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How long did your IMA battery last?

15K views 24 replies 16 participants last post by  nateboussad 
#1 ·
I am at 108,000 on a 2008.

I am still avg 42mpg and I live in indiana where my mpg drops in the winter and goes up in the summer.

I am dreading having it replaced since it is so much $$$.

Do any other shops replace them other than dealers?
 
#2 ·
Our battery pack started going bad at 100k miles. We had it replaced this week @ 113k miles. Honda has extended the battery pack warranty to 150k miles.

But with the new battery pack comes new control firmware. The new firmware is crap. It knocked the mpg down bad. I have a 90 mile round trip commute for work, mostly hwy. My ave mpg was 54 mpg. All it took was slowing down just a tad and driving the car right. Looks like the new average is going to be 50 mpg for the daily grind. :(

On my hypermiling test loop of 40 miles I use to get 70 mpg out of the car. Its only good for 61 mpg now on my test loop.

Get your VIN number off the car and call your local Honda Stealership and tell them you want your battery pack changed under warranty. If your car has turned on the IMA light then the pack is bad and will be replaced under warranty more than likely. Ours turned on the IMA and Check Engine light. But all it needed was the new pack and firmware.

Be prepared to pay a hook up and diagnostic fee if it's not the battery pack going bad. The Honda rip off dealers here charge $110.00 for that service compared to my local Ford dealer only charging $39.99 for the same hook up and diagnostic service on there cars.

Also with your car setting at 108k miles it needs its 100k mile service. If done at your local Honda Stealership that could cost a ton of money. I did the service myself with all Honda OEM parts bought online.

Changed cabin air filter ( gets changed every 20k miles )
Changed engine air filter ( gets changed every 35k miles )
Changed engine oil and filter ( gets changed every 15k miles with M1 0w-20 and PureOne oil filter )
Changed CTV Fluid and filter ( That is a 3 qt CTV Fuild flush and filter. Done every 30k miles with Honda CVT Fluid and Filter )
Changed Spark Plugs ( I change them every 50k miles )
Changed Engine Coolant ( I do this every 50k miles )
Changed A/C Belt ( Had never been changed )
Changed Front and Rear Brake Pads ( Had never been changed )
Changed out about half of the fasteners used to hold in the front inner wheel wells, engine pan, and other pans under the car. Many had come loose and fell out over the years.

If you don't want to go the Honda way concerning your battery pack. And many don't cause they make the worse battery packs in the hybrid world. A company called Re-Volt rebuilds Honda battery packs to Toyota Quality.

Good Luck
 
#5 ·
my IMA battery lasted only up until 88k but luckily i was under warranty, the honda guys ran up VIN number and said i was lucky and i saved about like $4k. Im driving a 08 HCH and I'm clocking in at 138,000 miles and I'm scared it might die out at like 180k so I'm selling it soon
 
#7 ·
I am currently driving with 105k on my '09 civic hybrid. I believe my battery is going out since I am having a lot of re-calibrations, I just hope i can get this replaced before 150k/10yr mark for free. The cost for a new battery is out of my range at the moment.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Mine have 125k miles. Ima light is ON(only on highway), but still asist and recharge. In city IMA light is OFF and if I'm driving below 22 mph is runing full electric(mpg indicator showing 0). I have error code P0A7F. Dou you think a grid charger like Max Volts, Hybrid Automotive Prolong™ Battery Reconditioning Package or other products like this one will help ?

Thank you !
 
#9 ·
148k KM or 91,900 miles, just before end of warranty the IMA and Engine light finally came on. I would say battery started showing deterioration 20 months ago and I was unsure if I should grid charge then or wait for failure. Personally, Im thinking of grid charging from the get go with the refurb battery now from Honda.
I got lucky that I didnt have to buy used or new as the USD against the CAD would have been awful right now.
 
#11 ·
Hybrids are just kind of goofy. The money you save in gas never out ways the extra money you pay for the car plus the battery when it goes bad.

I have a 2010 LX sedan that gets 37.5 mpg. psychos shack stated he gets 54 mpg. (and I doubt most hybrid owners get 54)

After 113,000 miles:

My car: 113,000 miles/37.5 mpg = 3,013 of gas x $2.75/gallon = $8,285

Hybrid: 113,000 miles/54 mpg = 2,092 of gas x $2.75/gallon = $5,755

Which results in a savings of $2530.

Not sure how much the hybrid costs over the regular civic but it is at least $2500. And if you don't get lucky enough to have the battery replaced under warranty then you are totally screwed.
 
#12 ·
I am at 133,000 miles now and still climbing. I bought my hybrid used and it was actually cheaper than a regular gasser civic at the time. I very much debated the gas vs hybrid debate. I got mine about 2k cheaper than a gas with 28k miles on her. I have gotten quotes for a new hyrbid battery even though I have no lights yet I can tell its coming. It will definitely eat up the savings I am going to guess. As of right now I have 2,408 gals of gas through my civic and I am averaging 41.65 MPG.
 
#15 ·
Wow, I'm surprised that the batteries are not lasting. I have an 05 with ~150K on it and the batteries are starting to go. I was hoping to replace it with a newer version of the same car. I know for my earlier car there were companies selling replacement battery packs, is that also true for this generation?
 
#16 ·
Just an update I am at 148k battery is still going. Avg 41.42 mpg 2752 Gals total. Havent seen any new signs of batter degradation.
Yes they have companies selling larger aftermarket battery packs for these cars. I have also seen a company selling a kit to home charge your IMA pack which claims longer life and battery re calibration.

This car has been extremely reliable so far so that will be a factor when the battery does die.
 
#17 ·
My 2007 HCH's IMA light turned on in 2015 after 8 years and 94 500 km / 60 000 miles. Back when the problem started in 2015 the dealer said the 8 year warranty had been exceeded and they wouldn't replace the battery (I live in Europe and bought the car second hand). I'm not sure what to do with it, but lately I've been thinking if I could change it myself.
 
#19 ·
The battery is made up of many parts and just like your engine or transmission, it too can be rebuilt. I think the estimate is 15 years or 250k kilometers by the temple of honda.

The worse thing you can do is park the car and not use it. I think its recommended to idle the car for 30 minutes every 45-90 days. Even better, if you know you will park it for a while do a force recharge. To do this you park the car in a ventlated area, set the parking brake, bring the engine up to 3 grand and hold it. You should see the assist/regen meter dip into regen and hold it til this returns to nutral. Sometimes I do this in stop n go traffic when I know I got a merge, feeder, accelerator lane, etc ahead of me.

The capacity is reduced by the car to prolong its life. At that unless you ride the brakes or coast to stops it wont get a full charge and the car will use mroe gas vs the stored energy. If it gets too low it will automatically charge it, sometimes while accelerating.




Lucky Patcher 9Apps VidMate
 
#20 ·
got 195k miles on my car.
got lucky and convinced my dealer to replace mine right before the warranty expired at 150k i believe?

it was hard because mine was not throwing an IMA check engine lights.
however , the symptoms were fast draining of the battery within the first 5-10 minutes of starting the car which would always throw it into auto gen
also if car sat more then a day without being driven it would do this as soon as started

what helped getting the dealer to go to bat for me? servicing the car there since day one. having a decent relationship with my service adviser.

at the end of the day the money is not coming out of the dealers pocket. in fact they make money off the service. they just need to convince corporate to approve it....
 
#21 ·
My new to me 2009 runs out of 10 year 150K warranty on Mar 11 so I have about two weeks left of warranty. I have had the car for about a month now and the battery is showing signs that it is not in the best shape. It does a recal quite often and dose not provide much in the way of power. The IMA light has only come on once when I was backing it off some ramps after doing a valve adjustment. The car was serviced every 5k at a Honda dealer since new. Think i have any chance of getting Honda to replace it before the warranty is up in two weeks? If so dose anyone have any tips or pointers to say when I take it in to have the battery looked at? Car has just over 105K miles on it
 
#22 ·
My IMA light had turned on, but turned itself off by the time I got to the dealership. The service writer said that as long as the light did turn on, it qualifies for the warranty claim, and true to his word, they replaced my battery.

If your 12V battery hasn't been disconnected since your IMA light came on, the code should still be there even if the light is off. There's a chance they'd take it even if the code has been lost - I think there's other performance data the car keeps which they can look at.

Take it in, and just tell them like it is.
 
#24 ·
The way I see it is that with how civic is designed, the car will continue to work even the battery is dead since the motor is only assisting the engine. Of course, the car will perform just like a 90's civic base model with < 100 hp engine. I really doubt that Toyota Prius can do that without a battery since I read that it is driven by the motor and assisted by the gas engine.
 
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