I have a manual 00 insight. The SoC indicator recently "froze" at about 3/4 charge level for 3 months. The IMA battery was unaffected, and I seemed to get the same assist levels I'm used to on my commute (I have had the same hilly commute to work for years). I never therefore worried too much about the faulty indicator.
Recently, though, the autostop mechanism has been failing, and i think the indicator problem and the autostop problem are related. Stalls only occur after 30 minutes of stop and start driving with frequent autostops (and I drive with the lights on). At this point, I'm pretty sure it's when the IMA battery has completely lost its charge, my Insight reliably refuses to come out of autostop and the oil and battery lights come on, prior to the stall. I have to shut off the engine and restart by turning the key. After a few of these 12V assisted restarts, the 12V battery begins to fail, and I have to switch to non-economy mode to prevent autostop.
I think this is all related to a failure to force charge. Since the SoC indicator is always stuck reading 3/4 full, I've noticed that forced charging doesn't occur when it should (when I run out the IMA battery by forced depletion, for example). What used to happen under these conditions was that the SoC indicator went to zero and then forced charging prevented autostop entirely until there were 4-5 bars of charge in the IMA.....so, no stalls.
My dealer in San Francisco tells me I'm nuts, and there is no relationship between the SoC indicator and the way the IMA system functions at all (ie: no feedback from the indicator to the system), and that since there are no fault codes, and the SoC indicator is not under warranty (cost to replace = $2000), I have no options and should forget about it.
I think something's definitely wrong with the IMA, having driven this car for 5 years (65k miles). It doesn't charge to the capacity it has-ie: it runs out of assist 1/3 of the way up my hill, as opposed to at the top of it, and the force-charging mechanism is kaput. I've tried a recal/battery disconnect/force charge, and this helped for a while but then the indicator stuck again.
Can you explain the car's behavior, have others had this problem, and can you point me to solutions? I've read snippets on the forum, but can't put it all together.
Appreciate it, thanks,
Recently, though, the autostop mechanism has been failing, and i think the indicator problem and the autostop problem are related. Stalls only occur after 30 minutes of stop and start driving with frequent autostops (and I drive with the lights on). At this point, I'm pretty sure it's when the IMA battery has completely lost its charge, my Insight reliably refuses to come out of autostop and the oil and battery lights come on, prior to the stall. I have to shut off the engine and restart by turning the key. After a few of these 12V assisted restarts, the 12V battery begins to fail, and I have to switch to non-economy mode to prevent autostop.
I think this is all related to a failure to force charge. Since the SoC indicator is always stuck reading 3/4 full, I've noticed that forced charging doesn't occur when it should (when I run out the IMA battery by forced depletion, for example). What used to happen under these conditions was that the SoC indicator went to zero and then forced charging prevented autostop entirely until there were 4-5 bars of charge in the IMA.....so, no stalls.
My dealer in San Francisco tells me I'm nuts, and there is no relationship between the SoC indicator and the way the IMA system functions at all (ie: no feedback from the indicator to the system), and that since there are no fault codes, and the SoC indicator is not under warranty (cost to replace = $2000), I have no options and should forget about it.
I think something's definitely wrong with the IMA, having driven this car for 5 years (65k miles). It doesn't charge to the capacity it has-ie: it runs out of assist 1/3 of the way up my hill, as opposed to at the top of it, and the force-charging mechanism is kaput. I've tried a recal/battery disconnect/force charge, and this helped for a while but then the indicator stuck again.
Can you explain the car's behavior, have others had this problem, and can you point me to solutions? I've read snippets on the forum, but can't put it all together.
Appreciate it, thanks,