Dave88LX

Background: 2005 Civic Hybrid. IMA light on. O2 sensor codes. Going through and replacing O2 sensors right now so I can get my emissions codes cleared so I can pass emissions, or, so I thought. After some reading, I've seen where others have failed emissions because of CEL codes due to the IMA battery pack. Still have a $200 sensor to buy that may still not allow me to get through emissions.

A new battery pack is in the $2000-$3000 range. I've seen where people work to recondition their current battery pack, but that requires downtime. I drive 140 miles/day round trip. If I drove my truck (diesel, 37" tires), it'd cost me over $30/day to drive plus the cost of the $400 grid charger plus an extra battery pack to pull spare cells from.

The crossroad I'm at is that the car is paid off and it's in damn near perfect shape inside and out. A couple thousand into a battery pack repair and I'm rolling vs. looking for another car and not getting peanuts for selling this one.

Thinking out loud/ranting and wondering what those of you in similar situations have done.

ezone

Will your local emissions test rules allow the car to pass with only an IMA failure? Ask your local test station or ask a referee.

You could pull the battery pack out of the car and work on getting it rebuilt (or whatever) and keep driving the car in the meantime.

You can find the individual cells on the internet.
Quality may not be as good as original though.

Dave88LX

I didn't realize you could actually drive the car with the IMA battery removed. If I opted to repair mine, it would be quite the lengthy process as I'd only really have the evenings to work on it. I read something where people were working on them all day long.

I'll see if my codes come back and if so, if there's some sort of reasonability clause built into the law.

ezone

It will run, I have done it many times --- but mostly to move cars around the lot and in and out of the shop while waiting for parts to arrive. Probably not more than a couple tenths of a mile driving this way.
Not much power as there will be zero IMA assist, you can tell it's got a small engine under the hood LOL

It's not the safest thing to do as there may be exposed high voltage components, I would insulate the exposed cable ends after removing them from the pack. And reinstall the sheetmetal cover over the area.

The battery pack itself is dangerous, there is always high voltage present even when the big switch is switched off.

arydberg

I wonder if it it would be possible to replace the IMA battery with a set of lead acid batterys. At 12 volts each 12 would give 144 volts and a few more should match the output of the Honda battery. They could all be put in a box in the trunk has this been done? Any thoughts.

Dave88LX

I haven't done anything with this problem yet. I'm at a crossroads of not knowing what direction I want to go with it.

I drive 140 miles/day round-trip, spending 2.5-3 hours a day in the car. There's a big part of me that wants to sit in something much more comfortable than this car is, with a warranty, a nicer interior, better entertainment features, and the power to move out of it's own way.

I need to deal with the battery issue, and replace the A/C system too. Other than that the car is in excellent condition both inside and out.

Thought about maybe trying a grid charger to hold me over. Not really sure what direction I want to go.

ezone

The batteries have lost usable capacity. A grid charger can't do anything about that problem..

Dave88LX

Oh. So that whole claim of theirs of the conditioning/balancing of the battery to buy some time won't work?

ezone

Can you bring your Ni-Cd (or Ni-MH) batteries back from the dead? Done it to all your rechargeables in the laptops, phones, ipod, etc?


I don't believe the claim
The gas engine charges the IMA battery already.
The IMA system can't propel the car on 100% battery power anyway, by design

Dave88LX

Well it's been a boring ride, (was going to say fun ride haha), but I feel it's time to get this car detailed and ready to sell. Just can't bring myself to put that kind of money into it.

I think that's the right choice at least.

Dave88LX

Decided to call it quits.

I appreciate all the help that you've given me with this car over the last few years. Decided it was time to get back into something fun, quick, sporty, warrantied.

Have my Civic up on Craigslist now.

Dave88LX

Update: I tried selling this car with the IMA light on. Hybrids are a tricky car to sell. A few people didn't read carefully enough that it was even a Hybrid until we had met and they were looking at the car. Wasted a lot of time. Ended up changing the ad to say "HYBRID HYBRID HYBRID!" And explaining what a Hybrid even was. Not being a jerk, I did disclose that the battery was having issues.

Well, I bought the kit from Hybrid Automotive and gave it two complete reconditioning cycles (VERY time consuming BTW) and it took care of the light. Brought it through inspection and emissions about 3 weeks ago and everything is good. Wife is pulling 42 MPG with it in-town driving.

Getting ready to put it back up for sale, but I want to address the A/C system before I do this:
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...ompressor.html

ezone

Hay, this sounds interesting...... can you explain/elaborate on this or maybe demonstrate it?

Dave88LX

Sure, I will do my best, with links to the manufacturer's information to back up what I am talking about. A ton of information can be found on their FAQ page here: https://hybridautomotive.com/pages/faq

I don't want to copy/paste the whole thing, but I'll give a rundown of my experience.

The kit I purchased cost $399 and can be seen here:
https://hybridautomotive.com/collect...ant=5576544132

Comes with everything shown in the picture:

• Charging Unit w/ power cable
• Wiring Harness
• Discharge harness w/ multimeter & bulb socket

Here's what they say about battery reconditioning:
"The battery reconditioning process is performed by first charging & balancing the battery pack with a Prolong Battery Charger. Then a Prolong Battery Discharger is connected to the battery to provide load and discharge the battery. The battery is discharged well below the level that the vehicle would allow during normal operation. This deep discharge drains the battery beyond the memory effect "floor" to break down the memory effect within the cells. As this happens, material is recovered within the cells and the usable capacity increases. After the deep discharge is complete, the Prolong Battery Charger is reconnected to the battery to charge the cells back to full and rebalance them again. Ideally, this charge -> discharge -> charge process is repeated three times for maximum benefit. Increases in usable battery capacity of 15%-25% or more are common."

Battery Reconditioning Overview
https://hybridautomotive.com/pages/recon

Battery Charger User Guide
https://hybridautomotive.com/pages/guide

Battery Discharger User Guide (Light Bulb)
https://hybridautomotive.com/pages/sd

I found the instructions to install the wiring harness very easy to follow. The procedure to remove the rear seat, and hook up the harness was pretty simple. I did have to splice their control box into a factory wiring harness, but that too was very simple. The instructions are on their webpage to download to check out: https://hybridautomotive.com/pages/install-c1

The gist of it is that you are charging the battery to full capacity, then letting it sit on the charger for some extra time to let the cells balance. You then discharge it down to .8V. Recharge, discharge to .5V. Recharge, discharge to .1V. Recharge/balance.

This discharging is done with a lightbulb, and the voltage is read with the multimeter already wired in. There is a chart that says what wattage bulb to use for what voltage range you are in. Best is to let the 25W bulb run it down the entire way to the target voltage level, but you can use a 150/75/25 combination for a faster process. You would start with 150W, let it drain to 140V. Switch to 75W, let it drain to 100V. Switch to 25W, let it drain to target voltage.

It's a tricky process that requires you to keep an eye on the multimeter because the voltage can fall off fast. When you get near the end of the process, it can go pretty damn slow. I set up a baby monitor camera to watch the multimeter for me.

My first try doing the bulbs in stages, the IMA light came right back on. I was sad, disappointed, and mad that I spent $400 for nothing. I gave it another shot, this time using ONLY the 25W bulb and keeping a real close eye on everything, and it worked out great.

If you have any specific questions I'll do my best to answer them.

Aaron Alvarez

Hey Dave88. I hope you are still active as its been years since this post. I recently got an 06 hch. It's sweet but I noticed the mpg really dips in the cold. My wife said the ima light came on but when I fired it up it was off and hasn't come on since. I was thinking this would be a good proactive move to look into. Honest thoughts. Is it worth it if I'm placing to keep the car or just save for a new battery?

Tawnster

Update - never mind - thanks for the info on the kit.


Ignore this - What kit did you end up buying to condition the battery? Wife's 2004 Civic hybrid is having the same issues. Just brought it back from the dealership hoping they could help clear the codes, but didn't work.