There's been so much written about the IMA etc.. but I have yet to see what I'm about to type.
I had my insight parked for quite some time and did not start it for quite some time either. 6-8 months something like that. Obviously when I tried to start it recently it wouldn't start at all battery was dead ima was dead etc..
So I decided to do first things first.
1. I recharged the battery in the engine bay; but still had some difficulties because the IMA was completely gone.
So I did this and saw some unusual behavior.
I kept the charger on the car battery started up the engine with the starting assist feature on the charger; then hammered the engine to get the charge for the IMA.
What I noticed next was unusual: the IMA charged up really really quickly I would say in a matter of 30 seconds..never seen it charge that quick before... probably less than that.
I thought that the charge might be a faulty reading. I kept the car stored and turned the engine on once a week to keep it charged.
Today I took it for a spin and the charge is legitimate. Full charge would discharge when I used assist and recharged just fine.
Why am I sharing all this.. .well I've heard so many horror stories here about the IMA and thought this might be the end of mine... but whatever I did seemed to help the system... I think what I did is basically took the charging function of the engine battery away from the IMA and it took full advantage of the engine charge.....
well there it is...
I had my insight parked for quite some time and did not start it for quite some time either. 6-8 months something like that. Obviously when I tried to start it recently it wouldn't start at all battery was dead ima was dead etc..
So I decided to do first things first.
1. I recharged the battery in the engine bay; but still had some difficulties because the IMA was completely gone.
So I did this and saw some unusual behavior.
I kept the charger on the car battery started up the engine with the starting assist feature on the charger; then hammered the engine to get the charge for the IMA.
What I noticed next was unusual: the IMA charged up really really quickly I would say in a matter of 30 seconds..never seen it charge that quick before... probably less than that.
I thought that the charge might be a faulty reading. I kept the car stored and turned the engine on once a week to keep it charged.
Today I took it for a spin and the charge is legitimate. Full charge would discharge when I used assist and recharged just fine.
Why am I sharing all this.. .well I've heard so many horror stories here about the IMA and thought this might be the end of mine... but whatever I did seemed to help the system... I think what I did is basically took the charging function of the engine battery away from the IMA and it took full advantage of the engine charge.....
well there it is...