Bought a 2000 Honda Insight ! ! !

[Tango Charlie]

Several times I have read on this forum about emerging automotive technology, and then somebody laments about it being too darn expensive for the average joe. Then someone sagely suggests that it's still a good thing, because eventually, some day, the technology will "trickle down" to us.

Well, it's trickled.

Last week a coworker told me that his girlfriend wanted to sell her 2000 Honda Insight. You can imagine my ears perking up at that. I went and looked at it and test drove it. She hadn't been driving it since last November, but allegedly had started it and let it run for an hour or so every month. I was a little dismayed by how good of condition it was in. I was hoping it would be a little rougher around the edges, but the more I looked at it, the sillier I felt for the low ball offer I had in mind.
Well, she was too smart to take my first offer, and I didn't think I could meet her $2000 minimum. I started thinking that this might be "the one that got away."
My beautiful wife thought otherwise. She really wanted me to have the car, if for no other reason than it would wipe out my motorcycle fund and, at least in her mind, keep me alive longer. She's not a fan of motorcycles. *sigh* Well, we evaluated our budget and re-purposed some money to add to my (former) motorcycle fund, and decided to go for it. So we went and brought it home tonight. That's right; I've got a silver, 2000 Honda Insight in my driveway. Woo Hoo!



183,700 miles
New Michelin Energy Saver tires

Needs new front struts, or maybe just re-tightening.
Driver side window is inop.
Driver side door seal is cut and leaks.
Needs new 12 volt battery, according to former owner.
The headlight lenses are pretty hazy. My coworker claims that the best thing to clean them up with is...avacado?
There's a crease in the right rear fender. About a foot long from the fuel filler opening to the lower corner of the tail light. Can you pop dents out of aluminum-paneled cars?
And the kicker is... the hybrid system doesn't work. No big surprise, but not sure yet why. Dead pack due to lack of use? Possibly. The former owner said that her ex-boyfriend tried to install an aftermarket cruise control and may have messed up some wiring. It will be an interesting challenge, I'm sure. I've got plenty of reading here at ecomodder to help me out. The car came with a factory repair manual. Score!

Special thanks and shout out to Darin for responding quickly to my panicked Private Message last week ("I've got a line on an Insight- tell me everything you know, stat!"), and pointing out the thread that I needed to read. Thanks, man!

[Ladogaboy]

Awesome! I'm looking forward to seeing your progress with this.

[MetroMPG]

Woo hoo!! Yay for trickle-down! (But not yay for the water kind, through your driver's side door seal )

Originally Posted by Tango Charlie

The headlight lenses are pretty hazy. My coworker claims that the best thing to clean them up with is...avacado?

Never heard that one! I guess the oil in it is probably what makes the haze disappear. I just used polishing compound on mine. There are a million faded headlight buffing/wet sanding/toothpasting videos on YouTube. Take your pick.

And the kicker is... the hybrid system doesn't work. No big surprise, but not sure yet why. Dead pack due to lack of use? Possibly.

Is the ICE starting via the IMA motor (quiet) or conventional 12v starter? Until you get a chance to examine the health of the pack (if you plan to), I'd switch off the pack breaker so you're only using the 12v. Otherwise you run the risk of cell damage that can't be rejuvenated.

Of course, as long as the DC-DC converter is working, you can just use it as a non-hybrid and still get stupid good mileage.

Congrats!

[MetroMPG]

Forgot to ask: is it a 5-speed? (Fingers crossed...)

[Tango Charlie]

Yes! Yes, it's a 5-speed.
I know so very, very little about these animals. Where is the breaker to switch off the pack? I suppose today will be spent reading the owners manual and shop mx manual.
It starts up pretty quietly, but I'm not sure which starter it's using. If I disable the pack, then it will be forced to use the 12v starter, I presume?

[MetroMPG]

There's no mistaking the sound of the conventional 12v starter. So it's using the IMA and taking a small amount of energy from the pack to do it each time.

Obviously the 12v starter requires a healthy 12v battery to work. Also, these cars are known to get corrosion on/in the grounding cables in the engine compartment which may also prevent the 12v starter from working even if you have a good 12v battery.

Lift the rear carpet in the back (the section of carpet ahead of the storage bin). You'll see:



Remove that little access cover and you'll find:

[jamesqf]

You only paid $2K for it? If you weren't halfway across the country, I'd give you $2500 just to have it for spares.

[Ladogaboy]

Yeah, I've only seen the second gen on sale around here.

EDIT: I just checked again, and there are a few in my area. The owners want $6,000 to $10,000 for models of varying conditions. All of them are automatics.

[Tango Charlie]

Ha ha, yeah, living in the midwest has its advantages.

I'm thinking the battery pack may be better than I had feared. When I was giving my sons a little introductory joy ride around the subdivision, I noticed the Charge/Assist indicator was showing a healthy assist when accelerating. The battery level indicator has been showing about four or five bars from being completely topped. I hadn't been able to pay too much attention to the gauges when I drove it home last night.
But I still haven't witnessed the Auto Idle Stop, where it's supposed to shut the engine off when you're sitting at a stop light. Maybe I've been shifting into first gear when stopped; which the owner's manual says will keep the engine running and defeat the Auto Idle Stop feature. I'll have to pay closer attention to my driving habits.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Tango Charlie

But I still haven't witnessed the Auto Idle Stop, where it's supposed to shut the engine off when you're sitting at a stop light. Maybe I've been shifting into first gear when stopped; which the owner's manual says will keep the engine running and defeat the Auto Idle Stop feature. I'll have to pay closer attention to my driving habits.

It also depends on temperature, both the coolant temp and outside air temp. There must be some complicated logic in the ECU, but generally it won't do autostop if the coolant is below about 140. If it's chilly, say around freezing, it seems to need to be up over 170 to autostop, and on really cold (like 10F) days won't autostop at all.

Shifting when you are stopped tends to do an auto-start. Generally I'm in 1st or 2nd, with the clutch in and foot on the brake, but it will also autostop in neutral with some braking. I do almost always have to have at least light brake application to invoke autostop.