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Honda Civic Hybrid Engine Questions

28 messages,  Last post on Jun 08, 2008 at 1:01 PM

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What is this discussion about? Honda Civic, Engine, Coupe, Sedan

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#25 of 28 Haywire Computer? Help! by indienoir Jun 03, 2008 (8:56 pm)
I bought my '06 HCH in Sept. of that year, new. I have had no problems with it AT ALL, until now. It has been approximately two weeks now that I've been having problems with the vehicle.        Tired of paying for the ridiculous amount that my dealer charges for an oil change, I took the car to the family mechanic. Oil changed, no problem. That was approximately a month and a half ago. I started to notice that the oil meter was hanging out at 80%. Additionally, the mpg indicator was dropping drastically from 45 to 39. However, the odometer was ticking away, and I checked my records at what point was my next oil change, and it was coming up in about 200 miles according to my odometer. So, I decided that maybe the oil meter was screwed up in addition to needing to get my oil changed.        Yesterday I took the car to the dealer to have it looked at and for an oil change and the 35,000 mi. inspection (which is about 2k overdue). They did their thing and changed the oil and filter and transmission fluid and that was it. I drove out of there confident that all was restored. My mileage immediately starting going up on the indicator.... and then started plummeting to 34 mpg. Furious, I called the dealer today asking for an appointment and described my problem.        The woman in the service department gave me the run-around saying that all they would be able to do is a fuel efficiency test that would cost $100 plus gas. I told her that that was ridiculous, that the gas isn't being eaten up any faster, but the indicators seem to be screwed up. She was going to have the service manager call me back (which never happened). She also began telling me that maybe I purchased gas with ethanol in it. I have never driven my car out of the area. I buy gasoline from the same gas station that I have for the past couple of years as it's across the street from my house. I have never had a problem with the car ever. What is going on?!
#26 of 28 Re: 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid Intermittent Starting Problems [meeps79] by bso1129 Jun 07, 2008 (11:42 pm)
Replying to: meeps79 (Jan 02, 2008 12:27 pm) Hi Meeps, My 2005 Civic Hybrid has been having the same issue you describe. Once in the parking lot: I was waiting in line to exit, shut off the engine and was listening to the radio when it started to sputter on and off, and the engine wouldn't turn on afterwards, dash lights would just blink. I didn't try to start it again until over 30 min. later, and it started with no problem. My car did it again this afternoon, except this time the radio and AC shut off and dash lights started to blink AS I was driving it--seems like an incredibly dangerous prospect if I had been on the freeway!!-also, the steering began to feel stiff. I immediately pulled over, waited and at a mechanic friends' suggestion, opened the gas tank to air it out for a few minutes (he said sometimes when the cars get too hot vapor can build up in the tank? the weather was pretty hot both times this has happened) anyhow it started again as normal about 25 minutes later. I was wondering if you have gained any more insight into the problem since your post. I will likely take it into the dealer to get checked in a day or two, but am not optimistic about them finding the problem. Replies to this message: texlib (Jun 08, 2008 1:01 pm)
#27 of 28 Re: Help! Possible Battery Issue?? [2mnycats1] by uzless Jun 08, 2008 (12:24 am)
Replying to: 2mnycats1 (Apr 25, 2008 4:10 pm) 2mnycats1 - Your car is OK, from what I see. A couple of things to note (I have an '06):   - The IMA system is calibrated to only 'fully charge' the battery in limited circumstances. This is because NiMH batteries last longest when they're kept in the middle of the spectrum ('7' bars should be considered optimal; on the rare times when you have 8 bars, you'll see the system giving you 'extra' assist to bleed the charge meter back down to 7). At the lower end of the spectrum, 4 bars is the 'minimum' charge, and you'll see the system do 'extra' charging to bring the level back up if it drops to 4 bars. You'll also notice assist is lessened at this level. At 3 bars, assist pretty much stops, and at 2 bars, you'll lose the auto-stop function. Most of the time, my car sits between 5-6 bars of charge, it goes up to 7 bars occasionally, and 8 bars on the very rare occasion. When it's at 8 bars, you'll see it drop down to 7 after a few minutes of driving.   - When you saw the state of charge (SoC) drop down like you did (drained down to 2 bars, then down to 0, then a big recharge), what you were experiencing was a 'recal' (or, recalibration). Your owner's manual will tell you that this meter is an 'approximate' state of charge. What happens is that the system occasionally loses track of how much juice is left in the battery; when it finds out that it's far enough out of sync, it drains the remaining charge out of the battery, and then charges it up again (thus, the recalibration). This will happen occasionally, however, if it occurs regularly (ie; at least once a day), take the car in and have it checked. Generally, if there's a real problem, the IMA light will illuminate in the dash - if this happens, there's a stored trouble code that the technician should be able to find with his / her scan tool.   - Your A/C unit is a bit different than a traditional unit. This car has a 'dual-scroll' compressor. What that means is that the compressor can be driven by the traditional belt / pulley design, or, when the engine is stopped, by a pure electrical signal. Unfortunately, the compressor will tend to drain the life out of the battery at stop lights, etc, especially if you like the A/C cold. Try this - keep the temp dialed in at 80F, and increase the fan speed to your liking manually. You should notice that the battery SoC is better maintained, and at 80, it's still fairly comfortable. 78F or lower will drain the battery, 80F seems to be the best compromise.   Hope this helps. Your car is OK...you just need to get used to the differences between this car and a conventional one, and the compromises made in certain areas (like what I mention above) for usability / user expectations. I'm not thrilled about the A/C issue, but now that I know the 'why' and 'how', I can cope a bit better. Especially when I get 50-52mpg from 9-10 gallons of gas at a fillup.
#28 of 28 Re: 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid Intermittent Starting Problems [bso1129] by texlib Jun 08, 2008 (1:01 pm)
Replying to: bso1129 (Jun 07, 2008 11:42 pm) Hi Meeps I have had this problem with both my 04 and now my 06. I took it to the dealer and they didn't have a clue, so I went ahead and changed the conventional battery under the hood. The replacement was about 15% more powerful then the factory one, now waiting to see if I have the whole blinking light situation again, no problems though for the last month.

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