I am in a similar situation. Both the IMA and Eng lights came on. I have 125k and took it into a dealer in MA. The hybrid battery is bad. I purchased the car in CT. So I have the 150k mile warranty. Find a good dealer, they should want to help you. $99 to get the codes figured out at the dealership BTW.

 

If your starter battery is still being charged and the car starts, then run it without the IMA system. The car will perform well without the IMA and still be very reasonable on gas consumsion. Due to the salvage tag, you may be out of luck for any warranty work, but it doesn't hurt to try. If you got the car at a reasonable price, then maybe it is worth the fix? The cost of the packs is down to around $2000 dollars witch is not to bad to swallow! Hal

 

Disconnecting the battery did cause the IMA and Check Engine lights to stay off. So far so good.

Now I need to figure out the code to get my radio to start working again. Anyone know how to do that?

Still no luck on the headlight. I did find the fuses. They were good. I tried swapping the relays, but that didn't help. With the relays removed, the voltage on the good (passenger) side was 12V between both sets of receptacles. On the bad side, one was 12V and one was 9.6V. Any thoughts on that? The brights work as do the running lights.

Thanks to all for the great advice!

 

John, now that the IMA light is out are you getting assist and regen? It is possible you have a cat. converter problem witch will also turn on the IMA check engine light. I think the cats run a grand or so as well. Hopefully the car will run normal for you. Cant help you with the radio or light. H

 

How would I know if I am getting "assist" and "regen"?

 

There should be a indication on the dash showing you the assist your electric mtr. is using while under load. Assist bars are mormally white and # from 1-10. Regen are green bars and they show amount of charge going into the pack.Regen also helps with the slowing down of the car. Adds to braking. You should have a inticator of the SOC as well. Get yourself a manual it will help alot. H

 

If the '05 is like my '04, you will see the Charge/Assist meter on the right-side of your dash readouts. The charge bars are the ones that show in green when the battery is being charged (for example, when you brake the car and it does regenerative braking) and the assist bars will show up in blue (for example when you accelerate from a stop).
The radio code is specific to your particular vehicle. If you have a salvage car, maybe you don't have the car's manual, but if you do, check to see if the original owner wrote the code somewhere in the manual. It's a 5-digit code that you need to program into the radio pre-sets to reset the radio. If you don't have any record of what the code is, try signing up to Honda Owner link (you can google that link), and I believe when you sign up your car's VIN number, they will provide you with your car's radio code.

 

My IMA Battery Needs To Be Replaced!!!

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I was just informed by a Honda Dealer that the battery in my 2005 HCH has failed.

My computer Codes were P1600 - IMA System Malfunction and P1433 Battery Module Deterioration. These code definitions are different than the ones I found online.

The cost is $3003 for the battery and another $300 for labor. Ouch!

The worst part is that even through I have under 80k miles, my car has a salvage title and they are saying that this voids the warranty for everything except for safety related issues.

I have read some horror stories about how power steering and brakes stopped working on HCHs with failed IMA batteries. Can anyone provide any technical details as to how the IMA battery failure could result in a safety issue?

I plan to call Honda's Customer Service number to plead my case, but I need to have a good rationale for asking them to cover the replacement cost.

I was also told that I will not be able to pass a smog test because my check engine light is on. Also, my IMA light comes on intermittently. My gas mileage has not changed - 36 mpg. I think hybrids are exempt from smog tests until some time in 2010 - correct?

I cannot afford to replace this battery. Any suggestions on alternatives would be appreciated. I've thought about Ebay, junkyards, and aftermarket batteries, but have not come up with a good option.

I replaced the cable from th ebattery to the chassis and the bulb and the headlight now works.

 

Hi John
Bad news!I guess that was $3000 installed. How do you feel the car is performance wise? If you are happy with the cars performance I would drive it as is. You can turn the check engine light off by disconecting the positive battery cable, can you not? If you can, then do this every now and then or when you require air-care. Remember with those IMA packs, it is usually only one faulty cell causing the problem so the pack is still doing some work.Your steering is still powered? Is your pack still starting the car?
Honda should cover it, regardless of the salvage tag. 80,000 thousand miles and the pack packing it in , thats crap!!! Keep pestering the hell out of them and maybe they will come around with something better. H

 

They want $300 more to install it.

IO only have 63000 miles. So far it drives OK but I have heard that the power steering can go out and I am trying to find some documentation of this or a technical explanation for it so I can appeal.

If it is safety related they are supposed to honor the warranty on salvaged vehicles.