[Paul Andrews]

Hi Folks,
I am a recent convert to the Insight and have bought 2 cars, a Red CVT as a road car and a citrus manual which I plan to build into a tarmac stage rally car to compete in a UK series called Formula 1000, which is for lightly modified 1000cc cars. I will post more about this project on the forum soon.

The 1999 CVT car has recently developed an erratic IMA malfunction. When I first got the car it would occasionally stall (or require starting manually) in econ mode.
Yesterday I went out in it and as I drove up my very steep drive noticed IMA was not working, and the orange light was on. THe hybrid battery was fully charged. I stopped and started the engine a few times and it would sometimes start on the main system and sometimes on the 12v backup.
I went for a short drive and then parked the car for about 3 hours but when I came back to it it worked as normal. Later however it stalled at a junction and when I restarted it used the 12v system and the IMA was again out of action.
Later that journey I noticed that if I reved the engine past 4k the speedo would stop working and the red battery light would come on, but when I slowed to 1000rpm it would revert to normal but still without IMA.

Any clues as to what might be causing this would be much appreciated

 

[Rick]

Wow, I have no clue other than something is not working properly inside the magic box. Are you still under warranty? We have 8 year 80K mile IMA warranties here in the states.

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

Hi Paul

I live in the UK. I also currently have a Red CVT (Japanese import) and had very similar situations to the ones you described above. Is yours a Japanese import?

At the time of the stalls, I suspected a failing twelve volt battery but the problem went away by itself (touch wood). However I am still having problems with an interaction between the windscreen wipers and the speedometer. I suspect faulty installation of the KMH/MPH convertor but nothing has been proved. See my thread "Help! Problems with CVT" or similar. If one of us can solve it, that will certainly help the other!

Separately I am very interested in your Rally conversion project, especially since I recently went on a Rally Experience Day up in Leicestershire - great fun.

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

P.S. As well as the 12V, it might be worth checking your engine earth wires. I am away due to work until Friday night.

 

[Paul Andrews]

The fault has mysteriously vanished. I was driving along and I heard a sharp crack from underneath.(I don't know whether this is related or not)Next time I started the car it was fine and has been OK since.
The wonders of modern science.......