[masscommuter]

How can I start after a dead battery?

I had left the ignition on overnight with a cellphone plugged in to 12v power.

I hooked up jumper cables (read the manual: plus,
then neg. went to the engine ground cable)

I started up the Good Battery car &
then pulled the Insight key off the ring
and BEEEEEEEEEE - horn blows on the insight.

I ran back,
put key in Insight ignition, turned right & left : nothing.
Horn still blowing ...

pulled the neg. cable
horn stopped.

Repeated with 1st car already running & Insight key in the ignition:
same thing.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

Reads like you've got an an alarm installed. If its a factory alarm IIRC simply ignore the beep and proceed with the start, cycle the key on and off a couple of times and that should reset the alarm.

If its aftermarket you'll need its instructions. But often its something similar. Although some can be a bit tricky, requiring a specific sequence or key FOB to reset.

HTH!

 

[masscommuter]

Hmmmm .. I tried key on / off a few times, like 3.
I'll try again.

 

[masscommuter]

Right - I tried again, this time starting the good-battery car first -
carefully, step-by-step connect the jumpers.

Nothing . . .
And 1 thing new:

I noticed no spark (this time) when connecting last jumper clip.
Fuse blew?
Where?

 

[Insightful Trekker]

Spark :?: Ignition spark :?:

I'm guessing your not seeing sparks when making the final connection with the cable. Not always an indication of anything especially on an Insight.

IF you followed the jumper cable connection sequence correctly then no fuse should have blown. Oopsed - reversed polairty and hopefully you've only fried a fuse. But in unusual cases even when everything was done correctly fuses blow. So either the alarm is _still_ disabling start-up or you've got to start inspecting each fuse. Usually its a main fuse in the underhood box. But it could be any (the underdash box too).

Unless the IMA battery is dead or one of the BCM divert to the conventional starter parameters are encounterd the Insight requires _VERY_ little electrical current for jump starting. IIRC one member used a 12v pack of AA cells. You just need enough to power up the computers and close the HV contactor. So "sparks" at the final jumper connection tend to be unusually slight in an Insight.

HTH!

But its about this point that message board help starts failing for such problems. Individual knowledge for fuse inspection and alarm "troubleshooting" has to start carrying a greater percentage of the load, sorry but IMO thats the way it works.

 

[masscommuter]

It was the main 80-amp fuse,
which didn't exist at AutoZone ...

It is curious -
Fuse blowout would have been at 3rd re-connect of jumpers . . .
and I got no spark then ( but did on previoius 2 ).

2nd time, horn blew nicely until I [ carefully ] unclipped black.

I'm getting a fuse plus a spare.

 

[masscommuter]

Now: starter does not kick in ..
My best guess: go through all the fuses.
and, maybe just put the battery on a charger instead of fooling around w/ jumper cables.

I got the 80-amp main fuse at Honda Parts ..
( and had a helper at the ignition to turn it on right after connecting jumpers )

I get the full dashboard display - but starter motor doesn't kick in.
I waited for Check Engine light to go away - 20 secs?

I hear some light noise - whirrr, or tica-tica .. when turning the key to "Start",
and the ABS light comes on, goes out 10-20 secs after turning off key.

Other things look normal, like toggling FCD.

 

[masscommuter]

Cured: running a battery charger (automatic @ 2amps for 90 mins, then 10 amps for 30 mins) cured it - - even though it was still drawing 10 amps.

I disconnected the charger, it started right up.

But - SOC was lower than I've ever seen: 1 bar.

Left it idling for 20 mins: 4 bars.

Drove around the neighborhood: 5 bars.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

Reads like your jumper connections were some how faulty or you've got the main engine ground corrosion problem.

See JackMPG's web pages for a pictorial "how to" fix:

http://community.webshots.com/user/jackmpg

After loosing the 12v you effectively accomplished a forced reset. (manual recal). Nothing to "worry" about there.

The only other help that I can think to offer is make sure that the car being jumped to has the ignition switch _OFF_ before making the cable connections. This can help reduce the possibility of the blown fuse you experienced.

THANKS for the post in closure :!: Not all members go to the extra trouble.

HTH!

 

[Will M]

The one time in my life I accidentally reversed my jumper cables was when I was jumping my dead 1992 Civic (left he lights on) with my 2003 Insight. Lots of sparks. It blew the 80 amp fuse on the Civic. The car was packed. Three of us were about to drive away for a vacation. It was not a happy moment.

Then I realized that the Insight had the same 80 amp fuse as the Civic. I swapped fuses, jumped the Civic from the Insight's battery and that was enough to start it. The Insight then sat, fuseless, for the duration of the vacation. I replaced the fuse when I got back and everything was fine.

If you got sparks the first two times, I strongly suspect you had your cables reversed and that's why you blew the 80 amp fuse. It doesn't blow all that easily. When you hook the cables up right, sparking is negligible. Do it backwards, and even with a really dead battery, you get sparks that are memorable. Downright exciting in a not altogether desirable sense of the word.

 

[masscommuter]

Yeah, I know it sounds like that,
but consider: the horn beeped constantly, twice.

Only 3rd time was there no spark & no horn.

But I know, it's hard to see another cause.