Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum - EcoModder.com - View Single Post - The Impsight: My mischievous little devil of a car. ('00 Insight fixing and modifying)

Stubby79 · 11-05-2020, 04:09 PM

I thought I could outsmart the IMA light...

Nope.

So I went brute-force and unplugged all the connectors going to the battery pack.

No more IMA light! HA! I WIN!

(Ok, not really.)

What did I win for all my messing around? a different code! Yay!

I did learn some useful things:

The motor controller works! So does the electric motor!

I know this because I also learned...

The hybrid motor will start the engine if you skip straight to "Start" rather than going to "On", presumably because there is a delay of the BCM or whatever turning off the IMA for a moment as everything boots up.

That's a good start. And a "good start". Fires right up, no slow chug-chug as the starter motor tries to overcome compression.

I verified it by disconnecting the starter's solenoid. Spent more time and effort getting the spade connector back on blindly/by feel than any one other thing.

I like the idea that I can start the engine, even if the 12v battery is too weak to do it.

I also learned that the HV wires going to the battery side have plenty of capacitance, and that the discharge resistor(or some other drain) must be on the battery side. That could have been ugly, if I hadn't taken steps to prevent and check things before continuing. MMmm...190 volts. Tasty!

I don't think the electric power steering works. The fuse was pulled, I put it back...and didn't notice any difference in the steering, nor any voltage drop when steering. Oh well, I wasn't expecting it to have any kind of P/S in the first place.

I suppose I didn't take my attempted out-smarting as far as I could have...

...and I couldn't leave it alone. Just went back and debunked my theory/workaround. Had another one since, will have to see if I can implement that somehow...the 0-state voltage of the battery current sensor should be 2.50, and I read 2.65...might be far enough off to make it think there's more or less current going through it. Hmm.

Anywho, still looks like I need to pull the battery to get at the sensors. I'll try any other ideas in the meantime, that can wait for the weekend...

11-05-2020, 04:09 PM	#27 (permalink)
Stubby79 Master EcoModder Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Victoria, BC Posts: 1,747 Firefly EV - '98 Pontiac Firefly EV 90 day: 107.65 mpg (US) Little Boy Blue - '05 Toyota Echo 90 day: 33.35 mpg (US) BlueZ - '19 Nissan 370Z Sport 90 day: 17.19 mpg (US) Thanks: 75 Thanked 577 Times in 426 Posts	I thought I could outsmart the IMA light... Nope. So I went brute-force and unplugged all the connectors going to the battery pack. No more IMA light! HA! I WIN! (Ok, not really.) What did I win for all my messing around? a different code! Yay! I did learn some useful things: The motor controller works! So does the electric motor! I know this because I also learned... The hybrid motor will start the engine if you skip straight to "Start" rather than going to "On", presumably because there is a delay of the BCM or whatever turning off the IMA for a moment as everything boots up. That's a good start. And a "good start". Fires right up, no slow chug-chug as the starter motor tries to overcome compression. I verified it by disconnecting the starter's solenoid. Spent more time and effort getting the spade connector back on blindly/by feel than any one other thing. I like the idea that I can start the engine, even if the 12v battery is too weak to do it. I also learned that the HV wires going to the battery side have plenty of capacitance, and that the discharge resistor(or some other drain) must be on the battery side. That could have been ugly, if I hadn't taken steps to prevent and check things before continuing. MMmm...190 volts. Tasty! I don't think the electric power steering works. The fuse was pulled, I put it back...and didn't notice any difference in the steering, nor any voltage drop when steering. Oh well, I wasn't expecting it to have any kind of P/S in the first place. I suppose I didn't take my attempted out-smarting as far as I could have... ...and I couldn't leave it alone. Just went back and debunked my theory/workaround. Had another one since, will have to see if I can implement that somehow...the 0-state voltage of the battery current sensor should be 2.50, and I read 2.65...might be far enough off to make it think there's more or less current going through it. Hmm. Anywho, still looks like I need to pull the battery to get at the sensors. I'll try any other ideas in the meantime, that can wait for the weekend...