[gobuchul74]

Hello All,
I recently bought a used 2000 Insight for my daily 120+ mile commute. the gas savings is great. However, I think the car might have some problems, but since its so different from any other car, I'm not sure. Can someone tell me if these things are normal.

1. Yesterday I was in bad traffic on a freeway ramp. The car was out of gear with the AC off, and the engine would start and stop by itself. I was just coasting downhill on the ramp, and never touched the gear shift, clutch, or gas pedal. This, along with some other harder to describe symptoms make me suspect that the switch telling the car I am in neutral isn't working well.
2. Sometimes the engine hessitates to start when I put it in gear, but I just read something that makes me think it was my fault. Maybe I wasn't depressing the clutch enough.
3. How quickly should the battery charge drain when using assist up a hill? When I use a lot of assist up a hill the charge lasts for awhile, but when it drops off it drops like a rock. In fact, yesterday I felt the assist let go before the guage dropped from 75% to 0%.

So far, Ive had the car for a week and the check engine light came on once with a O2 sensor code. I cleared it and have had no other problems. The car has 88000 miles, and runs great other then these little quirks.

Thanks.

 

[Yves M.]

HI,

Just a quick reply and might not be precise:
1) Was it wen you where braking that the engine was going into Auto-Stop. If so, it is normal
2) Yes it probably is the clutch to the floor thing (or the mat prevents the pedal to go to the floor).
3) It should go down slowly and takes a few minutes (not seconds). Not all at once except if the BCP does a recall at the same time and resets the state of charge. It could happen once in a while but not at every time. Every time could show to be a problem:
- battery overheating
- battery defect in a cell

Others could have more input.

 

[Jim]

Hi gobuchul74,

I'll add to Yves post. When you're drifting downhill using the brakes, you're using up the vacuum that's provided to give your brakes power assist. Since there is only a certain amount of vacuum available, once you've used it up, the engine will restart to make sure you always have power assist (actually vacuum boost) available for your brakes.

Without this feature you'd probably run into other cars - frequently. It takes a lot more pressure on the pedal to stop without power assist. Try it sometime in an empty parking lot with a slight grade.

 

[Holicow]

..

Without this feature you'd probably run into other cars - frequently. It takes a lot more pressure on the pedal to stop without power assist. Try it sometime in an empty parking lot with a slight grade.

Veering off-topic: Why does the Insight have power brakes anyway? I wonder why boost is necessary for such a small car. I have driven much larger cars without power brakes... Does ABS require power brakes? I don't think so, but I am no ABS expert...


gobuchul74: How big is this hill?

 

[Jim]

Holicow wrote:

"Does ABS require power brakes? I don't think so, but I am no ABS expert..."

I'm no expert on ABS, either. I know my '97 BMW motorcycle has ABS, but does not have power brakes.

I've driven cars without power brakes, but not lately. They weren't very easy to stop compared to modern cars. I think it's just that we've gotten used to power brakes, and wouldn't buy a car without them.

 

[Yves M.]

Hi Holicow,

My guess for the need for power is two fold:
- For a quality ride not to prevent high heel ladies foot from driving such a cool car
- The front brake pads are small and do almost all of the braking, the rear pads are not used much because of low rear contact (the rear contact is small and the rear looses weigh when you brake).
e.g. while driving, try to lock the rear wheels with the emergency brake lever, you will see that Honda did not put much brake power there.

An other good question would have been:
Why put a power steering on such a small car and with high pressure tire (easier than usual tire turning when no speed)

 

[Foxpaw]

As for the O2 sensor code, check with a honda dealer whether your 2000 has had the ECM recall performed. The recalled ECMs apparently threw O2 sensor and other emissions codes for no reason.

 

[gobuchul74]

Thanks for all your advice,
I'm pretty electronically and mechanically savvy, but this car has a mind of it's own. It's new to me, and I'm not sure if everything is working right.

The O2 sensor, I'm not too worried about, if it comes on again I'll do something.

The only thing I can't figure out now is that sometimes (usually stop n go traffic) the idle-stop doesn't work when I sit in neutral, but just as I'm shifting back into gear it cuts off for a half second and starts as I finish shifting. Weird, sometimes it anticipates my stopping by shutting off as I approach a stop (still in gear), and sometimes it ignores the fact that I have already stopped until I'm about to start again.

I made it up the hills going home yesterday without killing my battery, so I feel better about that. I don't think the battery is stronger, I just used the gears better. My Insight loves to take the grade in 4th at 70+mph. Anything slower and it requires full throttle.

I'm getting about 56 MPG, and hopefully will get better. The previous owner had 39MPG showing on the LMPG.

 

[Holicow]

If you completely figure out the autostop, let me know...

39 mpg stinks, you can only do better 8)

 

[Rick]

As for the auto stop it has it's own mind. If you are just sitting there in auto stop you will get 3 auto stops if you shift to gear then out before it decides to just stay running. Also, it generally won't activate unless you get going about 10mph, it sort of resets on it's 3 auto stops it will give. If your in creep and go traffic where you would just be using 1st try shifting to second, clutch pressed still, before going to neutral, it will trick it in to auto stop usually. Also, you can just stall it in 2nd too if it won't auto stop. This will kill the DC/DC so any 12 volt stuff will be running off of the small battery, but if it's just for a short while it's no big deal (not recommended for night time though, the restart inrush voltage will shorten lamp life). It will restart when you shift to 1st. You may want to know your 12 volt is in good shape before you attempt this too much though.

 

[james]

"I just used the gears better. My Insight loves to take the grade in 4th at 70+mph."

That does take some getting used to, as it revs higher than most cars. It's quite happy being dropped into 3rd at freeway speeds.

 

[Willie Williford]

So where are you in Calif? (North,South,East.West?)Post a location and maybe a few INSIGHTERS will meet with you and evaluate your driving, to better the use and evaluation of "auto stop".

 

[gobuchul74]

I'm commuting from Temecula to San Diego and back everyday. About 65 miles each way. The first thing I had to do was get a new stereo, now if I add some window tint, I should have the perfect commute vehicle.

 

[Guest]

Hi Gobuchul74:

___190 miler here. I would also recommend that you possibly consider a Husco arm rest. My right forearm hasn’t left the Husco since I installed it the week I picked up my Insight

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:xnmbma2l][email protected][/email:xnmbma2l]

 

[gobuchul74]

I was thinking about that one too, but it hasn't bothered me yet. Actually I think it's because this is the first car I've had that I generally drive with both hands on the wheel. Grooves in the road and other little things tend to move it around so much I feel better driving with both hands.