I have a 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid with about 80,300 miles on it. It's been driving kind of horribly for a while now.

Finally, on Wednesday my Check Engine and IMA lights came on on my drive to work. I called my dealership and made an appointment that afternoon. On my drive there, the Check Engine light only was on at first, then the IMA light came on later. They ran the diagnostic and told me I was covered under warranty (thank goodness for that 92k extension!) and the new battery, parts, etc. would be in Monday or Tuesday of next week. The next few times I drove my car, the Check Engine light would be on at first, then the IMA. However, as of this evening - all lights are off.

The car is still behaving poorly - recals, no assistance at all really from the electric motor, horrible mileage...but the lights are off.

Does anyone know if they'll still replace everything under warranty if the lights are off when I go in next week? They were on on Wednesday, they read the codes or whatever to approve it, but they told me there was no paperwork to be done at that time so I have no documentation other than the estimate I signed to pay for the diagnostic - though when it came up as warranty covered they did not make me pay at all.

I'm just concerned that suddenly they wont replace it, even though the car is not working well. Any strategies for how to have this conversation with my dealer would be appreciated!

 

They should replace it. Mine did the same thing, but eventually the light may come on again. You may even be able to make it happen by being aggressive with the assist. Either way your battery is not going to get better on its own. It needs to be replaced or reconditioned

 

An update for anyone who might happen across this thread: they did in fact do the repair without any problems, and now my car is doing great!

 

Glad to hear it. I have had multiple IMA and "battery degradation" codes thrown (AZ summer with heavy A/C use, well out of warranty on my '06). They eventually go away on their own, but they still show in the ECU code history as long as you don't use a scan tool to clear the code log. The dealer will see the codes, and they are obligated to replace it.

I have a three day weekend coming up, so I'll be trying to get in 3X cycles of charge/discharge on my new grid charger to see if I can squeeze a little more life out of this pack.