[archie_b]

I am the original owner of a 2000 Insight. At 100,012 miles the check engine light came on along with the IMA light. All assist and charging ended at that time. Took car to Honda dealer the next day and was told the battery pack and IMA computer were bad and needed replacement at $5,800. I am out of IMA warranty time wise by less than 7 months.

My biggest problem is the battery pack, battery monitor and battery module were all replaced under warranty in July 2008 at 81,500 miles. This was suppose to be the "improved" system that would last longer than the original system. I got less than 2.5 years and less than 19,000 between failures.

According to my dealer, where the Insight has been serviced everytime since new including all maintenance intervals, they checked with the zone rep and were advised; 1) the IMA is out of warranty and 2) the replacement parts were only covered for 1 year or 12,000 miles, cost to repair is $5,800.

I should point out the Insight still starts using the IMA motor (6 times since failure) and lights and everything still work fine. I checked the aux battery and it is still showing fully charged.

Anyone else have two IMA failures with short periods between failures and Honda saying no warranty coverage?

 

[joecvt]

....Took car to Honda dealer the next day and was told the battery pack and IMA computer were bad and needed replacement at $5,800. I am out of IMA warranty time wise by less than 7 months.

Understanding that your 10 year portion of the IMA warranty is up (since it came first - not the miles), Honda can not make you replace the IMA computers if only the battery is "bad" as they put it.

Since your battery is kind of newish (if that is a word), it is likely that only one stick of cells has gone out of spec (probably just one cell within the stick). I think your options are (based on your skill set as well):

1) Do a search on grid chargers and attempt to "rebalance" the pack yourself. (Probably the least expensive option if successful)

2) Contact Ron at hybrid battery repair and he will test and identify what sticks need to be replaced and do so. (medium price option)

3) Goto Honda and get a quote on just the battery pack replacement (not the IMA controllers).

Hope that helps,

JoeCVT = Just your average CVT owner

 

[Hybrid-Battery-Repair]

Avoid that dealer. The price should be $3000 plus $900 plus $800 = $4700. They are tacking an extra thousand dollars of profit on there. This is common only in the SoCal - LA area.

I am the original owner of a 2000 Insight. At 100,012 miles the check engine light came on along with the IMA light. All assist and charging ended at that time. Took car to Honda dealer the next day and was told the battery pack and IMA computer were bad and needed replacement at $5,800. I am out of IMA warranty time wise by less than 7 months.

My biggest problem is the battery pack, battery monitor and battery module were all replaced under warranty in July 2008 at 81,500 miles. This was suppose to be the "improved" system that would last longer than the original system. I got less than 2.5 years and less than 19,000 between failures.

According to my dealer, where the Insight has been serviced everytime since new including all maintenance intervals, they checked with the zone rep and were advised; 1) the IMA is out of warranty and 2) the replacement parts were only covered for 1 year or 12,000 miles, cost to repair is $5,800.

I should point out the Insight still starts using the IMA motor (6 times since failure) and lights and everything still work fine. I checked the aux battery and it is still showing fully charged.

Anyone else have two IMA failures with short periods between failures and Honda saying no warranty coverage?

 

[Willie Williford]

Or just "Keep on trucking" till Ron gets the battery fixed. You never said what the codes were in the CEL. Probably a "Deterioated Battery Pack" or "Overheated IMA Battery".
As long as you are getting the 12 battery charged and don't miss "Auto Stop". You will be fine. (There is even a way around that).
All the above has been posted many times before. "SEARCH" is your best friend.

HTH
Willie