For about two weeks now I've been driving (2009 HCHII) around with both the IMA and CEL lights on (this has happened to me about 2x before but they usually go away between fill-ups). My mileage hadn't noticeably dropped (~41.7 by my last hand calculation), but I did notice some occasions when the battery meter would show full and when pressed for more power I would find a regen instead. Since I'm the one who's driven the car most of its 57,000+ miles I'm pretty in tune with when I know I'll be losing battery and need to gun it to scoot when I need to. I'd guess that compared to when it was new the battery (when full and working properly) still feels about 80-85% as capable as when I drove it off the lot. But those two dang lights that are irritating to see (especially at night).

I finally had a chance to schedule a checkup with my local Honda dealer (where I also bought the car). I was sort of dreading bringing it in, seeing all the horror stories out there about having to fight over getting the battery replaced with the dealer (or multiple dealers). But in the end, it turned out to be surprisingly easy. The service guy advised me of the $130 charge for the diagnostic (which would be waived if there was a real battery issue). An hour in the waiting room, same service guy returns to tell me my battery will be replaced and he would give me a ring up, probably in a few days when it is available. (I'm curious, but is it possible I would be given a salvage or reconditioned battery pack? Also, does the 10y/150,000mi warranty apply to this "new" battery pack?)

The IMA and CEL lights were cleared when I drove off but returned after about five miles. When I brought my car in it was at 41.3 mpg by the trip computer but was brought down to ~37 when I left (possibly due to them trying a reset procedure and also a few test drives). But otherwise my car still operates fine. If the IMA/CEL lights never lit up I would never have brought my car in. BTW, the Honda dealer is Avery Greene in Vallejo, CA. I've had pretty good service from them and probably will continue using them.

 

Most of the time the lights do not come on to indicate a problem. You happen to be one of the lucky one. I believe Honda install new packs and recycle the old ones. I just read a artical on this matter. H

 

No. Only 3 years or 36000 miles.

 

Hmm, I will be pretty unhappy if that is true. Any links to information on this? I didn't ask the service manager about the warranty on a new battery. I assumed that the remaining battery warranty would just be applied to the new battery. If the new warranty is a measly 36,000 miles I would probably be fine with driving the car until the battery really became a problem.

Also, I thought I should mention when I brought my car in the first thing they tried to do was look for any updates. I guess that would have been their first "fix" so I guess I dodged a bullet.

 

Actually, the warrant on the replacement pack only uses the remaining warranty on the car,I have 40k of warranty left, and this is what I was told by both the dealership and ahm, however , if you are at the end of your warranty and have it replaced, you do not get any additional warranty, aka if you are at 75k miles when your battery is changed, you will only have 5k of ima warranty.

 

Yeah, I confirmed with the service advisor that the 10 year/150,000 mile warranty would carry over into the new battery. I'm kind of unsure what to feel about this. I guess I have over 6 years/~90,000+ miles left, but with my current job I could see myself depleting the latter quickly and having to replace the battery again at some unknown point in the future.

I had the new battery installed yesterday and have traveled less than 50 miles since. I'm happiest about not seeing the IMA/CEL lights being on. It also seems I overestimated my old battery's capacity. I think I would revise it to being 65-70% of this new battery's capacity. I haven't had the SoC drop more than three bars but otherwise the car doesn't seem to behave differently than before I brought it to the shop (iow, no firmware updates). I'm eagerly awaiting this weekend when I make a long drive south so I can really see how the car performs. (The last time I made that trip I managed my best tank @ 53 mpg over 400+ miles, despite the dreaded Grapevine into LA.)

Edit: Next time I have to remember to tell the service people not to touch my tire pressure. :p

 

Keep in mind if you move out of ca, your warranty will drop to 8 yr 80k , this is why i havnt changed my tags as i moved to AZ in april.
but i still have my address in ca so its all good,

you will notice some differences, it will take it about 2 weeks to line out, the biggest thing ive noticed is it doesnt charge the same when driving on the hwy, it never gets all the way full unless i ride the brakes alot,and , mine seems to go into EV mode all the freaking time here in phoenix, while thats normally a good thing if it worked properly (which i cant see how it can), it messes with my ac here when its 115 outside by draining the battery faster,

Over all mine is alot more dependable and have yet to have a recall, however my fuel mileage still is low, i get about 37 to 40 when im using all the hypermiling techniques i can and no ac, with ac normal driving i get about 32, and my tank averages are around 29, ive been wondering if having the bad battery has messed up the engine or trans.

it does get heat soaked here therefore, it takes about 10 minutes of driving with the ac on before i get any real assist or charge, this was confirmed to be from the new flash, oh and your got flashed too as the software goes with the battery and all the replacements are different.

although i have been told that the climate here is way too hot for the civic hybrid, so maybe thats it, but i only have to hold it together untill late august,

think im going to get a cruze, or an optima, (NON HYBRID)

They get just as good mileage if not better then what i get, and have a ton more power,

at this point, im going to drive it till it dies then leave it on the side of the road or trade it off, , as if you exclude the IMA being replaced under warranty, ive got a little over 20k in a car that honda themselves told me is only worth about 6k currently


On a good note, the dealership here that helped me with my fight with honda, has informed me they have done 6 replacements in the last month and did not have ANY issues or denials from AHM, so to me i feel good that i posiibly helped in some way lol,

 

Ah, well thanks for the head's up re: the warranty. I don't foresee my address changing outside of CA in the near future so I should be able to rely on the max coverage provided.

Sorry your mileage is so disappointing, CYork. I kept thinking to myself that when my car's battery works great it's a really great vehicle. But when it doesn't it can be pretty frustrating. I have thought about trading it in but you're right that its value has probably been pretty devalued quite a bit.

I had an unexpectedly long commute that had me inching along towards the Bay Bridge trying to head home (~2h for a measly ~32 miles). It was cool enough that I didn't need to use the AC, relying mostly on a mild draft from a cracked window. I auto stopped a pretty large number of times before the car got down to three bars and refused to auto stop. I think what's frustrating is that the car is not "smart" enough to do some forced regen when the charge gets low while creeping along in traffic. I eventually just dropped it into L to top it off before traffic eased up enough (I hate dropping into L then switching to D but having the car not auto stop because a minimum speed is not met).

Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with the mileage results I'm seeing so far. I got the mileage up to 42.6 (computer) from 36 when the battery was swapped and charged (over 1/4 of a tank). Still not sure if the car behaves differently yet (it feels like the same car from before with a lot greater capacity). It's been so long since I first got the car and my driving behavior has changed so much I don't really remember too much about how the car first performed when brand new vs. now with a "new"/reconditioned pack. I honestly would like it if the car would assist a little bit less in many situations without having to pump it so much. I think manual control on the amount of assist would be pretty sweet but would definitely be overkill for most situations. I'll be paying attention (as always) to my mileage and see how the battery fares in the future.

 

so new info, my car got hit a few weeks ago, and while being repaird they provided a rental car, while running to work in a hurry , about 75 + in the rental car i was astonished to find i was averaging 43 mpg with the cruis control, in the city it averaged 37 to 39, granted i was hypermiling mostly as thats the only way to get any results out of the honda. so i do that by default

So i decided to take a good test drive over the weekend averaged 168 miles, with an average speed of 68, and average mpg was 42

the car you ask, a NON HYBRID Kia Optima. and i ran the ac all the time, and cc.

definately know what im trading to asap. lol

 

Sorry to hear about your car. (Or are you secretly happy? )

Those are some pretty nice mileage results. I remember trying crude, granny-style, fuel-saving techniques on my old '91 Accord and getting my best tank of 29.1 mpg (hand calculated). Flash forward (in vehicle age) over 10 years with a rented 2002 Corolla and a 380 mile jaunt to LA with my brother and we managed 29 mpg driving it like it was stolen. (My brother and I, who both did our best to outdo each other in speed and hard acceleration events, were pretty amazed at the trip computer's reported mileage.) Another brother of mine, driving to/from and in/around LA over 2000 miles with my [borrowed] HCHII still managed 39 mpg, also despite his hard driving. Progress is great!

Also, I managed my best tank last weekend. I have it written down in my little mileage book but I got a little over 53 mpg over 450+ miles (first time both my trip computer and hand calculation were over 50 mpg). The trip was more uncomfortable than usual because I had pumped up my tires to 42 psi after I had read that Harold has his at 45 (!). His roads must be much nicer than down here in the States because the ride was way too jarring and bouncy. (We both run the same Goodyear FuelMax tires. In fact, I bought the tires based on reading his constant recommendation, lol.) I'll definitely kick them back down to 40 as that seems to be the sweet spot for me. Looking at the mileage results the extra psi was not worth it.

Anyway, my "new" battery seems to be working well. I've only depleted the battery a handful of times (big hills, of course). I *think* it's possible the charging algorithm is slightly more aggressive. If the SoC drops even three bars the charging seems to happen a bit more often when the acceleration is light. I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on it some more. So far I'm pleased with the way the car is performing. I just have a niggling thought in the back of my head that the battery performance is just going to keep going down and I'll notice it more than when my car was new to me. Oh well...