Hello,
I am new the forum and wanted to intro my self. I am Phill aka Phillbilly aka 67fastback( due the 1967 mustang fastback in the garage) I love to off road in my 3 different suzuki samurai which all have been modified in one way or another. I can say it is fun to try and get more out of 1.3 liter engine 54 hp. SO you swap out gears and tcase to make it climb rocks and go int he mudd.One even has a harley 44cc cv carb on it so it does not stall climbing hills. I also film all my crazy hill climbs on 2 different youtube channels.
http://www.youtube.com/justworkn and
http://www.youtube.com/PhillbillyProduction the more professional page.

you find more on fb also just search Phillbilly Production

Now to the reason I am here. I just bought a 2005 honda accord hybrid. I searched the net to try and find something for the gf that got better gas mileage for 80 mile round trip commute and under 10k and under 100k miles. I found one that had 46k on it and 11k. so I thought we better go and check it out.. took it for a test drive and really liked it even though the IMA and engine light was on. The salesman said they would have to fix that.. They check it out and replaced the battery.. Good for us...I was surprised about the no spare tire.. We bought the car once everything was fix. A week later i notice the locks never worked correctly. GF decided to look up online how to reprogram the key fob. well not having all the keys and reading all the info out there, She just reprogramed on not knowing that it will deprogram the others if you dont do it all together.. She seems to shoot her self in the foot alot of times. I took the car to honda dealer and found the driver side accuator was bad so none of the doors would lock since the left driver would not go down unless you manually pressed it or pulled it up. Another 170 bucks not covered on the 3 month/3000 mile warranty... grrrrr

Another example is she was complaining of poor gas mileage.. 19 mpg .And I was like what are you doing.. she said nothing just driving on highway at 70 mph and putting the cruise on. I was like really..!! THen she said D3 is the Overdrive right? I was like what? She said it again d3 is overdrive... I just had to laugh... No it is not. Yo normally put it into D3 when you need climb a hill with the RPM's higher.. I drove it the other day and had to see what she was running at.. 70 mph and d3 the car was reving over 4500 rpm.. no wonder such poor mph..
Since that little caboom even she is now reporting around 29-30 mph.. but I am feeling that is still not enough.. Granted she is a pack rat and loves to haul junk in her car.. I try and tell keep it clean and take it out..less weigh better mileage..She even now trys to buy the better gas too with some additives . Shell. But seems to want to drive miles out of her way to find a shell and pass 5 other gas stations to get it and not really finding that happy medium to use less gas. if you knwo what I mean.

A couple questions : I am trying to understand the the car better and my driving techniques to increase the mph. I was cold out and it seems to hurt mph under 32 degrees. The battery gauges seems to always have 2 bars missing so it is never full. How can I get it full all the time?
I can drive and get the eco light to come on and coast and regen the ima battery. I can never really see the assist come on at all. If it does it runs up and down really fast. Is this what I want to do or should want to keep that on some how? If so how? It seem I would want to try and run on assist more meaning less fuel consumption better mpg.

I also was looking at buying another rim and tire to put in the trunk. yes it adds weight but being able to a flat is better than the wait for tow...

I did buy a full bra=full nose mask as the dealer called it..lol and some mud flaps. Ill have to check the tire pressure and up it some to reduce the friction. I have read the hypermile tech tips and like most but the d-fas thing.. Mithbusters did burst this bubble !!!! and the 25 mph curve at 50 with no brake use... humm great drifting there..lol bet you buy tires alot...

 

Also what is the little retangle thing next to the shifter. It is about the size of a usb port cover.. no sure what it is... any ideas?

 

Welcome to our little club!

I'm not in my car looking at it, but I believe the port cover looking thing is a manual release for the shift-lock. In case your battery dies and you need to get it towed, you won't be able to get it to neutral--pull that cover off and insert your key to release the shifter.

As far as mileage goes, I keep it simple--cruise control at 60mph on the highway and observe speed limits in city driving while trying to maintain gentle acceleration and braking rates. I'm usually about 30mpg on my average tank. Sometimes if I have a trip with a lot of highway driving, I'll get closer to about 33mpg for a tank, but these days I'm doing more city driving, which kills me and inches me down around 29. If I'm feeling really frisky I'll end up around 25 or 26 mpgs. . .

I'm in North Central Texas and when we get cold weather it's definitely not ideal for the best mileage--but then again, neither is a Texas summer!

I also had the driver door lock actuator problem--when I originally bought the car, it was one of the only things that didn't work. Wasn't such a big issue and I just used the key. About a year ago, the front passenger door lock also quit working, so I decided to go ahead and replace both of them--one of the best decisions ever! They were not terribly expensive, but those doors are like bank vaults trying to get inside them. You definitely need patience and a little mechanical ability since the lock actuators are only a portion of the overall lock mechanism that you have to disassemble then reassemble before putting it back into the door. Not to mention making sure the window track is correctly in place before zipping it all back up.

Good to hear about your new IMA battery--if they actually replaced it, that is. Did you buy the car from a Honda dealer? I would ask for records and receipts to verify that it was actually the battery that was replaced. There are many components of the IMA system that could cause a light to come on and I wouldn't put it past too many dealers to "tell" you they replaced it when it's possible that they just updated software or unhooked the battery, etc. . .

I just changed my oil today at 233xxx and I still have the original hybrid battery pack. I will have a decision to make when it does finally go, but I've put a lot of maintenance work into this car to just give up on the hybrid battery at this point--might make a good car for my twins in a couple of years when they are driving!

 

Good to know about the shift issue and dead battery in neutral.. That could really **** you off stuck and then have tow guy drag it around ..grrr

Mileage update: we pumped the tires up from 30 to 40 psi and now got 41 mph.... wowohhoooo

they did say at the dealership it was a battery replacement.

 

Welcome and you talk funny here. I like the way you just type what you say...that's also goes for me! LOL!

Well, I haven't been to this forum for a while now...responds kinda died down so that didn't kept me interested anymore. I like to reply and feedback...back and forth is the key.

Anyhow seeing that you got GF a 05 HAH, eh? That's a good choice but you need to know what you got. See, HAH was never meant or designed to be a fuel sipper maximizer.

It was meant to be a V6 fuel sipper...with the power when you need it. I also have a Fusion Hybrid and boy...don't they behave so differently?!

Getting 41MPG is good...this is about what I am getting if I am strictly driving highway speeds cruising a long without stopping from Spring-Fall. Being in Toronto ON, Canada...we have been suffering 2 consecutive years of relative heavy snow. 2 problems with fuel consumption...one being that we use winter fuel when our weather hit below 0 Celsius. We are stuck in Winter addictive fuel till spring comes around. Winter fuel burn more gas, period. I get about 1L/100kms less than during the other warmer months. Plus I also use Winter tires too.

So let's talk about during the warmer months...there is a difference generally with HAH driven in City traffic, City smooth sailing and Highway speeds smooth sailing.

With City traffic, HAH will have the most fuel consumption...HAH is in its worse fuel performance during this time.

With City smooth sailing, you save the most fuel cruising in ECO mode...The "blue" assist bar just give you a bit of help when you very "slightly" wanted to accelerate while keeping in ECO mode. This helps you STAY in ECO mode while you accelerate a little more. Reason is HAH save most fuel ALWAYS in ECO mode because it runs on 3 cylinders only during this time. You would ALWAYS want to run your HAH in ECO mode if you want HAH to sip fuel.

With highway smooth sailing is where you maximize fuel efficiency in a HAH...here anything below 130km/h, ECO mode will stay on as long as you have a light foot. Any change in pressure will get you out of ECO mode so light foot work is at play here if you want HAH to sip fuel here.

Premium fuel gets you a little more mileage because the i-VTEC engine does recognize high octane fuel and adjust the timing to fit this kind of fuel. It goes give you a very slight HP boost of about 5HPs as well but you probably won't feel it. Instead it rewards you with 0.2L/100km using this fuel. So it is your choice here.

Lastly, pumping up to 40PSI on the tires will kill your tires faster because there will be less patch that is going to stick onto the road...you will obviously see the centre of the tire wearing out faster if you keep this up not to mention less grip wet or dry.

For every 2PSI decrease towards the factory set PSI, you increase about 0.15L/100kms fuel consumption. If you work it out in your case, your saving is about 0.6L/100kms savings at the most.

Knowing how to drive the HAH for maximum efficiency is key here. I have mastered it so if you need more tip, let me know.

And yes, Shell fuel is the fuel of choice...it is a good fuel. Mobil 1 is good I am sure in your side of the continent as well.


Lastly, about the 4 bars vs. 6 bars on the battery gauge. What you experience is very normal. The ECU is programmed by default to maintain 4-bars most of the time...nothing more nothing less. The computer's goal is to always attempts to maintain 4 bars.

To get that extra 2 bars, you will need to use hypermilling technique. When you see a hill, accelerate enough so that when you are climbing the hill, you try to stay in ECO mode. Before hitting the up climb...let your foot off the accelerator and let it regenerate a charge.

When going on a flat road not climbing or downhill, you will need to keep you in ECO mode all the way till you need to stop (at a light for example). Time the stopping right by only applying enough pressure to fill out all the green "charge" bars and nothing more. That's when you achieve maximum charge...any more pressure towards braking equals that the HAH will start using the actual braking system (your DISC/DISC brakes). So time your distance right when to stop ahead and you will maximize charging to get your 6 bars.

Downhill...no need to tell you more. Just let the HAH coast down the hill and you will see the green bars will come on itself (unless ECU detect excessive heat in the truck/battery which then it deactivates charging to battery temporarily). If you are coming downhill...you will get 6 bars in no time. You may even apply a slight pressure to the brakes for maximum charging effect without slowing down the car. It works.