2004 Honda Insight purchase?
 

hello all, im looking to purchase a 2004 Honda Insight with 149,000miles, I dont know anything about these cars so looking for advice before i jump in. I test drove it twice yesterday ran fine, no CEL or IMA on the dash so i can only assume the battery is good. There were some rattles coming from the front passenger side, but i did notice that the hood was loose and the front bumper shroud as well. but car accelerates ok, handles well at 70 mph. it has some cosmetic wear on interior and exterior but no signs of extreme damage. The motor sounds good, no knocks or pings coming from it. And the transmission and clutch all shift well

I guess my biggest question is should I be concerned about the battery pack, i have no idea how long the car as been on the lot or how long it has sat not running. I just want to know if this will be a lemon and i need to walk away from it.

I called the local Honda dealership it has no extended warranty on it either.

Can i run this car with a bad pack and still get at least 30 mpg?

How hard is it to replace the battery pack I saw Dorman makes a reman pack for this car, im pretty mechanically inclined on autos, but dont know a thing about these hybrid car systems?

If the car runs it'll blow away 30 mpg period. I just purchased mine two days ago, and with it not running well I topped 60 mpg on the freeway home.

Other than that, I'd look this thread over. It goes over the common issues that you will have to deal with. Some are mechanical and the hybrid pack will need attention at some point. Nothing seems horrifically difficult if you're mechanically and a little electronically minded.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ems-18892.html

yes thanks, I read that post last night, seems just like any other vehicle I have ever bought it prone to some problem or another, nothing is perfect. Again the battery pack is really the only thing that scares me, if it is any good, is there a way to test it on the road?

The best way I know how to test it is keep rpms low, and give it lots of throttle. This will use assist and drain down the pack. Other owners who have had their cars for more than 2 days can probably provide more info. :)

As for fixing it, the general consensus is its best to try to rehab the original pack than spend on replacing it. There is are designs online for a charger/discharger that allows you to cycle the pack and this generally improves the battery condition. Its not a sure fire fix, but it generally works to improve battery capacity and it will help balance the cells.

I'd look in the back under the carpeting and see if there's already a grid charger harness hooked up

How much does it cost?

Go for a test drive, and do like DAOX said, shift early (following the shifting indicators) and slam the accelerator each time you shift up. If the IMA is bad it will first recal and background charge. After a few minutes the BG charge should stop and IMA + CEL light will come on.

If that happens then use the bad IMA as a negotiating point and try to get $1000 off the car, maybe even just $500. Then buy the car because you don't need the IMA anyway to get loads of MPGs. Mine was in pretty bad condition when I bought it but I got it into the mid 50's without IMA.

i had pulled the carpet back yesterday there was nothing out of the ordinary that i saw, like a grid charger

they have it listed for 4300, i was gonna ask them 3500 cash for it, but i may go lower given what i have learned from the forum readings, where on the dash does the IMA and CEL come on so i know where to look?

Do you know if the IMA was ever replaced? Ask them how long the car has been sitting. If it's been parked for a month or more then the IMA is at minimum out of balance unless it's got very new sticks.

Do roads get salted there? Look at the brake lines and the fuel lines, see if they are rusty.

The passenger side rattle could be the front anti-sway link bar. Moog makes a superior replacement for those for only about $50.

$3500 might be fair. Insights seem to sell higher in the USA than in Canada. An Insight in better condition and lower mileage with a good IMA won't sell for $3500 worthless Canadian petro dollars here in Ontario, but you're in Missouri.

yes we have salted roads but usually not as bad as other northern states. To the dealers knowledge the battery has never been replaced, so one can assume is OEM and therefore 12 years old, have seen it sitting on their lot for at least a month or more. they have had it for at least that long if not longer