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IMA light + Check Engine

Created March 20, 2009, at 8:32 pm by DrTorch

Hi,

I have a 2003 HCH and the IMA light came on, followed by the check engine light a few weeks later.

This seems to be common, especially at this age/mileage (88K)

I took it to a dealer, but I have moved, so this is a new dealer to me, and I'm out in the sticks...and their diagnistics said, "The battery wasn't holding charge, and I wasn't getting Assist. I needed a new battery."

MPG is definitely down, so maybe.

BUT, I did use the rear defrost a few days ago, and that worked fine...plus the battery monitor went down like usual. This is how it has always worked for me.

So, is the battery really shot? If it powered the defrost, behaving as usual...could it be somethng else in the IMA?

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MSantos
Senior Member

2 years ago

Possibly. I would suggest you do a power reset procedure and see what that does for you.
See bottom of this article for directions as it also relates to your car:
http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18185

In your case you may have to do it a couple of times in a week to see if that will help condition the bad cells (1-2 or so are usually the culprit).

Is your car equipped with a manual transmission or a CVT? From the mileage I would gather you have an MT model? I could be wrong but this tends to follow a bit of a statistical pattern since MT equipped models (depending on how they are driven) are known to have a shorter lived pack.

Cheers;

MSantos

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DrTorch
Junior Member

2 years ago

Thanks M. Santos, I'll give that a try.

I have automatic transmission. I had a long commute when I first go the car, but later I was able to use mass transit, and now have a short commute. So, while I think the miles are high for 6.5 years, I guess that's perspective.

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devon
Junior Member

44 weeks ago

I'd really like to know how did you solve this, I have a similar problem and nothing seems to work, not without some serious expenses anyways. I intended to get an used car Harrisburg so that can keep my hybrid in perfect shape, I guess I'll have to wait a little longer for this to happen.

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