[duane w]

I just purchased my Insight, and am now hoping I didn't buy a problem. This is a 2000 5sp, with 63,000 miles. Just drove it back to Maryland from Cincinnati Friday. On that drive, I stopped 3 times. After every stop, when I restarted the car, the SoC showed 0 bars, and forced charging happened for the first several miles of the driving.

I read about problems with recals, and so yesterday, I pulled the EPS fuse, and charged the IMA just sitting in the driveway. Got it charged up past halfway (did not count bars), and then shut her off. After a few minutes (less than 15) I turned the car back on (first just to on, without starting) and it again showed 0 bars SoC. Later yesterday, we went on some errands, and the same thing happened-SoC shows 0 bars at every restart. Including one errand that was about 10 minutes.

Anyone have thoughts/suggestions on this? I appreciate in advance.

Duane.

 

[Rick]

How old is your 12 volt battery? Sounds to me like the 12 volt is very weak, weak enough that the computer just can't stay alive to keep track of the SOC reading, but has just enough to pullin the main IMA contactor which lets everything have as much power as it wants once the car is started.

 

[LoNOx 1]

Sounds like it is doing it's own reset. Clean battery terminal connections on the battery and cables. Also remove the ground wire from the fire wall and clean/scrape the connection on the terminal and the firewall. Check the other ground also on the right side of the motor. Notice if there are any broken wire strands and corrosion on any of the three cables.

 

[HafNHaf]

is the IMA light on? if so, get it to a honda dealer for a new battery and controllers.

if not, get the 12 volt battery load tested. check the 12 volt battery terminals for condition too. and check the grounds. if the ground straps look ratty, just make up or buy some new ones. get the paint scraped off on the mounting points and bolt them in.

 

[duane w]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm hoping it is as simple as ground connections.

The battery looks new, but the date buttons were never removed, so I do not know the age for sure. On that front, I'm charging the battery overnight, to see if that helps.

Checked out the ground cables. They are very ratty, especially the two between the engine and the body on the driver side. For know, I cleaned the connections as best as I can. Also scraped paint off the body connections.

I do not have the IMA light staying on.

I'll see if this helps (enough?) for tomorrow's commute, and if not maybe I'll get the 12V battery tested Wednesday.

Duane.

 

[flunkysama]

I had the same problem. Check fuse 18.

To make a short story long... A year or 2 ago, after having alot of battery issues, the IMA light came on. I took it to the honda dealer and asked them to do the headlight switch recall and check the IMA light. After a day they called back and said they did the recall work but there was no stored code in the IMA. So they were going to have to charge me a $50 diagnostic fee. I was not happy. After I got the car back I noticed the symptoms you described as well as the gauges "forgetting" trip data. I thought about it and went straight to fuse which was blown. I thought about accusing the dealer of blowing the fuse when they did the recall work since the fuse is hot even when the key is off, but had no hard evidence.

I put up with another 6 months of recals and failed-autostarts before IMA light came on again. I read the code myself before I took to dealer and got a new battery and BCM.

*edit*
It's so obvious to me now that I forgot to mention that when fuse 18 is blown, any stored IMA codes are lost when the key is turned off.

 

[duane w]

After cleaning all the ground cables and scraping paint at the connections last night, I had the same issue today when i restarted to drive home.

Also, I just checked fuse 18, and most other fuses. All appear okay.

flunkysama mentioned the gauges forgetting trip data. I am having some of that, I think. Some of the time when I restart the car, the trip fuel economy will read something wildly different from when I shut it off before. Like it will show 118 mpg (that's what Trip B said yesterday on one of the restarts, after averaging high 50s before that).

If the fuse would cause the symptoms I'm having, are there other things that would cause the same thing?

Thanks,

Duane.

 

[flunkysama]

I saw the same sort of wild trip MPGs when my Fuse 18 was blown. Also the climate control memory did not work.

Here's what I would do. 1) Check the 12V with the key off. 2) check for 12V at fuse 18 with key off. 3) Check the WHT/RED wires going to gauges, BCM, MCM, climate controls etc.(A lot of work.) The Electrical Troubleshooting manual will really pay for itself now.

BTW, I'm talking about the underdash fuse 18. It's 7.5A and the manual refers to it as BACKUP. Don't just do a visual check on fuses, use a meter.

 

[duane w]

[mod edit to remove redundant quoting, please see rule #12 ]

flunkysama,

It WAS fuse 18. I did not know about the underdash fuses (and do not have the electrical manual), so had only checked the underhood fuses. Not knowing the numbers on the underdash fuses, I pulled all of the 7.5 A fuses, and checked then all. One was blown, I assume number 18. Put in the spare, restarted the car and charged the IMA, then shut her off. When I turned it back on, I noticed (1) SoC still shows a charge (Yay!), and (2) the trip odometer came back up on trip B where I last had it (I had not really noticed as a symptom, but previously, at every restart, the odometer would be at lifetime odo, rather than trip B where I had left it). I don't have more errands for today, so I'll wait to test drive to see for absolute sure, but it looks like this did the trick. I can't wait to drive it with assist from the start--I've got hills at the beginning of my commute.

THANKS MUCH!

Duane.

 

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

A quick check of the electrical manual shows that Fuse 18 supplies power to the Gauge Assembly, Climate control/heater panel, MCM, BCM, and ECM.
The question is what made it blow?
flunkysama
has the fuse ever blown again?
It is a good idea to change both of the ground straps if they are ratty.
Good luck

 

[duane w]

For this car, I do not know what made it blow. Was acting this way (and thus blown) when I bought the car last Friday!

The ground straps were definitely ratty, and I have changed them out now.

 

[flunkysama]

As I said in my previous post, I'm guessing the a Honda mechanic did it while doing the headlight switch recall. After the IMA light came on I only drove it to the honda dealer so I can't really remeber if the IMA recal'ed (too excited over the thought of a new battery).

Remeber this fuse provides power while the key is off, so it's is probably easy to blow while working on the wiring.

At was a solid easily visible blown fuse, not a defective fuse (I've seen those). It's never blown on me since.

Or maybe it's endemic to 2000 CYM models because that's what Duane and I both have.

 

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

Sorry I forgot about the headlight sw recall, that could do it. I have a 2000 and have not had that recall done.
Good luck with your car.