HI have a 2003 HCH1 today i went out to start my HCH and it started off the 12Volt starter. this is the first time since i owned it that it ever did it. when it started I had 5 bars on the 144V battery and the green charge indicator had 3 green bars while idleing. the car has been sitting for 3 days in below freezing temps for those 3 days. anyone with any ideas why it is starting this way?
Also now that this happened i think i noticed a pattern. when ever i let the car sit for 2-3 days like over a weekend when i dont use it to go to work i get an orange IMA light but when i hook up my Snap-on scan tool there are no codes stored. so i erease and the light goes out and im good till the car sits for a couple days. some one out here said a few months ago i MAY have a faulty A/C relay going bad. would this cause both problems? if so where is it located and can i get a new one can i install it myself. i know my way around cars ive done a few resto jobs and rebuilds in the past i just don't know anything about IMA systems.
thanks for ANY help

 

This happened to me in the extreme cold even when my 2003 HCH was new. It's somewhat normal for the car to use the 12V battery and starter in certain conditions.

However it's not "normal" for the IMA light to come on. I suspect your IMA batteries might be getting weak. I've been driving with the CEL and the IMA light on for a good 75,000 miles now and the starter will kick in unexpectedly from time to time. When it does I know I can expect a forced recal. The battery will quickly drop to one or even zero bars and then charge slowly at first and then when about halfway will quickly charge the rest of the way. The colder it is the longer it takes to come back. I can get away with this because I have the 5 speed transmission and can downshift if I need acceleration.

Do you have the standard transmission? How many miles do you have? If it's the 5 speed you can probably get away with the weak batteries for quite a while. It might be more problematic with the CVT.

If it's still under warranty you might want to get it to the dealer while the IMA light is on and see if they can take care of you.

Good luck...

 

Thanks for the reply. I now have around 140,000 miles on it. it is a CVT not a stick so the best i can do with downshifting is to put it into "S" at lowerspeeds. the only time i ever noticed a forced recal is when my 12v battery died then i jumped it with a booster pack. but at 2 months ago i bought a new 12v battery and i have been good i have not gotten a recal since. maybe it will do a recal when i start taking it back to work, we had 26 " of snow sunday into monday so i am taking my jeep to work the next few days. i bought the car second hand so no warranty

 

This is the reason. My 2004 does the same thing when in this very low SOC condition. Mine has 184,000 miles and never had a recal yet. I wouldn't let the SOC go that low if at all possible. Sometimes it goes low for necessity of driving but I've always tried to keep mine from dipping very much below half.

Funny, I was originally concerned about the battery when I bought the car new in 2004. At 185,000 miles it needs major transmission service for a slipping belt and not battery problems. (Flushing CVT fluid doensn't help anymore) But it's still very much drivable.