For the past month or so I was having a problem where either the check engine light, the IMA light, or both would come on for a period of time, and then turn back off. I took it to my mechanic who said I had to take it to Honda because they were locked out from reading the code. I took it to Honda, who told me that they couldn't read the code either, they weren't sure why, and by the way it would cost $220 just to try to figure it out.

During this time, both lights would sometimes be on when you started the car, or sometimes stay off.

Took it back to my mechanic, who checked all the wiring between the computer and the scanner port and couldn't find anything wrong. My mechanic said at this point he was at a loss and I should probably just take it back to Honda.

Took it back to Honda and told them to go for it. They are now telling me that the brake master cylinder servo is bad, and somehow that was messing with the computer and causing the check engine/IMA lights to go in and out. The best part is the brake master cylinder servo part itself costs ~$1400! With labor the fix will cost nearly $2000.

The service rep at my Honda dealer told me she's worked there for 10 years and had to look that part up because she had never heard of it before. She also didn't think they had ever seen one go bad. My internet research leads me to believe this servo has to do with the regenerative braking system.

I don't have the $2k to spend on fixing this right now, anyone know if it is a safety issue if I continue to drive with this thing broken? Should I press Honda to give me some relief on the cost of this part? Anyone else have this part go bad on them?

Thanks!

 

Greetings corndog... Did you end up getting the master cylinder replaced? I have a 2008 civic hybrid and have a little different issue, but an even more expensive dealer diagnosis. The car still stops fine, but when making a hard braking stop, the red "brake" warning light comes on and a beep sounds. The dealer says that I need a new master cylinder (~$1700) and a new accumulator/servo set (~$700) and it will take over 10 hrs of labor (~$1300). Now when I bought the hybrid, I knew that battery replacement was a huge expense, but didn't think about the complex brake system and how much of a huge expense that would be as well. (luckily, I was able to get a new battery pack under extended warranty... so out of the frying pan and into the fire!) I'm at 116k miles and out of warranty and out of luck. The car is only worth around $7500 or so according to edmunds, so I'm in a pickle. Anyone else have experience with this? Thanks.

 

For anyone who stumbles across this and actually cares... I ended up having the dealer replace the master cylinder/servo and accumulator set. The bill was $4k, but I found another person on this forum that got %40 of the bill paid by Honda Corporate as a "goodwill consideration" being out of warranty for the master cylinder (Honda Service Bulletin 08-057). I downloaded the bulletin from https://techinfo.honda.com/ where you can get access to all the information that the dealer has from corporate for $10/day. Definitely a good find for any Honda owner... I recommend getting on there and looking for SBs BEFORE you go out of warranty.

Anyway, I had my dealer submit the "goodwill consideration" and I got the 40% awarded to me as well. So that brought my bill down to $2300. Still REALLY expensive for a part that Honda has clearly thought to be defective, but hasn't been forced to do a recall. (you can't even buy the old part anymore)

The new parts work great... the brake servo motor is much more quiet with the new part than the old as well. Hopefully I can get another 100k miles out of my HCHII before the batteries need replacing... then I guess I'll probably just get rid of it...

 

 

I had the same issue but i had to work out in a different way.... the dealership asked me to replace the whole Servo Kit which would have cost me 4k.... but instead I purchased a master cylinder booster kit from ebay for 85 bucks and also purchased an ABS moduler from eBay for 55 bucks and have my mechenic change both the part.... now i dont have any issues with it and it is working like a champ....

 

 

gmech42 this is my first and last Honda Hybrid.... I will never pay to a dealership which I can get it fixed any other place... they gave me a list of parts and in realisticly they were only replacing master cylinder kit and abs module with new pipes etc.... I had it done for under 300 bucks including labor.... I am ready to get rid of it and if I plan to go Hybrid I will definately will buy a Toyota Prius as that is a real hybrid vehicle.

 

Hi Gmech42 i totally agree with you in regards not paying the over exaggerated dealership cost for for this car. I had multiple problems with it, battery, computer , transmission, and now The Brakes system. Would you kindly put the parts list for replacement that you used for this repair? Thanks E

 

I have this issue currently. Hate this car. How did you figure this fix out? Mind sharing some of how it all works ?