This is a rather poor picture of the oil leak under UV light. Dye was added to the motor oil a couple hundred miles before this picture was taken. Our first thought was that the timing chain tensioner o-ring was leaking. It's a fairly easy repair, so we replaced it and rechecked. Unfortunately, the leak continued, and the only other possible source of the oil leak was the timing cover/head/ block joint.
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Before doing any service work to any hybrid, the battery must be disconnected. A shock from a battery this size can be fatal, so be sure you know what you are doing and follow the instructions in the factory manual. To disconnect the battery on the Insight, remove the small door on the floor of the rear cargo area. We wear high voltage "lineman's gloves," rated to 1000 Volts AC. This way we are protected in case there are any faults in the wiring. After flipping the switch, we removed the whole floor cover to test for voltage before starting work on the car. The Insight will store voltage in its capacitors even after the switch is turned off, so you must allow time for the capacitors to discharge before beginning work.
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This is the Insight battery pack with the rear cover removed. The fans and ducting are there to cool the battery, since it will heat up as it is charged and discharged. A high battery temperature will shorten the battery life. There are several battery temperature sensors, and presumably the computer will reduce battery activity if the temperature gets too high
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Once the switch is thrown, there should be no power in the engine bay. However, there is no safe way to test for power in the engine bay, since a simple slip of the wrench while removing the cables at the IMA motor could lead to arcing and burns or electrocution. The Honda manual states that the rear cover should be removed after the switch is thrown, and power should be checked at the battery pack using lineman's gloves. Remember that your volt meter and leads should be in good condition, and rated to at least 500V. Otherwise it could still give you a shock. It's a good idea to be very aware of what all of your body parts are touching while you are checking for power.
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Like most Hondas, the Insight's engine compartment looks a little cramped. However, like most Hondas, the engineers have considered serviceability, and it's not really as hard as it looks. The engine and transmission are easily removed from the Insight. In fact, it's not really much different from removing the an engine from any other Honda.
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Once the wiring, hoses, exhaust, axles, subframe, and other parts connected to both the body and the engine are removed, a cart was moved into position under the engine and transmission, and the car was lowered so the engine and transmission were resting on the cart. With the cart in position, the motor mounts were unbolted and the car was raised away, leaving the engine and transmission sitting on the cart.
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The engine and transmission look pretty much like any other engine and transmission, but sandwiched between the bell housing and the engine block, there is a thin three-phase electric motor/generator with three fat power cables entering through ominously labeled housing.
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The area outlined in green is the motor/generator (IMA motor). The electrical connector is for the three commutation sensors that detect the position of the rotor. The Insight has a three-cylinder gasoline engine, and three-cylinder engines tend to vibrate quite a bit, especially at idle. Many engines use a counterweight on a shaft connected to the timing belt to cancel out the vibration. The Insight uses the IMA motor to cancel out the vibration by pulsing the IMA motor opposite the inertia of the engine. In order to do this, the MCM (motor control module) must know exactly where the engine is in its revolution.
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The Insight does not have an exhaust manifold; instead, the exhaust runners are cast directly into the cylinder head. This is a pretty unique design, and I cannot think of any other car with an integral exhaust manifold. I imagine this was done to save weight. The ignition coil packs are located above the exhaust manifold. There is one coil pack per cylinder. The Insight uses a three cylinder engine, so there are three coil packs. Special indexed spark plugs are found under the coil packs.
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There is a mark on the head near each of the spark plug holes indicating which of three available indexed spark plugs should be used for that cylinder. The proper plug must be used for each cylinder to prevent misfire. A tune-up with aftermarket plugs is likely to be disastrous for this car. This spark plug hole takes a "B" plug.
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