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5 Posts
Hello, everybody. This is my first time posting to the forum here. I am a proud Honda Insight owner who has had her 2000 Insight since 2001. I've driven it across the country from California to Virginia and back, driven it on dirt tracks in the Mojave Preserve some people wouldn't even take their SUVs on, up steep mountains... it has been an amazing car. The only problems I had with it for the first five years were minor--a few flat tires, and a piece of metal that came loose from the bottom of the car and that had to be replaced (for $300! sheesh).
That is, until recently. A couple months ago, my car started acting a little "funny." Over time, I've watched a few "funny" symptoms turn into a full-blown problem. I took the car to my Honda dealer with a very detailed description of the problem, but they couldn't locate what was causing it. So I was hoping that you Insight experts here might be able to help me out.
So here's the description: The main problem is that the car has stopped using the electric engine as much as it should. The battery gauge never drops down more than two or three bars, and even when I'm on a steep incline, the car will hardly pull more than a few bars on the "Assist" meter. Every once in a while, it will briefly pull a full charge, but when it does that, the battery and emergency brake indicators come on (they disappear when I stop and restart the car), and it will go back to only three or four bars of assist, if that. It just seems it doesn't want to use the electric engine, and only does so minimally and hesitantly. It's made the car much more sluggish and has lowered my MPG.
Another symptom that I didn't think was related until recently is that the car gets "jerky" sometimes, and will lurch like cars do when the transmission is screwed up. But the mechanic assured me that the transmission was fine (and that the electric engine was fine too), and said that if it was the transmission, the problem should become more pronounced when I accelerate, but the opposite actually occurs--it starts to do the "herky jerky" when I decelerate.
I brainstormed with the guy I talked to at the service department and we both think it seems to be something in the car's electrical system. One possibility was that it was the DC converter, as the problem seems to be with how the car is gauging and regulating the amount of power the engine needs. But the two possibilities we came up with--the DC converter and another more complicated electrical repair that was part of a service bulletin for Insights in many states (but not my state, VA)--were expensive, and not the type of thing one wants to do unless one is certain. I've wondered if the origin of the problem has been driving it in cold weather, which I have not done much until this year, since I was going to college in Southern California until May '06.
I love my car and I want it to run for a long time! I'm sad they're not making Insights any more, and hope I don't have to get another car for years from now. Any help you all have to offer will be greatly appreciated!
That is, until recently. A couple months ago, my car started acting a little "funny." Over time, I've watched a few "funny" symptoms turn into a full-blown problem. I took the car to my Honda dealer with a very detailed description of the problem, but they couldn't locate what was causing it. So I was hoping that you Insight experts here might be able to help me out.
So here's the description: The main problem is that the car has stopped using the electric engine as much as it should. The battery gauge never drops down more than two or three bars, and even when I'm on a steep incline, the car will hardly pull more than a few bars on the "Assist" meter. Every once in a while, it will briefly pull a full charge, but when it does that, the battery and emergency brake indicators come on (they disappear when I stop and restart the car), and it will go back to only three or four bars of assist, if that. It just seems it doesn't want to use the electric engine, and only does so minimally and hesitantly. It's made the car much more sluggish and has lowered my MPG.
Another symptom that I didn't think was related until recently is that the car gets "jerky" sometimes, and will lurch like cars do when the transmission is screwed up. But the mechanic assured me that the transmission was fine (and that the electric engine was fine too), and said that if it was the transmission, the problem should become more pronounced when I accelerate, but the opposite actually occurs--it starts to do the "herky jerky" when I decelerate.
I brainstormed with the guy I talked to at the service department and we both think it seems to be something in the car's electrical system. One possibility was that it was the DC converter, as the problem seems to be with how the car is gauging and regulating the amount of power the engine needs. But the two possibilities we came up with--the DC converter and another more complicated electrical repair that was part of a service bulletin for Insights in many states (but not my state, VA)--were expensive, and not the type of thing one wants to do unless one is certain. I've wondered if the origin of the problem has been driving it in cold weather, which I have not done much until this year, since I was going to college in Southern California until May '06.
I love my car and I want it to run for a long time! I'm sad they're not making Insights any more, and hope I don't have to get another car for years from now. Any help you all have to offer will be greatly appreciated!