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greetings insightcentral.

where to start.. I think it was last thursday that I got off work to find my 2000 Insight with a dead 12V battery, and unable to start. Luckily I had one of those portable jump start batteries, and started up the car to drive home. Must have left the lights on or something right?

I get home, turn the car off, wait a minute, and then turned the ignition back on. dead. I had a meeting on friday, so I jumped the car again and drove to buy a new civic battery. popped it in, and it works fine, but now my IMA batteries are dead every time I turn my car on.

I take it to the dealer here in Houston, and show the problem to the guy. They take the car and later they tell me that the problem was that my battery cable wasn't on tight enough. The IMA batteries stay charged now too, so I go on my way looking like an idiot.

my questions to you all... ever heard of the IMA battery acting like this? is it possible that a loose 12V power connection could have this effect? are they not telling me something?

any help might keep me sane,
thanks

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2000 Honda Insight 5spd w/ air

 

[Yves M.]

I had the same thing on the first year I bought the car, after a recall of some electronic part. It was the dealer that did not tighten the cable and they bolted it back.

Actually, my first sympthom was that the remote was not unlocking the doors

Do you remember that you screwed both cables correctly?

 

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interesting. I can't imagine what would require more current than starting the car, yet the car started just fine.. as did everything else except for the IMA batteries discharging whenever I turned off the ignition. I guess the IMA is sensitive or something?

anyway, I guess I'll do some tests on it and try to remember to tighten the hell out of the battery terminals this time.. :twisted:

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[Yves M.]

The IMA battery did not discharge. It is only the computer that keeps the state of charge that lost it's memory because of the 12V that was lost and therefore lost the SOC level.

So the IMA battery did not loose anything but the computer did not know the level. So it starts at empty but a few minutes later, it will show the correct SOC

 

[flunkysama]

I don't think this was your problem but...
There is a fuse (#16 I think) that supplies power to the dash and the BCM/MCM when the key is off. If that fuse is blown, the IMA battery will shown as dead (i.e. do a recal) everytime you turn the key off for more than 15 or so seconds.
You also lose any stored IMA codes too. (I won't go into that story here.)