[tubesguy]

Hi folks -

I've had a fairly miserable winter with my '00 Insight, with problems initially identified in this thread:

http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... er+related

Basically, a seemingly totally random lack of assist, both total and partial, and nothing to tie it to by way of cause or correlation. What was really bugging me is that I have never had a CEL or had the IMA light come on, so I haven't really been too crazy about dropping it off at the dealer, perhaps multiple times, to diagnose the problem. (Yesterday I came close to posting a question about whether my CEL light was not functioning.)

Today, however, I finally had the IMA light come on while driving, and had two recals in the space of maybe 40 miles of freeway driving. The car goes in the shop on Monday, and I'll post the results ASAP. - Pat

 

[Getshocked.ca]

Hi folks -

I've had a fairly miserable winter with my '00 Insight, with problems initially identified in this thread:

http://www.insightcentral.net/forum/vie ... er+related

Basically, a seemingly totally random lack of assist, both total and partial, and nothing to tie it to by way of cause or correlation. What was really bugging me is that I have never had a CEL or had the IMA light come on, so I haven't really been too crazy about dropping it off at the dealer, perhaps multiple times, to diagnose the problem. (Yesterday I came close to posting a question about whether my CEL light was not functioning.)

Today, however, I finally had the IMA light come on while driving, and had two recals in the space of maybe 40 miles of freeway driving. The car goes in the shop on Monday, and I'll post the results ASAP. - Pat

Congrats. The fact that honda cannot diagnose these problems is beyond me, your story sounds similar to what i have experienced (Waiting almost 8 months for an IMA light)

 

[tubesguy]

Well, as expected - new battery pack and both modules on order. MIMA here I come! (Although it will be nice just to have the stock performance and mileage back.) 62K miles, by the way, on a '00. - Pat

 

[tubesguy]

Done! The service guy called me at about 3:00pm today to say it was all set, and I picked it up 5 minutes ago. That's pretty darn good service.

 

[Rick]

Are you kidding me? It took them 55 days to get my parts. They must have finally figured it out and stocked up on the necessary parts.

 

[Calpod]

That was quick!, it took them 3 weeks to get mine.

By the way, I just had mine replaced under warranty, at 148K miles, I took my car to the local Honda dealer here in Northridge (You local guys know who they are) and they said that I Honda would not cover it and that it would cost $6300.

Next day I called Honda of America, and opened up a claim, the a "Honda representative" called me back the next day, and he said that Honda would be willing to help and that I would only have to pay $2000 out of my pocket, I didn't think that was acceptable, so I told him that I would like to know what the cost of the parts would be, and he said the parts were not for sale to the general public.

We ended up getting into a little argument about Honda having 6 year old vehicles and not willing to sell parts to the public, and also told him that I didn't trust the local dealer and that I would like to take it to another dealer.

He then said that if I took it to a different dealer Honda would not cover it, this was a big red flag for me, why would Honda not cover it if you took it to another Honda dealer?

He also said the offer was good until the end of the month, so I called around other dealers in the area and asked about their experience with hybrids, and decided to take it with the dealer I thought I'd have a better chance.

They called me back the same day and said I needed a battery, BCM, and MCM, and if I could leave the car, so I did, I even got a free rental!

Needless to say, I'm very happy with the way they took care of me and my car, they had 3 more hybrids getting batteries, one was a blue insight, the dealer was Honda of Valencia.

I asked the service advisor some questions to see how well they know the car, he knew that the insight has a magnesium oil pan, and that the threads can be stripped real easy, he also mentioned that they don't use a wrench to tighten the bolt, they use a torque wrench.

I think we have found a good place to have qualified service done on our insights.

 

[tubesguy]

Yup, I was very pleasantly surprised, since, based on many posts by forum members, I thought I'd be waiting weeks or even months for the parts.

Maybe it has something to do with living in the hybrid capitol of the country. Seriously, it seems as if every third car I see is a Prius, and I probably see a fellow Insight driver every day or two.

At any rate, I'm thrilled, but I must say that having the autostop actually work for the first time in months kind of surprised me at first. - Pat

 

[SeanW]

Needless to say, I'm very happy with the way they took care of me and my car, they had 3 more hybrids getting batteries, one was a blue insight, the dealer was Honda of Valencia.

I asked the service advisor some questions to see how well they know the car, he knew that the insight has a magnesium oil pan, and that the threads can be stripped real easy, he also mentioned that they don't use a wrench to tighten the bolt, they use a torque wrench.

I think we have found a good place to have qualified service done on our insights.

That is really great news considering they are very close to where I work and have serviced my car in the past. Calpod, do you have the name of the advisor you dealt with? I'm due for a CVT fluid change in about two weeks and would love to speak to him.

Thanks!

 

[Calpod]

His name is William.

It would be good if you could make it to the Insight meet in Chino, you could meet a lot of people and get some good ideas to hypermile.

 

[SteveChicagoSC]

I asked the service advisor some questions to see how well they know the car, he knew that the insight has a magnesium oil pan, and that the threads can be stripped real easy, he also mentioned that they don't use a wrench to tighten the bolt, they use a torque wrench.

I think we have found a good place to have qualified service done on our insights.

[mod edit fixed misquote (you missed the initial bbcode formatting string)]

Do they torque it to spec?

 

[Insightful Trekker]

That would be my concern too Steve. It *appears* that the spec in the service manual of 29 ft/lbs (4.0 kgf/m, 39 N/m) is too tight (pg. 8-5).

Aaron Cake's failed even though he followed the spec. Although he indicated that the first OC was done at the dealership and that it seemed wayyy too tight on removal. And bogturtlewoman's has failed even though she used her local dealership exclusively. No report if a torque wrench was also exclusively used.

Personally I think Willie's got the ticket :!:

There is a certian "feel" to a new crush washer. Torque wrenches can /do drift out of calibration and while the avaition industry _requires_ periodic calibration testing I doubt you'll find an automotive shop anywhere in the country that has done anything close.

A calibrated elbow with the crushwasher as the secondary "feel" has never let me down in regard to drain plug threads. Probably 15-20 ft/lbs. And even Honda has "goofed" the crush washer in the past. Wrong alloy and too hard. It did feel wrong.

HTH!