How to charge honda civic hybrid battery

I’m looking at used electric cars. I know I need to check the battery life before I buy. How do I test a Honda Civic hybrid battery?

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Great question! For quick results, you can force charge a hybrid battery to understand how well it works.

Eco-friendly cars are much better for the environment than gas guzzlers. But how do you find the right one?

A dying battery may cause a few recognizable symptoms:

• More frequent trips to the gas station (worse MPG)
• Battery does not hold a charge as well
• Frequent recalibrations
• IMA warning light comes on

If you’re buying a used electric car, you may not have this information. If you can test drive it, go to a less traveled road and accelerate hard. In a vehicle with a poor battery, the energy will die quickly.

You can also use a scanner or a gauge that can measure the output power. Most dealers have a device to perform measurements of this type. Just call ahead and explain the situation.

If you have eight hours to test out the vehicle, you can try what’s called a force charge to quickly find out how well the battery is working.

• Disconnect the battery for 10 seconds
• Reconnect the cable
• Start the car
• Allow the car to charge IMA (integrated motor assist) while idling
• Idle until the charge stops

Repeat this process three times, and repeat this every hour for eight hours.

Honda Civic hybrid batteries rank poorly on the hybrid battery listings, unfortunately. Their battery cells tend to overheat more than other models, which diminishes their charging capacity. The expected lifespan for a Honda hybrid battery is six to 10 years, or 100,000 miles.

Remember to get your car insurance sorted before you drive off in your new car. Use the Jerry to quickly compare rates and sign up for an affordable policy. Our friendly agents help car-buyers and car-owners navigate the insurance process for green vehicles.

Happy car shopping!

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I bought a Civic Hybrid so I wouldn’t have to worry about battery life. But all of a sudden, it seems like the battery isn’t working or it struggles to start the engine. How do I test the battery on a Honda Civic Hybrid?

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If you’ve ever noticed your miles per gallon (mpg) has gone down, your battery may be to blame. But unlike a straight gas combustion engine, a hybrid vehicle has a different battery.

To test the Honda Civic Hybrid battery, follow these steps:

• Shut the vehicle off.
• Disconnect the negative terminal for 10 seconds or more.
• Turn the vehicle on and let it charge.
• Watch the battery charge on the left side of the instrument cluster.
• The battery should charge up to eight bars, which means it’s full.

If that doesn’t work, you may have to purchase a new battery. To offset the cost of a new battery, save cash by getting the best rate on your auto insurance with the Jerry app.

As a licensed broker, Jerry helps you find and compare quotes from over 50 top providers in minutes. When you find a better rate, Jerry can help you buy your new coverage and even cancel your old policy!

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Quote:

The check engine light comes on and the Battery light comes on when I'm idling or below 2k rpms. The IMA light is on, but orange. For the life of me, I'm not sure if that's normal.

By battery light I assume you mean the icon that looks like a little battery in the instrument cluster. That never happened on my car, but on a conventional car I would suspect a bad alternator/belt if I saw that. The Civic Hybrid doesn't use an alternator however. The 12V battery is charged by a DC to DC converter. If the converter isn't working right or shutting down this might be why the battery light is coming on. Is your 12V battery actually going dead on you? Have you ever had to jump the car? If your 12V battery isn't charging this is bad. And no, it's not normal for the IMA light to be on. But the IMA light would be on if the IMA battery pack is throwing an error code. To be honest it sounds like you might have a bigger problem than just a weak IMA battery pack and might have no choice but to replace the pack and maybe other components as well. I think I would find another place than the one you've been going to though. Something sounds off there. Don't let the dealer charge you to "manually" charge the IMA battery. At the very least go to another dealer and ask about this procedure and your other issues. They don't charge you to talk. Yet. Good luck with it...

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I have driven my Civic over 75,000 miles with those lights on and for the most part it has acted normally. The mileage never dropped much if at all. But my little battery icon never came on and my 12V always charged. I did have to replace it a couple times, but over 200,00 miles that's pretty normal. And I also have a manual transmission. I don't know how a flaky IMA system interacts with the CVT.

Unfortunately I think my little Civic might finally be on the way out. New York requires an annual safety inspection which can't be passed if any OBD errors are set. Last year I was able to disconnect the 12V to clear the codes and then drive enough cycles to reset the counters just barely enough to get through the inspection. Unfortunately I can't get more than 15 miles without the lights coming back on so today I threw the code reader on and now in addition to my P1449 (voltage deviation between battery cells) and P1600 (IMA tag) I now have a P0420 which the Googlemachine tells me points to yet another bad catalytic converter. This would be 3. One at about 40K (warranty) and another at 140ishK ($1300). My one real complaint with the car.

Regardless, while I was willing to sink a grand into a reconditioned battery pack and maybe pound another 75,000 miles out of her (I really wanted to hit 300K), I'm not so willing to do that AND another $1300 for the exhaust work. It really sucks because the car still runs [email protected]^%$ great. It's just that d*** inspection sticker. Oh well.

Anybody want to buy a slightly used '03 Civic Hybrid? Just a tad over 215,000 miles. The battery pack probably just has a couple bad cells. P1449 and P1600 and besides occasionally losing assist during recals and the auto-stop not working as regularly as when it was new the IMA system really works mostly normal most of the time. I still easily get over 50 MPG.

New stuff:

- I had a bearing and seal kit installed in the manual transmission last fall.
- I replaced both headlight assembly's last fall. They look cheery.
- I replaced the EGR valve last fall.

Old Stuff:

- I would have replaced the tires if I ran it another winter.
- Nasty noise from left front when I brake - I would have replaced F rotors/pads and left front caliper.
- R front window blows fuses - bad switch or window motor - I don't need it, just left fuse out.

This was easily the best car I ever purchased and it really sucks that I have to get rid of it. And I can only hope my '10 Insight holds up as well now that it's going to be the workhorse. But now that I have made up my mind it probably won't take much for me to part with it.

Make me an offer...

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