Mk1 Honda Insight

Author
Discussion

AmitG

3,272 posts

159 months

Sunday 23rd July 2017
quotequote all
leglessAlex said:
...these are from an era where Honda were a real quality engineering company.
yes

It was also an era when Honda weren't afraid to be different.

It's sad to think that in a previous era Honda built this amazing machine, and yet today they have no mainstream hybrid offering at all in Europe. (The NSX is a hybrid, hence the "mainstream" qualification.)

I understand why Honda went this route. They are there to make money, not to indulge the wishes of armchair petrolheads. But it's sad frown

ChocolateFrog

Original Poster:

24,847 posts

172 months

Friday 11th August 2017
quotequote all
Not much to report other than there is a couple of creaks from the front end that I need to track down, not uncommon on these.

Didn't quite manage 1000km on the last tank (37.7 litres). That was driven normally 90% rush hour A1.

Must try harder.


anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 11th August 2017
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Used to get one as a courtesy car in Lancaster when my car would be in for a service. Used to love seeing how high I could get the MPG on the way up the M6 to Shap and how low I could get it on the way back.

There's a nice basis for a sporty chassis underneath there, as well.

peterperkins

3,147 posts

241 months

Friday 11th August 2017
quotequote all
ChocolateFrog said:
Not much to report other than there is a couple of creaks from the front end that I need to track down, not uncommon on these.
Use silicone based grease/spray on the front suspension arm rubber mountings to get rid of the creaks.

ChocolateFrog

Original Poster:

24,847 posts

172 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
quotequote all
Decision time with the Insight.

The Hybrid battery, which has been slowly getting weaker, it's now 12 years old finally stopped providing juice to the DC-DC charger and I ground to a halt a while ago.

Apparently you can disconnect the battery and run on the ICE solely but again this doesn't seem totally conclusive as I have the later Battery Control Module that might not play ball.

Options are limited and most are prohibitively expensive. I've got a baby on the way and two 2-seaters and a van is looking less and less practical. That said it's still a great car and I will miss it if and when I do sell.

Realistic courses of action are:

Sell as is; although I wouldn't let it go for silly low money, might try this and see what happens.

Break it, they're rare and some parts are either expensive or scarce.

Keep it, pull the hybrid battery and attempt a fix myself. This is within my capability but with my track record it would remain in bits 'on the healing bench' for a long time. Cycling the sticks also seems like a long and laborious job with sometimes limited outcomes.

Pull all the engine and hybrid gubbins out and engine swap. I believe there's even kits in the US to fit a K20. Again appealing but would be costly and take me ages. Would probably piss the neighbours off having 2 effectively scrap cars in front of the house.

Decisions Decisions.


5harp3y

1,942 posts

198 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
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k20 it!

designforlife

3,734 posts

162 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
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K20 it!

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
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I would try and fix it.

Seems you enjoy having a relatively reliable and economical commuter.

Seems a shame to get rid of it.
I also don't think it would be worth very much with a faulty hybrid system, it would be spares & repairs as far as I would be concerned.

leglessAlex

5,382 posts

140 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
quotequote all
ChocolateFrog said:
Options are limited and most are prohibitively expensive. I've got a baby on the way and two 2-seaters and a van is looking less and less practical. That said it's still a great car and I will miss it if and when I do sell.
They're worth solid money now though, what's classed as prohibitively expensive?

MJK 24

5,648 posts

235 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
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How much are Honda quoting for a battery pack and what percentage is that of the value of the car?

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
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BeV it! Tesla motor + battery.

DItch all the heavy complex smelly ICE rubish and just go full EV! It's so slippery and so small it will go miles even with a small battery!

Evanivitch

19,800 posts

121 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
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You sound quite technically capable, why not actually inspect the cells in the battery and see if there's a few bad ones? Perhaps you could swap them for something comparable. Might be an easier fix than a complete replacement and really shouldn't take that long. Does the OBD2 allow you to look at the cells?

ChocolateFrog

Original Poster:

24,847 posts

172 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
quotequote all
leglessAlex said:
ChocolateFrog said:
Options are limited and most are prohibitively expensive. I've got a baby on the way and two 2-seaters and a van is looking less and less practical. That said it's still a great car and I will miss it if and when I do sell.
They're worth solid money now though, what's classed as prohibitively expensive?
About £3k for a new battery. Maybe half of which you'd see back if you were to sell straight away.

amusingduck

9,396 posts

135 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
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Fix it and post lots of pictures thumbup

ChocolateFrog

Original Poster:

24,847 posts

172 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
quotequote all
Max_Torque said:
BeV it! Tesla motor + battery.

DItch all the heavy complex smelly ICE rubish and just go full EV! It's so slippery and so small it will go miles even with a small battery!
Beyond my skill and ambition I think, despite watching Rich Rebuilds.

It would also cost a fortune but the end product would indeed be awesome.

A Zero Motorcycle setup would probably work well too.

ChocolateFrog

Original Poster:

24,847 posts

172 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
quotequote all
Evanivitch said:
You sound quite technically capable, why not actually inspect the cells in the battery and see if there's a few bad ones? Perhaps you could swap them for something comparable. Might be an easier fix than a complete replacement and really shouldn't take that long. Does the OBD2 allow you to look at the cells?
Yes that's certainly possible. Although I don't have a proper charger to bench cycle them.

RazerSauber

2,262 posts

59 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
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There's rebuild kits available for Prius batteries in the US, is there nothing like that available? ChrisFix did a video on it. Looks like a full day affair but not "difficult" as such.

ChocolateFrog

Original Poster:

24,847 posts

172 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
quotequote all
RazerSauber said:
There's rebuild kits available for Prius batteries in the US, is there nothing like that available? ChrisFix did a video on it. Looks like a full day affair but not "difficult" as such.
There's a guy on here, Peter, who builds his own uprated pack and fits them or you can go to Honda and buy a new one. Both options are around the same price at £3k. The US suppliers won't ship to the UK and in any case it isn't cheaper.

There are battery sticks available from the likes of Aliexpress but you're still looking at around £1k and from reading around they're not very good, significantly worse than the OEM batteries and can fail within months.

Similarly a lithium replacement pack isn't simple either.

peterperkins

3,147 posts

241 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
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Have you spoken to me about it? I fix these for a living in the UK/EU.

I keep new battery packs in stock etc.. £2k with three year warranty. Not 3k wink

Have you tried grid charging and /or ultra deep discharging? Worth a try if you are electrically competent.

Have you posted on the UK Insight owners FB group or on www.Insightcentral.net the worldwide info repository.

I'm doing loads of work on Lithium at the moment with various owners and have done at least 4 IMA conversions over the last ten years... smile

There are lots of options..

Edited by peterperkins on Thursday 5th March 18:28

hidetheelephants

23,731 posts

192 months

Thursday 5th March 2020
quotequote all
ChocolateFrog said:
Sell as is; although I wouldn't let it go for silly low money, might try this and see what happens.
How much squire? I do like these and a battery rebuild looks DIYable.