[Hegel]

So here's my sad, sad tale:

The other day I turned on my Insight and the IMA and check engine lights came on... Sigh.

So yeah, took the car to the dealer the next day and their diagnosis was a faulty BCM and a dead battery pack. They're shipping in the BCM and a new battery to replace the faulty parts. The parts and labor are covered under the car's warranty, so thankfully I didn't have to shell out tons of money.

Question: the service rep dude, who was more than polite by the way, told me that the car itself is drivable, i.e. just using the conventional motor, I'll just be without the aid of the electric assist. I drove the car home and boy do I miss my electric assist! It felt weird being stopped at a traffic light with the engine running...

Anyway, I thought I'd ask the knowledgeable folks here at the forum: will I be doing any damage to the car if I'm driving the car in its current state?

All right all, thanks for reading.

 

[Insightful Trekker]

While its possible the BCM is faulty its probably simply in need of an update. See:

InsightCentral.net Forum Index -> General Discussion
Sticky: US IMA warranty 10 year extension UPDATED to all 50 states!
http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... php?t=4796

Until the 12v battery warning subsequently comes on your essentially doing no damage driving without an operational IMA system. However, and ultimately the IMA batteries will fail such that there will be insufficient power remaining for the DC-DC converter to keep the 12v system running.

Once the battery warning light comes on your in 12v discharge and you'll be walking sooner rather than later. Last year as Honda ramped up the reman production line there were considerable delays in IMA pack availability. IIRC a couple of Insighters were able to drive as you are for several weeks without reaching the 12v system "failure" point too.

YMMV but in daylight driving and conserving power (turn off _all_ accessories) you've got less that 20 miles to dead while in 12v discharge (assuming a "full", good 12v battery. Not a weak one). After dark when the headlights must remain on you have less than 1/3 of the above.

Harm or damage :?: Can't imagine any worth mentioning.

HTH!

 

[HafNHaf]

i drove mine for a week after the IMA pack died. note: the first time i got the IMA light the system still functioned normally, ie assist, regen, auto stop, etc. thats when i took it in for evaluation and they ordered all the parts. a week before the parts showed up the IMA light came on again, and this time i lost all IMA functions. well, except the dc-dc converter. it was still charging the 12 volt battery, so i kept driving it. regular commute, 1/2 daylight, 1/2 night.

check the 12 volt batttery voltage with the car off, and with it running. see if the dc-dc is still doing its thing. if it is, no problem!

 

[rsouthern]

My IMA light came on last week but the car still had it's IMA function. The dealer confirmed the error was 'degraded performance' by reading the code. Yesterday on the way home I also got the check engine light and lost all assist and recharge, the main pack indicates it's fully charged all the time now but it's like the IMA battery is flat... no assist.

I've driven ~50 miles with headlights and accessories on since yesterday and haven't had a problem with the 12v pack, in fact, the car started normally, not using the 12v starter, and it runs smoothly, so it seems to me that the main pack is still providing the IMA motor with power for the flywheel function to smooth out the engine pulses.

Anyway, my replacement pack came in, so the car's at he dealer getting it swapped now, but there didn't seem to be any problems other than the slightly lower mileage (65mpg vs 72).

your mileage may vary (no pun intended)

 

[Insightful Trekker]

I've driven ~50 miles with headlights and accessories on since yesterday and haven't had a problem with the 12v pack, in fact, the car started normally, not using the 12v starter, and it runs smoothly, so it seems to me that the main pack is still providing the IMA motor with power for the flywheel function to smooth out the engine pulses.

Until the 12v "standard" battery warning light comes on there IS sufficient power being sent from the IMA system to keep the car running (until you run out of gas )

The dynamic balance function is one of varing the IMA load on the engine at IDLE. No power is sent from the 144v batteries. Its an undefined MCM logic function as to what codes will also turn off this feature.