Honda Civic Hybrid Battery Woes:
The hybrid battery in the Honda Civic Hybrid is covered by a 8 year/80,000 mile warranty, but many people are now exceeding that mileage. It is becoming obvious that all HCHs and Insights, will eventually develop battery problems. Batteries seem to be lasting an average of seven years.
One of the biggest fears that most HCH owners have is that they will have to replace their battery out-of-warranty. It costs about $3000 on the east coast to replace a battery pack and $4000 or more on the west coast.
We offer an attractive alternative to this bank-breaking repair. We repair HCH batteries for $1250 and sell replacement BetterBattery modules for $2000.
|
Honda Dealer Replacement Battery |
Hybrid-Battery BetterBattery |
Hybrid-Battery Repaired Battery |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Type: | Remanufactured | Remanufactured | Refurbished |
| Source of components: | Refurbished electronics with new cells | Refurbished electronics with new cells | Wrecked Civics and Insights |
| Battery Cost: | $2700 - $3700 | $2000 | $1250 |
| Shipping Costs: | $600 (included in battery) |
$145-$225 (round trip) |
$145-$225 (round trip) |
| Installation: | $300 | $200 (or free) | $200 (or free) |
| Total Cost: | $3000 - $4000 | $2145 - $2225 | $1395 - $1475 |
| Projected Battery Life: | 7 years | 8 years | 5 years |
| Cost per year: | $430 - $570 | $270 - $280 | $280 - $295 |
| Warranty: | one-three years | two years | one year |
IMA Batteries
IMA batteries for the 2003-2005 Civic Hybrid are made up of 20 battery "sticks". Each stick is made up of six "D" cell NiMH (Nickle-Metal-Hydride) batteries that have been welded together. This means that the IMA battery is really just 120 "D" cell flashlight batteries. The cells are welded together to provide large contact areas so that they can handle the enormous charge and discharge current (up to 100 Amps). If you tried to simply replace the cells with off-the-shelf consumer "D" cells, the tips would melt under load or they might even set the car on fire.
NiMH batteries have a life of over 30 years under ideal conditons. The HCH certainly does not provide ideal conditions, so some of the cells fail early. When they do, they tend to affect the other cells and bring down the performance of some or all of the good cells. During the rebuild process, we carefully recondition and test the cells to identify the ones that are bad, the ones that are going bad, the ones that are worn but stable and the ones that are fresh and top performers. We replace the sticks with bad and "going bad" cells with ones that are performing at the same level as the rest of the pack.
The result is a battery that, while not new, will perform properly and will not give any problems for a number of years. A typical customer should expect the battery will work properly for at least another 5 years, after which the battery can be repaired again to replace cells that have failed since the previous repair.
Please note: Many batteries are not repairable. As time goes on, the batteries that fail are becoming older, so the "good" sticks in the packs are not nearly as good as they once were. In addition, the pool of replacement sticks is aging too. There aren't many new batteries going into junkyards. Because of this, we offer a "test" service. When you contact us to send in your battery for repair, we collect a non-refundable $500 deposit (to cover our labor) and send out a shipping crate to pick it up. When your battery arrives, we perform a "triage" test that will identify the number of absolutely failed sticks and the overall health of the rest. If this test shows that the battery is unrepairable, we will offer you the option of either returning the battery to you (at no additional charge), or applying the $500 deposit toward the purchase of a BetterBattery. If you know your battery is not repairable, you should not go this route, as it will add weeks to your BetterBattery delivery time.
The car's OBD-II port will provide information about why your IMA light is on. This information can be read with a code scanner. Every mechanic has one, and your local Autozone will scan the car for free (just ask them to "check my codes"). (A dealer will charge you $100 for for this same free service.) Once you get your codes, call us or refer to the following chart.
| Error | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| P0300-P0304 | Unrelated error | Engine misfire |
| P0420, P1420 | Unrelated error | O2 sensor or Catalytic converter |
| P1600, P1601 | Not a real error | These errors mean the IMA light is on |
| P1433, P0A7F | Non-repairable error | Battery is worn out |
| P1447 | Possibly repairable | Battery is badly unbalanced. |
| P1449 | Possibly repairable | There are four different P1449 codes. Three are repairable, one is not. |
| P1447 & P1449 together | Probably not repairable | Battery is badly unbalanced and some cells are overheating |
| P1431, P1432 | Possibly repairable | Battery or cells overheating. |
| P1446, P1570 | Possibly repairable | Some cells have failed completely (voltage deviation) |
| P1443, P1445, P1569, P0A27, P1553-P1559 | Repairable | Failure of electronics or sensors inside the battery, BUT the battery has been sitting so it must be reconditioned and the cells may not be good. |
| P1559-P1566, P1571-P1595, P1629-P1673 | Unrelated error | Call us for help with these errors. |
Please contact us for more information on your error(s) or if you are not sure. We'll be more than happy to help you by providing the information that you need to get your car back on the road.
