The Impsight: My mischievous little devil of a car. ('00 Insight fixing and modifying)

[Stubby79]

Aiee!! Range anxiety!

Stopped at the last red light before the highway and my (12v) battery light was on! Uht-oh. Give it some gas to bring up the rpms and start charging...and it doesn’t! Aiee!

Decided I had enough juice to make it to work...moments later it started charging again.

Guess all that low rpm cruising through town with the lights and everything on wasn’t the best idea.

It had been pretty predictable up until now...get the rpms over 1500 and you’re charging. Apparently not tonight. Temperamental (emphasis on the mental) beast.

Maybe knees to sweet talk it more.

[Stubby79]

...and it charged the whole drive home. Anything at/above 1500rpm. It's possessed.

Fuel economy between the two trips went up to 56mpg. Unfair test, mind you, since there's no traffic on Saturday nights/Sunday mornings.

[Stubby79]

Money saving!

Radio wiring harness: $3.50.
LED Headlights, generic version of "Night-Eyes": $15.
Remote FOB: $12.
Transponder key $5.
Copying transponder: Free & priceless!

Disclaimer: Assuming each item works properly upon arrival.

[Stubby79]

I managed to sneak out one of the current sensors. Did I mention corrosion?



Cleaning it up didn't fix the issue, though with it disconnected, my battery bars came up on the instrument cluster.

So it was back to pulling the battery.

After pulling half of the interior apart, just to get at the two back bolts on the battery, I found the ground connection for it all, and cleaned it up.



One of the bolts gave me a fight:



Who knew a 1/4" driver could break a bolt that big?



Showing the battery my opinion of it after tearing apart the interior and fighting a seized bolt:



(Mod, feel free to delete it if it's too spicy for this forum)

I was expecting orange sticks:



Those are distinctly yellow. They've been replaced at some point.

Tonight, we'll pull that second current sensor apart and see how messed up it is...then order replacement parts if a good cleaning doesn't fix it.

[Stubby79]

So...after all that, the battery current sensor looked really good inside:



I cleaned up every connection on that side of the battery pack, took quite a while, put it back in and...nothing different.

With that sensor looking good inside, which I did not expect, that points back to the first sensor. Either it's toast, or something else is going on.

It's supposed to get 5V:



And is getting 5.08.

It's supposed to put out 2.5V at 0 current:



Which should be variable by checking against the 5V source:



Close as it was, I chalked it up to my meter not being all that accurate. But...maybe not.

I have this sensor kicking around, left over from another project:



Which runs on the same voltage and principle...it says right on it that +/-0.65V output = +/-200a current being sensed. If the one in the Insight is the same - and at this point, why not? - then at 2.61V, it already thinks 20+ amps of current is already passing through the sensor. Which would explain why the IMA system is reading a difference between the two currents and having a meltdown over it.

So...next step is to bench test the 200A sensor. Feed it 5.08 volts and see what it outputs. Feed it exactly 5V and see what it does.

Then, depending on the results, I'll decide between trying to feed exactly 5V to the one in the insight or else hooking the 200A one up in place of it.

Not much chance that the one in the insight is 200A - it's probably only 100A - but if it outputs 2.5V exactly, then it might be enough to convince the IMA not to spaz out.

Sigh. Better than throwing $200 trying to replace the sensor in there, only to find no change.

[Stubby79]

Got off my ass and put the interior back together this morning; took her for a drive as a reward and to drum up some more enthusiasm. Sun had come out, on my weekend...no better time! Took her out towards the ferries and back. Lazy, mostly level with a 55mph speed limit...

She gave me 66.5MPG!

With a working IMA and/or no city to drive through to get to the highway, she'd probably give me over 70. Okay, okay...rather ideal driving conditions/course, but still...

I wonder how much I lose to warming up the engine each trip? That 10-mile trip to work and then back after she's cooled off again certainly isn't ideal.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Stubby79

One of the bolts gave me a fight:



Who knew a 1/4" driver could break a bolt that big?

The nerve of a bolt seizing/breaking in a 20 year-old car on the west coast!


Sue me for not feeling full of warm and fuzzy sympathy.



:P

[Ecky]

It's worth noting, if you still have the computers plugged in on top of the IMA battery, you *may* run into issues where they decide to turn the DC-DC converter off, due to there being an IMA issue. Which in turn will let your 12v battery die. If you ever see the 12v battery light come on, this is the likely cause, and the "fix" is to yank those plugs.

Here's to hoping you can get your IMA gremlins resolved. Otherwise, there's always the arduino bypass, to turn off your CEL and make the car emissions- and inspection-ready.

[Ecky]

My second Insight is currently completely IMA-less. If you find you can't fix it, a lot of that space can be reclaimed.

[Stubby79]

These were fine:





These were not and were replaced and vacuumed out:







Plus oil change and wipers replaced. (Note that 22" drivers side wiper is a tad big. Most brands were 21" on rockauto, but not the one that was the best bang for your buck, of course)