[Owenmyers27]

Hello y’all, hoping for some advice with how to proceed. Just bought my Insight a week ago from a dealership and yesterday the IMA light and Check engine lights come on while I’m driving. 15 minutes later the IMA light flicks off and now only the engine light. The hybrid battery stopped working but the car runs fine on just the motor. I scanned the code with a app thing I have and it gave a P1448 code. The app also identifies the problem as being the ‘catalyst temperature sensor’. I did a little research and it seems that the problem is either with the battery fan dysfunctioning causing overheating. I’m no mechanic but I'm not a ninconpoop either. as I’m strapped for cash I hope to fix this myself . For the time being I plan on shutting off the hybrid battery and just using the motor temporarily until I can fix it. Can I shut off the hybrid battery completely and still drive the car without causing potential damage? Are there any other measures I need to take to avoid causing more damage or discharging the hybrid battery? Any advice on how to properly diagnose what’s going wrong would also be greatly appreciated.

 

[retepsnikrep]

1) Do you have a warranty? Y/N
If so take it back and show them this response so they can fix it for you.

2) if not then.
P1448 is an IPU Fan problem. (Forget about a Catalyst issue for now)

You can check the fan wiring etc but the fix is likely to be replace the IPU fan.
It's not an uncommon problem on G2 Insight and the CR-Z which is the same IMA system.

The fan is controlled by the IMA, and when it commands the fan at low/medium/high it gets rpm feedback from the fan to confirm it is working. If it doesn't get this confirmation it throws a fault.

The fan ASFAIK in the G2 is behind the right hand side trim panels in the boot as you look in from the rear. You might as well also check for nesting rodents or bugs in the fan as they like squirrel cage fans and that may be why it isn't working. It could also be seized up, see if it rotates freely once you gain access to it.

I'm not sure about GEN2 behaviour if you shut off the IMA switch.
It probably won't damage anything but you may find you have no 12v battery charging so would not be able to drive very far.

 

[Owenmyers27]

1) Do you have a warranty? Y/N
If so take it back and show them this response so they can fix it for you.

2) if not then.
P1448 is an IPU Fan problem. (Forget about a Catalyst issue for now)

You can check the fan wiring etc but the fix is likely to be replace the IPU fan.
It's not an uncommon problem on G2 Insight and the CR-Z which is the same IMA system.

The fan is controlled by the IMA, and when it commands the fan at low/medium/high it gets rpm feedback from the fan to confirm it is working. If it doesn't get this confirmation it throws a fault.

The fan ASFAIK in the G2 is behind the right hand side trim panels in the boot as you look in from the rear. You might as well also check for nesting rodents or bugs in the fan as they like squirrel cage fans and that may be why it isn't working. It could also be seized up, see if it rotates freely once you gain access to it.

I'm not sure about GEN2 behaviour if you shut off the IMA switch.
It probably won't damage anything but you may find you have no 12v battery charging so would not be able to drive very far.

This is all good news to me. As I’m most of what I’ve learned about hybrid batteries have been the last couple hours I’ve been worried I would have to replace the battery and i most certainly do not have 3000 bucks lying around. I don’t have a warranty but I’ll look into it and see if it’s the fan. Thanks for the advice!

 

[BackStreetXX]

... I don’t have a warranty but I’ll look into it and see if it’s the fan. Thanks for the advice!

I don't know about your local laws but here in NJ when you buy any car from a dealer they have to fix it for free for 30 days even if they say "NO WARRANTY" and have big signs "AS IS". That is just to bluff you out of the consumer protection laws.