Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits.

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Fri 15 Feb 2013 14:40
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - TeeCee

One of my colleagues just told me an amusing one. His fleet Civic Hybrid decided the other day that this electricity lark was strictly for the birds and that it was going to revert to being an ordinary 1.3 litre CVT Civic.

It went in to the local Honda place, whose diagnostic system disclosed that the entire Hybrid system was completely toes-upwards and they then proceeded to replace the traction battery and hybrid motor/generator as suggested.

It still didn't work and the diagnostics still insisted that the whole shebang had gone the way of the Dodo.

Then, after some head-scratching, they noticed that the signal cable connecting the engine to the Hybrid system (his words) had broken somehow. Replacing the cable fixed it, as the ECU could now talk to the "failed" motor and battery in question.

He's wondering if the lease company are going to spot that the eye-wateringly large bill resulting is actually for a load of unnecessary work and a 30EUR cable.

I suppose the point of this is that, if you have a Honda with IMA and some bright spark at Honda tells you it needs all the IMA bits replacing, get 'em to check the wiring first.

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Fri 15 Feb 2013 16:48
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - daveyjp
That's what happens when you employ 'technicians' and not mechanics.

If a technician had an electrical appliance which didn't work the last thing they would check is the fuse.
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Fri 15 Feb 2013 16:52
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - Ethan Edwards

Mechanic? Thats a bit 'stone knives and bear skins' isn't it? You need a systems analyst.

Edited by Ethan Edwards on 15/02/2013 at 16:53

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Sat 16 Feb 2013 00:04
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - Smileyman

surely the work would have been done under manufacturer's warranty?

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Sun 12 May 2013 23:48
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - Hadrian

Rather an unfair story about the Civic IMA.

In my opinion it's a brilliant car, which does what it says on the box.

For those like myself who have an aversion to "hatchbacks", there is really very little choice, unless you want to go for the larger family saloon.

I've had two Accords, but wanted something smaller and cheaper to run.

I like a car to have four doors, a bonnet, and a boot. The Civic IMA fits the bill.

It will be interesting to see what the estate version looks like when it gets released next year.

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Mon 13 May 2013 08:49
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - Collos25

It may have been a for runner when it first came out but now compared to other vehicles on the road now its under powered has not very low emmissions and if the specific forum is to be believed not very reliable.Having test driven one along with an Insight and a Prius it would come a resounding third.

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Mon 13 May 2013 10:19
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - TeeCee

Rather an unfair story about the Civic IMA.

I cannot see how it can be unfair, given that it is entirely true.

Less of a comment on the car, more on the modern fashion for diagnostic work being of the "duh......computer says x, replace x" variety.

Thinking about this again, you'd have thought that having the thing turn around and insist that both the hybrid system and the battery pack were up the spout might be a clue that, rather than two major components that are designed to last the life of the vehicle having decided to fail simultaneously, something else might be amiss.....

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Mon 13 May 2013 11:33
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - nortones2

As TC says! The downside, if there is one, of a reliable product is that the local garage may not be good at diagnosing rare events. Still less do they think that the diagnostic aid is fallible. To be charitable, perhaps the technician was loath to call Honda engineers for advice on how to deal with an unusual event. We had something similar when Yaris final drive kept repeatedly losing oil. Resolved when I did it for the shy and retiring service manager, in writing to Toyota UK.

As an aside, you rarely know what's behind apparent stupidity. An educated guess is that money comes into it.

Edited by nortones2 on 13/05/2013 at 11:34

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Mon 13 May 2013 12:35
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - SlidingPillar

Dunno how it's presented, but in my book, a decent diagnostic aid will first present the faults and a decent mechanic will look at them and try any leads or connectors leading to the faults, and/or other cheap and quick bits first.

I used to fix tv and radio tranmitters and although logic says start in the middle of a fault, you always did the cheap and easy things first. You may spend a tiny bit longer fixing a fault, but chances are you'll spend less time and replace fewer items.

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Mon 13 May 2013 12:42
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - jc2

I keep reading on theses fora about "ECU" faults-very few are-most faults are connectors or wiring related;certainly the fault goes away when the ECU is replaced but remember that the connection was remade.

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Mon 13 May 2013 13:12
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - Hadrian

Perhaps unfair was the wrong choice of words.

Although this could have happened with any make of car. With modern diagnostic computers, what choice do garages have ?

You would hope that a main dealer would at least have access to a database of "reported" faults. Those not thrown up by the computer.

Some years ago a friend had a problem with his Accord. The one which had 4 wheel steering. On hard acceleration the engine was missing the odd beat.

His dealer spent a long time stripping everything down to try and locate the fault. Eventually it was found to be a tooth missing from the flywheel. Not the sort of thing which a computer diagnostic would throw up.

Edited by Hadrian on 13/05/2013 at 13:17

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Mon 13 May 2013 14:32
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - Snakey

Sounds like fairly poor diagnostics if it can't report a broken/missing connection. For what the main dealers charge for diagostics I'd expect it to be as clever as a Fluke network tester and tell me exactly how many cm along the wire it was broken!

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Mon 13 May 2013 18:32
Honda Civic IMA Hybrid - Fault finding by replacing bits. - madf

Modern diagnostics can't tell if your EGR valve is jammed.. a very common fault. To change it, teh EGR vavle would need a sensor and cost twice as much..(in the aftermarket that is).

Most main dealers are totally uselss at dignosing problems for the simple facts that after 3 years old, the average car is not serviced by the dealer so they are unfamiliar with faults. See the Focus TDCI thread.. Failing crank sensors are common - and throw up no fault codes when working.

A good service guy who understands these things ends up working for himself/an independent who specialises in makes/problems.

Edit

Honda's system keeps the engine running all the time so inherently less efficient than Toyota's.

Edited by madf on 13/05/2013 at 18:33

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