when they tested it so it was replaced. Still didn't seem to help at all, but I hadn't really taken it for a long trip so didn't want to jump to any conclusions. My IMA battery was in bad shape and I had been intending to replace it for a while, so I replaced it with a Bumblebee unit in late December, took it for a 300-mile trip right before Christmas and was still getting poor MPG so took it back to Hobbs and asked them to look it over again. Oh yeah -- and I pointed out to their Service Manager that the engine hadn't been put back together properly after the EGR valve fix -- see attached photo showing improper reassembly.
This time they said there was a bad oxygen sensor and replaced that (but I had never seen a warning light). Then I took it for the drive today and am still not getting decent MPG. And when I popped the hood to take a look, the engine was still in the same improperly-reassembled condition as before -- I'm pretty pissed off that they didn't fix that, given that I had actually pointed it out to the service manager on the last service visit.
So I'm wondering what would keep auto-stop from happening -- I know there are a lot of variables for lean burn, so I thought maybe I'd start with the auto-stop question. Like I said, the engine was nice and warm, ambient temperature was warm enough. What else might prevent it from happening?
And what approach would you suggest with David Hobbs Honda? They're the closest Honda dealer (there is a guy in Madison, 90 minutes away, who works on hybrids but that's an awful long way to go for service), but I'd expect Hobbs to be able to figure out what is wrong with my car and fix it. Though so far they aren't pumping me full of confidence. I actually called last week and left a voice mail for the General Manager with a brief message about what is happening and asked him to all me but haven't heard a peep out of him since.
I'd like to hear your thoughts on this situation.