Our 2007 HCHII is about 6 months from being ten years old, and with 55K miles on it. I'll post one of my long-winded questions...

For at least a couple of years, I've been worrying & posting about frequent recals and other signs of a dying IMA battery. It's worse and worse now. We can go from nearly no charge bars to top in 1-2 minutes of driving, or from top to nothing in about the same. Going up our steep hill when leaving the house, it's mostly gasoline that's getting us up the hill, so not with overwhelming horsepower or speed.

As much as I appreciate the advice from S. Keith and others, I have not yet done anything to resuscitate the pack, really haven't had or taken the time to expose the battery, or to buy or build a grid charger/reconditioner.

At this point, estimating we'll have the car another 5-7 years, I am thinking we'll just get a new battery and count on it lasting those years, so not bothering with reconditioning, since I think that with or without it, a new battery is going to be needed.

We live in Portland, so I believe a trip across town to Bumblebee is coming sooner or later. And therein lies the question:

If we just keep on using the car and the battery gasps its last breath, will the car continue work as a gasoline-only vehicle or will a tow truck be needed? To reframe that, should I plan on getting to Bumblebee ASAP, or wait until the battery is dead?

Many thanks in advance.

 

As with all things, YMMV. People have driven on a failed IMA battery for years.

It only becomes an issue once the 12V battery charging is affected.

As long as the pack is still healthy enough to enable 12V charging, you're fine... assuming your 12V is healthy.

Very few IMA powered cars leave their drivers stranded because their IMA battery failed.

The red 12V light is the first indication of an issue with charging.

 

Thank you again, S. Keith!

We are planning a road trip through vacant parts of OR with our daughter & granddaughter, and might just Priceline a bigger car both for space and lack of IMA worry.

But we won't wait too much longer to get over to Bumblebee; our gas mileage may be suffering (I'll have to watch that closely...)

 

I wouldn't expect an issue, but I would load test the 12V prior to leaving and flat out replace it if it's more than 2 years old with a larger 51R (chuck the shrouds).

 

Something to think about, if the IMA battery causes the Check Engine light to come on, you may not be able to pass your state inspection and renew your registration.

I drove my car for about 6 mos in that condition but hadn't thought about failing annual inspection.

 

If your state requires emissions testing, an IMA or CEL fault will absolutely cause an emissions fail.


Here in AZ, emission testing time is when most IMA drivers decide they need to fix their pack...