I need some help in deciding whether or not my 06 Civic Hybrid has display problems.



First, my real time mpg gauge periodically goes down to zero for a second or two and then returns to its previous level. I cannot determine a pattern for when this happens. I have seen it happen on the freeways and streets, with the cruse control on and off. I have seen it happen about a half dozen times. I have taken it to the dealer, but they could not find anything wrong with it claiming it was “calibrating” itself. However, I can not find any reference to this on Greenhybrid. Has anyone else witnessed a similar phenomenon with their 06? Anyone have any ideas what it could be?



Second, I seem to be able to change my trip A mpg readings to easily. In addition, the trip A seems to be incredible inaccurate as far as mpg goes. Below you will find a cell phone quality (read: very poor) image I took today on my way home from work. It reads trip A 90.3 mpg at a distance of 324.2 miles. After I took this photo, I drove straight to the same shell station and the same pump #4 filling up until the pump shut itself off automatically as always. By the time I reached the gas station, my display read 80.4mpg at 346.9 miles. I filled the car up with 6.766 gal of gas. When I did the math (346.9 / 6.766) I got 5.27mpg. By the way, after I took this photo the mpg reached a height of 95.8mpg. What is my problem? I know the calculations are inherently inaccurate and even the display has a margin of error, but this seems a bit extreme. Can anyone help me? I seem to be at a loss.

 

I'd say you have a glitch somewhere. I've never seen my instant FCD gauge drop to zero like that except when I'm going < 5 MPH on my 06. Also, my average MPG only changes by 0.1 at a time once it has 100 miles+ on it (maybe less).

I'd take it back to the dealer and have them look deeper. I'd guess the two problems are related, maybe a bad sensor somewhere (fuel flow?)

Good luck and let us know what you find out. You are not the only one who has reported this problem.

 

no problems like that for me, my readings are on par with how i've been driving/expected. must be a problem only on some 06 models

 

I have the extreme inaccuracy problem as well; regardless of how many miles are on the trip meters, the mileage still jumps by 6-7 mpg when accelerating a while (-7) or coasting (+7). It's annoying. It at least jumps by roughly the same amount though, in that if I'm at 40.0 mpg and I accelerate and bring it to 35 mpg, by the time I coast to a stop later it's usually back at 40 or slightly below. I'd take it to the dealer but I can't imagine anything they can do about it; I think we just need to report the problem so Honda becomes aware of it and eventually releases a fix.

As for your other problem, I have never seen that. Obviously it doesn't display anything when the car stops (as your mpg is 0/0 which is undefined) and it sometimes goes really low when accelerating, but I've never seen it randomly jump.

What really annoys me about the car is that I find it almost impossible to get above 40 mpg. Even doing just gentle city driving, going 35-50 mph, coasting at stops, etc., gives me 35-40 mpg. I can cruise and get good figures, but acceleration, no matter how gentle, invariably brings it way way down, at least on the [inaccurate] computer display.

 

This is in response to CGameProgrammer (sorry for hijacking the thread). Over the 18,000 miles of driving my HCH, and hearing reports from my two colleagues who also purchased HCH's, I've come to the conclusion that the single largest contributing factor to MPG is where you drive. If you have a rotton commute, you will get rotten mileage. If you have a favorable commute, you will get good mileage.

One of my friends has three routes to work, about 15 miles each. One route yields 42 MPG; one route yields 48 MPG; one route yields 52 MPG. Same distance, same destination, but wildly different results, all because of different traffic lights, timing, hills, etc.

I notice you live in San Diego; my experience with driving there, in the city environment, is that the conditions are about the worst that you could imagine. Uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill, and a traffic light seemingly every quarter mile. You never benefit from your downhill momentum because of the traffic signals, and you are often stuck at a light in the middle of an uphill run, and have to start from zero again. Absolutley devastating to MPG.

So my advice is to not despair; no matter what your final MPG value is, you are still getting 25% better mileage than a regular Civic, and (in my experience) nearly 40% better than a Civic Si.

And the HCH itself is just such an excellent automobile. I can hardly stand driving a regular Civic anymore (like I had to last weekend in, of all places, San Diego). The propulsion system is so unrefined compared to the HCH.

So enjoy the car and don't sweat the MPG, that's my advice.

 

Couple of short experiments with my 06 HCH - 325Miles total.

1. Coasting down grade with no gas - 150MPG seems to be max for measurement. After quick reset, my display showed" ---" until I came to a stop and accelerated again. It showed 150MPG briefly before dropping.

2. Trip A mileage seems to be pretty inaccuate as well. I had 38MPG (after weekend driving @250Miles) then yesterday for 60miles @ 53MPG on trip B. Trip A showed 50MPG, more than I would have expected. This is along 50% freeway commute and 50% mostly almost flat streets.

 

ultimately, just use the trip meter to keep track of how many miles you've driven on a tank, and then divide that by the gallons of gas you fill to the first click (no top-off).

then compare this to the displayed mpg for accuracy over a few tanks. over short trips (less than 50 mi for example) i'm guessing that the gauge fluctuates greatly, but it should grow more accurate with more miles logged for that trip.

as for the 35-40 mpg in the city - hey, no sweat, the car is new CGameProgrammer, and still needs to be broken in. I only got about 42 mpg on a daily highway trip when my HCH-I was new, and now I get about 51 on the same route. Over my HCH-II's first 150 miles, I've only gotten an average of 39.0 mpg. it should get better as time goes on and you learn how to drive it more efficiently.

 

Thanks for making me feel better, guys. You're probably right; I just found it a little frustrating since others were reporting much higher mileage, even professional non-hypermiling reviewers. But it's nice that at least some others seem to be in a similar situation and I guess it's likely to improve over time. Also San Diego, while not actually mountainous, is indeed very hilly, even on the highway in a few places, so I guess that affects things.

 

Hi Geophrey:

___There was at least one Honda display that went FUBAR but I do not remember if it was reported here, IC, or over at Edmunds. All over the map FCD readouts and changing on a whim was the symptom. I bet you are having the same issue? Take an hour or two and search the forums because I remember seeing the dash pic at something crazy like 300 mpg’s??? IIRC, the individual had to have the entire gauge cluster swapped out but had no problem afterwards.

___If you are still having this problem, it is not a calibration issue. Your tech has absolutely no idea what the hell he is talking about as there is no calibration. With the huge changes you have described, there is definitely a problem.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

 

Thanks for everyones input. I have used the information / advice to schedule an appointment with the “best” hybrid mechanic at the dealership I bought the car from. I will post the results of my conversation with this mechanic tomorrow.

P.S. If the display has to be completely replaced as xcel has possibly suggested, what should I try to ask for in compensation? An oil change, fog lights, etc? Or does Honda service not work like this?