Rep Power: 0

My 2008 civic hybrid was having problems with the fuel pump system and I took it to the dealer for diagnosis. They ran their test, pointed me at the matchbox relay under the radiator filler and I swapped in some new relays and that solved the fuel pump problem. That's the good news. Here is the bad news: the car now has abs light on, the 12v battery light on and the IMA light on. There is a buzzing that goes on and off. I think the buzzing has to do with the ABS system. The dealer says they didn't do anything that could create these issues and they have offered to run tests on the car again for half price. I am not real happy with this offer. It seems clear to me that they did something that caused the new problems. I assume the IMA and 12v battery light are related, so if they solve one, they probably solve the other, so I think they caused two new issues

1. ABS light on and buzzing - sounds like it is coming from under the hood, in front of driver
2. IMA and 12V lights

Any thoughts on how I should proceed? I am thinking about talking with the service manager and asking that do more than offer me a half price test. But I also think that I don''t really want to have the dealership folks touch the car again after they created a mess for me.

If I start on the problem myself I was thinking I would start checking every fuse under the hood and under the dash as a place to start.
That might hit the IMA 12v lights, but I don't think it would do anything about the ABS and the buzzing noise.
Any thoughts?
TIA
Mike

 
Rep Power: 222

If the problem didn't start until you touched the relays. That's on you, not the dealer.

 
Rep Power: 0

Maybe I wasn't clear. When I got the key back from the dealer, they pointed me at the little fuse relay box that they thought was causing the vehicle to lose fuel pressure after two and a half minutes. When I started the engine after their testing and before I touched the little relay box, I had the ABS, 12v and IMA lights on. Those lights were not on when I dropped the car off to them. I decorroded that little relay box and replaced the relays and that solved the fuel problem, so the car could be driven for more than two and a half minutes, but the relay box work did not turn off the new lights.

 
Rep Power: 222

Did you tell them those lights were on before you drove away?

 
Rep Power: 0

Yes. They said they didn't know what to do about that. They wanted $750 to outsource (from a junkyard) the little relay box and to splice it in to place. They didn't see any reason to do anything until that had been done. They offered to do a second diagnostic run on the car for half price if I wanted that. The little relay box is a part that Honda no longer makes or stocks, so replacement parts have to come from wrecked vehicles. I checked with junk yards and they wanted about $50 for the part.

My daughter and I talked it over and decided to go to a local pick and pull and see if we could get the part. That was a success and we were charged $8 for the part because the pick and pull classified it as something like a battery cable. We spent $30 on a can of CorrosionX and we cleaned the existing corroded relay fuse box thoroughly. We swapped in new fuses and relays into the existing box and the car started up and the lights disappeared. It turns out that the fuses in the matchbox relay are IMA1 and IMA2, plugging in a clean new fuse and taking it out a couple of times along with using the CorrisionX opened up the IMA circuits that were turning on the IMA and 12V battery light. I could tell immediately when it worked because I got the immediate electric start from the traction battery instead of the delayed start from the little 12V battery.

I love these 8th Gen civic hybrids, but most of my hybrid mechanic experience has been with the Gen 2 Toyota Priuses. Each of these vehicles have their special quirks, but I prefer the Hondas.

So, the problem has been solved... at least for now. I plan to remove and insert the relays and fuses a few more times and may coat things with a little dialectric grease to prevent any new corrosion.

I understand that the dealer was reluctant to warrant the repair with a junkyard part, but I think their price quote of $750 was exorbitant for this work. Also, I wonder why the dealer did not try to spray the box with anything like CorrosionX and let it soak, blow some air through it, etc. That would have solved the problem because it is essentially what I did to fix the problem. I think the issue here is that the dealer mechanics don't really want to do that kind of mechanic work. Maybe they want to do oil changes and recall work and anything that calls for simply swapping in a new part that they have on hand. My sense is the the dealership was not very interested in helping revive or repair an 18 yo car that they did not sell.

I went to the dealer as a last resort. It turns out I should have gone their first because they actually knew where this third matchbox fuel pump relay circuit box was supposed to be. I could not find it without their help because the car had been repaired at some earlier point and the circuit box was missing its protective case and was zip tied down out of sight. All I could find was the empty fuel pump relay slots in the main fuse box under the hood and in the secondary fuse box inside the cabin. Inserting relays into those empty slots did nothing. Live and learn, right?

 
Rep Power: 366

no other dealers nearby?

 
Rep Power: 0

30 miles to the next dealer. I would say this dealer pointed me in the right direction, so in retrospect, I would change the title of this thread. They just didn't make much attempt to fix the corrosion problem they found and their price of $750 to splice in a junkyard part seems way too high. I was too quick to bash the dealership