[Yves M.]

It was -25 this morning, the car started with the normal starter (yuck). I noticed that it took some time before the engine showed 6 bars of temperature which is normal. But sometimes it did go to 4 bars while driving in the city.

I remember that it did that when in bumper to bumper traffic, actually it used to go to 2 bars when the fan was set to manual blast, last year. Surely because of long idle time and low engine rev.

But I do not remember the bars going down while driving. I added a radiator block this year so I was surprised to see the behavior.

Can someone confirm that what I see is normal or does it show that it is time to replace the thermostat.

 

[opal]

Hi Yves,

I saw this same behaviour last night, at similar temperatures.

At first I thought it was because I'd allowed the car to auto-stop once she'd warmed up, but it continued to happen at red lights when I did not turn the heating off for auto-stop.

That gauge isn't highly accurate - I'd call it more of an educated guess at engine temperature.

My opinion, your mileage may vary, [usual disclaimers about not being a Honda engineer here]

But yes, I've seen the behaviour, and in the same weather system, no less!

 

[Yves M.]

Thanks very much Opal, I really was hoping that I did not need to go to a dealer right now because of Christmas$$ shopping.

And it is not a time for doing it myself (Brrrh!) Merry Christmas!

 

[The Citrus Smoothie]

Plus don't forget that our small engines may be quick to heat up but, vice versa, are quick to cool down - especially in ridiculously cold environments like yours! (and people are moaning around here that it is 'only' +4C).

Merry Christmas to all.

 

[Normand]

At -25 degree, it's very cold, brerrrrrrr
mileage took quite a hit, averaging 5L/100KM ouch.......

 

[Tim Maddux]

Are you getting idle-stop in these conditions? If so, perhaps this is due to your radiator block? With the block, you are misleading the Insight into thinking it is warmer than it really is.

Without the block, I found the opposite - in very cold weather, my IMA state of charge often got up to 100%. I believe it was due to additional force-charging for the purpose of warming the IMA battery pack. You would not get this force-charge/warming with the radiator block if my previous paragraph is correct.

It could also be due to a temperature dependence of the reported SOC.

 

[Yves M.]

Oh no, I do not get auto-stop (not since is was above freezing). I do see more SOC but I thought it was because of the lower assist du to the lower temp

 

[Tim Maddux]

I do see more SOC but I thought it was because of the lower assist du to the lower temp

My apologies! I misread the number of bars you mentioned earlier as SOC bars, but you were talking about temperature bars.

( on the temperature/SOC subject, I had only seen 100% charge once before the cold weather, in 2 years of owning the car. That entire winter I consistently saw 100% charge levels while regularly driving in sub-freezing conditions. Of course, my MPG tanked )