[sue]

Hi - I recently bought a used 2000 insight, & when I test drove it, the engine stopped at idle; however, it no longer seems to do that, even when the car's well warmed up. I believe the "econ" mode is enabled, as it reads econ on the display. Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[Rick]

Below a certain temperature heated comfort takes priority and the engine will continue to run to keep you warm. If you turn the climate control completely off before you come to a stop you may be able to get it to auto stop. There is another temperature threshold where the engine will not shut off in order to keep the catylitic converter hot enough to maintain emissions.

 

[jbrasure]

Here are some other things that will prevent auto-stop:

1) The defroster.
2) S-mode (on a CVT)

 

[Getshocked.ca]

Below a certain temperature heated comfort takes priority and the engine will continue to run to keep you warm. If you turn the climate control completely off before you come to a stop you may be able to get it to auto stop. There is another temperature threshold where the engine will not shut off in order to keep the catylitic converter hot enough to maintain emissions.

Running your heater on "Econo mode" Will allow it to Auto Stop Even in winter weather

 

[Kobushi]

Also, there is an ambient temperature sensor in front of the radiator; if this is mising or damager, auto-stop will stop working with the environmental controls on in any setting.

If it's not THAT cold out, and you can onl get auto-stop by turning off the envi. system alltogether, I'd check this sensor.

 

[Aaron Cake]

What he said. It's worth mentioning that this temperature sensor is shipped DISCONNECTED from Honda and it is the dealer's responsibility to connect it when the car is prepped for the customer. Often, the forget (or rather, are clueless).

 

[nortoncomando]

And that explains the way I found my car when I bought it used with
24K miles on it.
Never had A/S until I happened to see the connector hanging one day.

 

[Kobushi]

I got mine used with 21k and the sensors was completely missing, the mounting clip wasn't even there hehe.

 

[kari]

What he said. It's worth mentioning that this temperature sensor is shipped DISCONNECTED from Honda and it is the dealer's responsibility to connect it when the car is prepped for the customer. Often, the forget (or rather, are clueless).

is there a way I can tell if the dealer has connected this before I go into the shop? I was educating the dealer about hybrids in general, much less the insight, so I wouldn't be surprised if they are, as you say, clueless.

 

[Dougie]

First you can look down in front of the radiator to see if the sensor is there. Second you can try the procedure at http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... light=heat to see if the outside air temp is reasonable...

 

[Dougie]

I've been paying more attention to my heater controls, and have discovered a couple of new (to me) things. This is all with a car with A/C and manual transmission.

First, if the heater is off then you can get autostop in cases where you can't get it even in econ mode. It seems to be right around 40 degrees (f) when this happens.

Also, if you turn the heater off and then press the fan button, the display shows the fan speed and mode and temperature, but it's not in auto and not in econ, either.

And if you're coasting to a light, even below the speed that autostop normally engages, but then turn the heater off, it will then go into autostop. If you wait until you stop, autostop won't engage.

Then when you press the fan button you get back to the settings you had before.

So right now during my commute I'm running in foot-plus-panel mode, 67 degrees, one fan mark. I coast up to lights, then press OFF at about 10 mph to get autostop. Then after I stop I press the fan button and the heat comes back on, while the engine stays off.

Incidently I did take out the defroster fuse which may have made a difference; it's hard to know in this weather...

 

[Dougie]

I just noticed a couple of days ago that even with the climate control in the "off" position there is still a small amount of air coming out of the heater vents. And, the temperature control still works: If you turn the control up then the air gets warmer.

Furthermore, I find that with the system off I can get autostop at temperatures at least as low as freezing, and possibly lower. As soon as I turn the heat on--even in "econ"--then it has to be over 40F before autostop works.

So my current commuting style is a heavy coat and the heat off, but the temperature control turned all the way to the right. It was 44 in my car on the way home tonight, according to my $10 WalMart thermometer. Brrr!

But, I'm getting around 70 MPG in below-freezing conditions.