This Monday on way to airport my 2006 Civic's IMA light came on. I have close to 70K on the car and it has performed well until now. No other lights, IMA battery lights charged up normally, acceleration was normal, charging process seemed normal. Got to airport, left car for a few days and Friday came back to the same thing. As soon as I started the car the IMA light came on, no others. Car ran normal on way home.
I'll take it to a dealer next week, but is there anything I can check this weekend? Anyway for an owner to troubleshoot this to have an idea of problem? thanks

 

I have a 2006 also, but with only 45K miles. I'm fairly certain that if I leave my car sitting for a week or two the IMA battery would be almost completely drained. It didn't used to be this way, when the car was newer it could hold a charge much better.

I suspect in your case your battery went flat and made the IMA system think there was a fault. Honda really owes you a new battery, but, as many of us have seen, they'll tell you everything is just fine.

Please update us on what the dealer says.

Good luck.

-dan

 

My battery hasn't held a charge for about 6 months. If I let my car sit for more than a couple of hours, I'm starting off with a dead battery and have to drive about 10 hwy miles before it charges. Today the IMA light came on. I goto the dealership in the morning and will be most likely jerked around.

Car has multiple problems over the years.
After 3 Months: Both front windows(driver and passenger sides) had the regulator and tracks go. Car has always had rain water leak in with Honda marginally fixing them.

After 6 months: Driving down the hwy and all lights of the dash pop-up and IMA cuts out. Honda had my car for a week and told me that it just needed a software update.

After 1 year: Panels won't stick. Rear seat driver's side seat belt is broken. AVG MPG has dropped from around 47mpg to 39mpg.

After 2 years: IMA battery is junk and IMA light on.

There's a class action lawsuit right now: HCHsettlement.com. I will be opting out as I am debating about suing them myself.

 

OK. I took the car in to Honda this am. They found the P0A7F code and researched the problem. Ended up updating the IMA battery, IMA computer, ECU and transmission software to latest version. I'll give it a chance to work. They did say and put on the work form, that if this doesn't work and the light comes back on it will possibly need an IMA battery pack.


I hope after the software updates my mileage doesn't significantly drop off. I'll watch that too.

 

Congratulations or condolences, I'm not sure. You just got TSB 09-058. There's a long thread you should read now that is still very active and near the top of the list.

I think the dealer is shooting in the dark. There's nothing about that SW update that would explain what you saw.

-dan

 

Dealer is replacing my IMA Battery and Controller(?). Service writer ordered the parts today and I go back on Thursday to have the work done. I am wondering if heat has anything to do with this. I live in Palm Beach County, FL; which is one of the top 5 hottest places in America. Also, I am east of I-95 and Less then 3 miles from the beach. It is not uncommon for my car to be covered in salt spray.

We'll see how it does once the parts are replaced.

 

UPDATE 1:
I went to lunch driving less than a mile and like to had a heart attack. I had reset my mpg for trip A so as to watch what was going on. My IMA and CEL stayed off but my mpg was under 30. Started to worry and look for that class action law suit info. But I decided to wait and see what happened on the drive home.
As I pulled out of office parking to traffic and stopped at a nearby redlight, my engine continued to run and mileage reading went from 20 to 14 by the time I pulled out from the light. But, as I continued to drive things started to improve and slowly mpg increased. By the time I got home (about 25 miles city and highway) it had gotten to 51! This is better than before.
So, if the updates keep the lights off and car continues to perform like this, I'll be very satisfied. Time will tell, and I'll report any changes.

 

It's not unusual to see dramatic swings in mileage soon after resetting the trip odometer. And sitting idling, sure it's going to plummet. Anyway, sounds like you might be out-of-the-woods

The best we ever did: tanked up, reset, and then rolled out of the gas station onto a downhill grade that went on for close to 2 kilometers. By the time we hit the low point I believe it was showing something like 1.9 liters/100km.