Got a new UFO*: 2000 Honda Insight 5-speed (ailing IMA hybrid battery pack)

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

EDIT: I have to wonder if there isn't some other reason that Honda did this, since it's not well thought out from a safety or efficiency standpoint. It almost seems like they needed to see a 12v load on cold starts for some other reason and just said, "hey, why don't we use the rear defroster on a timer for our load?"

Oho, that is crafty! The emissions regulations require lighting off the cat within a certain amount of time, which is hard to do when you're sipping fuel so slowly. The regulations ought to require you to light off the cat before a certain cumulative emissions threshold is reached, which would put gas misers at an advantage. It would also allow Honda to enable auto stop at lower temperatures.

[NachtRitter]

Darin... you've had this car over a year but you still haven't updated your avatar??

[MetroMPG]

Super late reply: fixed it!

[HyperMileQC]

Is this rear defrost for 25 minute something that you can't know when its happening? No lights in the dash?

[orange4boy]

Rear defrost does not come on automatically in my Insight. (2000)

Checked with multimeter at the defrost leads. Did not drive the car but started and ran it for 5 minutes.

My guess is that there was a translation error which meant to say that the defrost is on a timer that shuts off after 25 minutes.

[MetroMPG]

Had a private question from another forum member, but I figure the answer in public is potentially more useful...

Hey Metro, what happened to your insight. I just popped on to see what others had and had to say about them and noticed that you "retired" yours, what's up with that?

I'll have quite a weekly commute staring up in a couple of weeks and was looking at getting a 00-03 Insight. There is one a few hours away from me for $3800, low miles and the IMA light is one. The owner said he simply disconnected the battery and runs it straight motor with no working assist etc.

No reason other than I bought it on impulse, really enjoyed modding & piloting it, but ultimately decided I had too many vehicles. (I knew that when I bought it, but rationalized it anyway! You don't pass up the chance to own a "fuel economy Ferrari".)

Despite how much I liked the Insight, I decided to keep the Firefly/Metro: slightly less efficient, but only ~10% of the distance on its odometer.

As you may have seen from this thread, you might just be able to get a "dead" pack working again, in a diminished capacity: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...a-19975-2.html

And keep it going indefinitely with a grid charger.

[HHOTDI]

Thank you kind Sir, i so totally can relate to that! :{)

[MetroMPG]

Zombie thread!

I relived fond memories of my old Insight last week when digging through my little stockpile of used tires.

I was shocked to discover I have a REALLY old RE92 that came with this car. Based on the date of manufacture, it could have been the first set of replacement tires put on it.

Check it out:



Manufactured in '06!

A little dried out, 16 years later:

[orange4boy]

Crunchy!

Mine is still going. Drove up to Whistler with it to go skiing. It’s a trooper. Strangely, some things are getting better with age. The 12v side used to intermittently stop charging but it always works now. On the other hand I had to rebuild the wiper motor as it became seized from sitting for a few months. It’s still jankey AF.

[MetroMPG]

Yeah, all the RE92's I've seen are prone to cracking like that. I guess they pushed the boundaries in terms of whatever ingredients are in the rubber compound to make them roll like magic.

Glad to hear you're still enjoying yours. I haven't seen a G1 Insight on the road in 2 or 3 years, I think.

One of (if not THE) neatest car I've owned.