[ivelostr2]

1st of all, I deliver pizza and one garage I deliver to now refers to me as the "Fing moon buggy driver" when I show up with their food.

Last week my fiance was going to take my car to the PO while I was doing some yard work. SHe got in it but i could tell she was struggling so I shut off the tractor to go help. She said it wouldn't start, so i got in and tried but it just wouldn't. It had power, the radio played and stuff, and the key was turned the whole way, but it just would turn on. After some messing around with it, I decided I would try and give it a jump. SO i took her keys out of the ignition and told her to pull her Grand AM around and she did, I got my keys, we hooked the cables up and it started right up, no problem. So she went to the Po and to Wendy's and came home no problem.
That night we went to a Wedding and I got kinda drunk so she drove home. It started up fine. As we were leaving the groom came out the doors and walked ver and stuck his head in my car and talked for a while so my fiance shut the car off. When we were done talking, she tried to start it again and it wouldn't start. So we pooped the hood to jump it again and I noticed the -cable was off. I put it back on, and we tried to jump it but it wouldn't start. We decided we were going to push it into a parking place. I got in and turned the key to put it in nuetral and it started right up no problem. going home that night we noticed the Battery gauge was at 0 but it climbed the whole way home.
A few days later, she was taking my car again while I was at work. She got in and turned the key, but it wouldn't start. I was at a loss so I looked at her and said what are you doing gifferent than me, it has to be something you are doing. I thought for a few seconds and a light bulb appeared above my head. I told her to go get my keys, she did and it started right up.

Conclusion.

My second key, given to me by the dealership, will open my dorrs but not start my car. it turns the whole way, but it will not start my car.
The first time it wouldn't start she was using her set of keys for my car, but we switched them when she pulled her car around, so that is why it started when I put in my keys. The second time it wouldn't start was becaus eI had apparantly loosened the -cable when jumping ti the first time, and the third time it wouldn't start she was using her keys again.


So my only question is, the battery gauge dropping after the -cable was off is that normal. My radio stations weren't messed up or anything. I just didn't know what to make of this. I figured something was wrong before, but when I discovered the deal with the keys, that explained a lot, but not the battery gauge.

Nick

 

[No. 166]

The battery-gauge-thing was a normal recal. Nothing to worry about :wink:

 

[b1shmu63]

Great story! :lol:

The keys have a radio transmitter in them that interacts with the motor. The transmitter could be defective or the digital code could be messed up. (There is a tiny rectangular aluminum dog tag that comes with the car and it tells the dealer what code to use in programming the key.) These are just two posible scenarios; hope it helps.

 

[Rick]

Well if you can replicate it on command and your still within warranty take it in and get it fixed. If not there's a fairly cheap solution, take a known working key in to the parts department of your local dealership and they should be able to cut and clone that key for ~$20. I only got one key with my Insight and they were able to copy mine for a lot less than I though it was going to cost.


However, this raises the interesting point of whats really going on. When you turn the key that doesn't work does the green key light come on? This would indicate a problem with the transponder key. Actually, if you turn it 3 times and it still doesn't work it will default to trying the backup starter motor, but won't spark since there's no valid transponder key present. There is another possibility that the 12 volt battery is dying as well, starting on and off is typical Insight behavior when the 12 volt is dying because all it generally has to do is turn on the computers long enough to get the IMA to take over, this requires very little charge so if it's on the verge of not quite working it will be hit or miss on whether it will start in the morning.

If the green key light doesn't come on when using the suspect key I'd suggest getting your 12 volt load tested because your IMA battery charge will default to 0 when 12 volts is lost.

 

[bretthans]

The IMA computer gets reset when you disconnect the 12V battery. After it has been reset, it has no idea what the IMA state of charge is, so it starts at zero by default. Nothing to worry about. HTH

 

[ivelostr2]

The IMA computer gets reset when you disconnect the 12V battery. After it has been reset, it has no idea what the IMA state of charge is, so it starts at zero by default. Nothing to worry about. HTH

I thought this might have been the reason, but my radio stations weren't reset. wouldn't they have reset too?

 

[b1shmu63]

The radio does not reset as it has its own internal memory which is independant of the battery. Every time you shut off the Insight the radio is completely without power.

 

[ivelostr2]

The radio does not reset as it has its own internal memory which is independant of the battery. Every time you shut off the Insight the radio is completely without power.

oh, I did not know that...