Hello everyone i am new to the site and hybrids.
i purchased a 2005 honda civic hybrid yesterday.
it had 115,000 miles on it. there were some cosmetic issues but car looks great from 10 feet away.

it is dark blue with grey interior and is the CVT.

so i didnt get an owners manual unfortunately.

So i use to be a car guy but i turned into a truck/jeep guy but the need for a gas bill of less then $400 a month and my wife needing a car i figured a hybrid made the most sense.


So i have a lot of questions i will try to find the answers but,
here are a few of them.

how do i charge my battery, on my 40 mile drive here the batter stayed well charge and i can see the bars light up on the charge side as i coasted or went down hills. but that was on pretty much a highway. How is the easiest way to do it in city driving?

I have seen discussions about changing wheels and tires and how the stock wheels are made more aerodynamic. but how much do stock wheels weight?

has anyone did aftermarket lights and can i?

has anyone done aftermarket radio and can i?

what is the S and L on the transmission?

what is the ECON button near the a/c controls?

will aftermarket intake or exhaust help or hurt MPG?
i would assume it would help, on a typical gas engine more air in more air out usually means cleaning burning, more MPG and more power. dont really want more power but dont mind it.

thank you guys.

 

oh is the autostop light supposed to blink or stay on when the engine is shut off at a stop

 

yes the autostop is suppose to blink when autostop is engaged.

 

I googled "2005 civic hybrid owners manual" and found this link. Try clicking on the blue links within it and see if it works for you. My PC wasn't cooperating, but it may work fine for you.

https://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/...505MAINIXA.pdf

You can also order a paper owners manual from www.helminc.com

 

thanks for the info everyone. i will try the links

 

Leo,

Good luck with your new car. You will definitely not have to pay $400 a month to gas it up.
You will see your battery charging up in city driving as well: when you decelerate, apply the brakes, coast, etc. A trick I learned from another forum member is to put your headlights on; I don't know the reason behind it but there seems to be some sort of background charge that happens if your headlights are on. I do it when I feel I need to get my charge bars up a bit.

If you put your foot down on the accelerator, you will see assist bars (in blue). This gives you added power, but draws down your electrical battery. Once you get up to speed, back off the accelerator a bit, and you'll see the blue assist bars drop out, and see either no bars, or green charge bars on that meter. You'll also notice your instantaneous mpg meter go up. Try to moderate your acceleration to keep the mpgs as steadily high as possible.

The questions regarding S and L, and ECON mode on the AC are answered in the link I gave you. Keep clicking on each blue prompt and each one provides the info you are looking for.

I wouldn't change the emissions system in any way; it's been designed to provide clean emissions and high mpg, and to ruin that would negate the reason for buying a hybrid.

 

S=Second gear
L=Low gear

Econ button enables or disables the auto-stop feature of the engine.

Don't worry about the battery charge, it is managed by the car itself.

Your car has two CAT converters as well as a NOX purge system. I wouldn't mess with the exhaust system. If you are trying to improve your MPG the most effective and inexpensive modification you can do is learn to drive more efficiently, or the more extreme hypermiling.

 

Most exhaust systems are from the cat back, this shouldn't effect anything but possibly back pressure and I don't see how that would effect the system the exhaust should flow better after.

 

There are systems available for most cars the claim improve HP and improved MPG. And they are cat back systems are hybrid engines that different?