Honda insight 2010 rotor motor position sensor circuit malfunction

darshana ilangakoon · August 23, 2016

i own a honda insight 2010 model.saturday i put my car for the full servicing.after servicing in dashboard it indicates IMA light and Battery light.Finally i got to know that my normal battery at front is not getting charged.Now the car at a garage and they have checked all the fuses.no error in fuse board.then they replaced all the units at the back where hybrid battery is located.after that also same problem was there.then yesterday they replaced the roter mortor position sensor circuit.but after two three minutes again same problem.now im really helpless coz these people still could not find the error.plz help me if someone is there.Thanks in advance.If not plz give me a contact of someone who expert in honda hybrid systems.thanks.

Muditha420 · August 23, 2016

I have no idea but seems like all these new hybrid cars are suffering certain amounts of problems in short lifespan. all the recent threads seem to point on that in AL. IF this started after servicing seem to be a high likelihood that water seems to be the main culprit for your problems. I hope this garage is specialized in hybrid cars or else you will be asking for more problems.

Keep the thread updated on what happens so another individual might benefit from it.

Rumesh88 · August 23, 2016

Did your mechanic scan the system for fault codes? If they replaced the sensor before doing a scan then they are just searching in the dark. Take you car to the agents.

gayanath · August 23, 2016

Please see our bloody service people.

1. Why do they that much careless about valuable cars. If they are professionals, they should insist customers not to wash engine bay.

2. Somehow, there is a issue now. If its clear that the issue has visible after engine bay washing, then it shouldn't be a mechanical issue which no fault codes are appearing. Most of the electronic/communication issues could be well identified by fault codes. So the first thing they should do is drying and wait. and next should be scan.

Most of the service and repair buggers are learning things by dismantling valuable stuffs on our cars because those are free of charge for them (cost for us)

Please publish the service place so others could avoid it.

Edited August 23, 2016 by gayanath

Crishan · August 23, 2016

Where did you service the car? Where did you put the car for repair?

This happend to me once at Stafford soon after the full service. They too could not give me a correct answer. But we stayed for one hour & started the car & wola! No more error messages..... The conclusion we arrived at was water entering to the rotor motor. Might be not the exeact reason but it did not happen again.

darshana ilangakoon · August 23, 2016

I did the service in a reputed service station at thalawathugoda.the car is at a garage in malambe.in my case still they couldnt find the reason.

darshana ilangakoon · August 23, 2016

On 8/23/2016 at 2:54 AM, Crishan said:

Where did you service the car? Where did you put the car for repair?

This happend to me once at Stafford soon after the full service. They too could not give me a correct answer. But we stayed for one hour & started the car & wola! No more error messages..... The conclusion we arrived at was water entering to the rotor motor. Might be not the exeact reason but it did not happen again.

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And I made a call to mechanic at garage now.he said they dis assemble rotor motor yesterday when they replaced rotor motor position sensor circuit.but they didnt find any water there.I cant even think what happened.im really confused.

Crishan · August 23, 2016

On 8/23/2016 at 3:09 AM, darshana ilangakoon said:

I did the service in a reputed service station at thalawathugoda.the car is at a garage in malambe.in my case still they couldnt find the reason.

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No offence machang, but a/p my knowledge there is no reputable garage/mechanic for Hybrid's in Malabe. You must be having so much faith / personally know your mechanic.

darshana ilangakoon · August 23, 2016

Thanks for the advices bro.can you please suggest me a good garage to check this.even i feel i didnt put the car at right place

Crishan · August 23, 2016

On 8/23/2016 at 4:06 AM, darshana ilangakoon said:

Thanks for the advices bro.can you please suggest me a good garage to check this.even i feel i didnt put the car at right place

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Agent it is.

Edit: Also if the front battery is not getting charged, then the safest method to take the car is by a carrier. Also AL member ramishka will be able to give some advice as well.

Edited August 23, 2016 by Crishan

darshana ilangakoon · August 23, 2016

Ya he did the scan and hes checking the areas where this error can be originated

ramishkad · August 23, 2016

When you said a garage at Malambe, you didn't mean "Honda Upul" by any chance right? Avoid that place at all costs.

Either way, you need to scan the system with Honda Diagnostic System (HDS). You can't detect some fault codes with a generic scanner. Is your mechanic using that?

I strongly suggest you tell the guys at the garage to stop replacing parts one by one without even having a clue where the fault lies. For most of the issues, HDS gives specific and clear error codes (i.e. P1447 ) which a skilled technician can use to pinpoint the problem.

Did you remove the 12v battery terminals and reconnect after 5 mins and check if the problem remains? This clears some of the error codes and resets the IMA system to some extent. (you need to backup your security system codes if you are using the original audio player that came with the car before doing this).

If you want, PM me to give you the contact details of my technician. He is in Kandy, however.

Edited August 23, 2016 by ramishkad

darshana ilangakoon · August 23, 2016

Ya actually the persons at the service station took the car to that place.Coz it happens after the service.Ill take the car to agent right now.

I dont have that much idea on this scan thing.thanks for your warning and advice brother.

darshana ilangakoon · August 23, 2016

On 8/23/2016 at 6:06 AM, ramishkad said:

When you said a garage at Malambe, you didn't mean "Honda Upul" by any chance right? Avoid that place at all costs.

Either way, you need to scan the system with Honda Diagnostic System (HDS). You can't detect some fault codes with a generic scanner. Is your mechanic using that?

I strongly suggest you tell the guys at the garage to stop replacing parts one by one without even having a clue where the fault lies. For most of the issues, HDS gives specific and clear error codes (i.e. P1447 ) which a skilled technician can use to pinpoint the problem.

Did you remove the 12v battery terminals and reconnect after 5 mins and check if the problem remains? This clears some of the error codes and resets the IMA system to some extent. (you need to backup your security system codes if you are using the original audio player that came with the car before doing this).

If you want, PM me to give you the contact details of my technician. He is in Kandy, however.

Expand

Ya actually the persons at the service station took the car to that place.Coz it happens after the service.Ill take the car to agent right now.

I dont have that much idea on this scan thing.thanks for your warning and advice brother.

Ya actually the persons at the service station took the car to that place.Coz it happens after the service.Ill take the car to agent right now.

I dont have that much idea on this scan thing.thanks for your warning and advice brother.

tux · August 23, 2016

On 8/23/2016 at 2:24 AM, darshana ilangakoon said:

i own a honda insight 2010 model.saturday i put my car for the full servicing.after servicing in dashboard it indicates IMA light and Battery light.Finally i got to know that my normal battery at front is not getting charged.Now the car at a garage and they have checked all the fuses.no error in fuse board.then they replaced all the units at the back where hybrid battery is located.after that also same problem was there.then yesterday they replaced the roter mortor position sensor circuit.but after two three minutes again same problem.now im really helpless coz these people still could not find the error.plz help me if someone is there.Thanks in advance.If not plz give me a contact of someone who expert in honda hybrid systems.thanks.

Expand

Most probably engine washing is the cause for this mess.

I generally ask service folks to not to wash engine of my Aqua and only use blower to remove dust. But blowing does not remove oily dirt. Is there any disadvantage of dirty engine bay other than it does not look pretty?

When I inspect engine bay, there is a huge ECU on the firewall in behind inverter assembly. I don't think that these units are 100% waterproof.

Rumesh88 · August 23, 2016

On 8/23/2016 at 6:38 AM, tux said:

Most probably engine washing is the cause for this mess.

I generally ask service folks to not to wash engine of my Aqua and only use blower to remove dust. But blowing does not remove oily dirt. Is there any disadvantage of dirty engine bay other than it does not look pretty?

When I inspect engine bay, there is a huge ECU on the firewall in behind inverter assembly. I don't think that these units are 100% waterproof.

Expand

I too never allow service guys to wash the engine bay. That has been my practice all along even with cars with ICE drives. In fact once your eyes get used to it the engine bay does not look that bad. However, with all my previous cars I had to do a engine clean up before selling them because majority of buyers expect to see a shiny engine bay. Other than that I do not see any disadvantage.

Vengeance · August 23, 2016

On 8/23/2016 at 6:38 AM, tux said:

Is there any disadvantage of dirty engine bay other than it does not look pretty?

Expand

No, cars are made to run that way. I don't ever recall an owner's manual mentioning to clean the engine compartment.

If you really want to clean your engine bay, never use a high pressure washer as water can get splashed on to electric components and they will not function as intended or corrode in the long run. At worst, you may have to replace critical components such as the alternator, sensors etc.

Use engine degreaser and a rag or use a water hose with low pressure. Make sure the engine is cold, as spraying cool water on a hot engine will cause things to cool down too fast which will stress the metal and eventually cause cracks. Cover the alternator, relays and other electrical components with plastic bags. Allow the engine bay to dry up or wipe it with a rag before you attempt to start the car.

@OP - Sorry, but it looks like you've already done the mistakes. As others have suggested, please take the car to the agents to avoid worsening the problem or get a Honda hybrid expert to help you, I'm sure someone here can suggest such a person. Don't allow a random garage to meddle with your car unless they have proper reputation in dealing with hybrids.

Edited August 23, 2016 by Vengeance

Crishan · August 23, 2016

On 8/23/2016 at 6:06 AM, ramishkad said:

When you said a garage at Malambe, you didn't mean "Honda Upul" by any chance right? Avoid that place at all costs.

Either way, you need to scan the system with Honda Diagnostic System (HDS). You can't detect some fault codes with a generic scanner. Is your mechanic using that?

I strongly suggest you tell the guys at the garage to stop replacing parts one by one without even having a clue where the fault lies. For most of the issues, HDS gives specific and clear error codes (i.e. P1447 ) which a skilled technician can use to pinpoint the problem.

Did you remove the 12v battery terminals and reconnect after 5 mins and check if the problem remains? This clears some of the error codes and resets the IMA system to some extent. (you need to backup your security system codes if you are using the original audio player that came with the car before doing this).

If you want, PM me to give you the contact details of my technician. He is in Kandy, however.

Expand

IMA Guru has spoken. ;-)

I too sensed Honda Upul when he mentioned Malabe but his name did not even cross my mind while I had my Insight cos I know he cannot handle IMA related matters.

darshana ilangakoon · August 23, 2016

On 8/23/2016 at 2:24 AM, darshana ilangakoon said:

i own a honda insight 2010 model.saturday i put my car for the full servicing.after servicing in dashboard it indicates IMA light and Battery light.Finally i got to know that my normal battery at front is not getting charged.Now the car at a garage and they have checked all the fuses.no error in fuse board.then they replaced all the units at the back where hybrid battery is located.after that also same problem was there.then yesterday they replaced the roter mortor position sensor circuit.but after two three minutes again same problem.now im really helpless coz these people still could not find the error.plz help me if someone is there.Thanks in advance.If not plz give me a contact of someone who expert in honda hybrid systems.thanks.

Expand

On 8/23/2016 at 3:31 AM, Muditha420 said:

I have no idea but seems like all these new hybrid cars are suffering certain amounts of problems in short lifespan. all the recent threads seem to point on that in AL. IF this started after servicing seem to be a high likelihood that water seems to be the main culprit for your problems. I hope this garage is specialized in hybrid cars or else you will be asking for more problems.

Keep the thread updated on what happens so another individual might benefit from it.

Expand

On 8/23/2016 at 4:13 AM, Rumesh88 said:

Did your mechanic scan the system for fault codes? If they replaced the sensor before doing a scan then they are just searching in the dark. Take you car to the agents.

Expand

On 8/23/2016 at 12:16 PM, gayanath said:

Please see our bloody service people.

1. Why do they that much careless about valuable cars. If they are professionals, they should insist customers not to wash engine bay.

2. Somehow, there is a issue now. If its clear that the issue has visible after engine bay washing, then it shouldn't be a mechanical issue which no fault codes are appearing. Most of the electronic/communication issues could be well identified by fault codes. So the first thing they should do is drying and wait. and next should be scan.

Most of the service and repair buggers are learning things by dismantling valuable stuffs on our cars because those are free of charge for them (cost for us)

Please publish the service place so others could avoid it.

Expand

On 8/23/2016 at 2:54 AM, Crishan said:

Where did you service the car? Where did you put the car for repair?

This happend to me once at Stafford soon after the full service. They too could not give me a correct answer. But we stayed for one hour & started the car & wola! No more error messages..... The conclusion we arrived at was water entering to the rotor motor. Might be not the exeact reason but it did not happen again.

Expand

On 8/23/2016 at 3:41 AM, Crishan said:

No offence machang, but a/p my knowledge there is no reputable garage/mechanic for Hybrid's in Malabe. You must be having so much faith / personally know your mechanic.

Expand

On 8/23/2016 at 4:16 AM, Crishan said:

Agent it is.

Edit: Also if the front battery is not getting charged, then the safest method to take the car is by a carrier. Also AL member ramishka will be able to give some advice as well.

Expand

On 8/23/2016 at 6:06 AM, ramishkad said:

When you said a garage at Malambe, you didn't mean "Honda Upul" by any chance right? Avoid that place at all costs.

Either way, you need to scan the system with Honda Diagnostic System (HDS). You can't detect some fault codes with a generic scanner. Is your mechanic using that?

I strongly suggest you tell the guys at the garage to stop replacing parts one by one without even having a clue where the fault lies. For most of the issues, HDS gives specific and clear error codes (i.e. P1447 ) which a skilled technician can use to pinpoint the problem.

Did you remove the 12v battery terminals and reconnect after 5 mins and check if the problem remains? This clears some of the error codes and resets the IMA system to some extent. (you need to backup your security system codes if you are using the original audio player that came with the car before doing this).

If you want, PM me to give you the contact details of my technician. He is in Kandy, however.

Expand

On 8/23/2016 at 6:26 AM, darshana ilangakoon said:

Ya actually the persons at the service station took the car to that place.Coz it happens after the service.Ill take the car to agent right now.

I dont have that much idea on this scan thing.thanks for your warning and advice brother.

Expand

On 8/23/2016 at 6:38 AM, tux said:

Most probably engine washing is the cause for this mess.

I generally ask service folks to not to wash engine of my Aqua and only use blower to remove dust. But blowing does not remove oily dirt. Is there any disadvantage of dirty engine bay other than it does not look pretty?

When I inspect engine bay, there is a huge ECU on the firewall in behind inverter assembly. I don't think that these units are 100% waterproof.

Expand

On 8/23/2016 at 7:25 AM, Rumesh88 said:

I too never allow service guys to wash the engine bay. That has been my practice all along even with cars with ICE drives. In fact once your eyes get used to it the engine bay does not look that bad. However, with all my previous cars I had to do a engine clean up before selling them because majority of buyers expect to see a shiny engine bay. Other than that I do not see any disadvantage.

Expand

On 8/23/2016 at 7:45 AM, Vengeance said:

No, cars are made to run that way. I don't ever recall an owner's manual mentioning to clean the engine compartment.

If you really want to clean your engine bay, never use a high pressure washer as water can get splashed on to electric components and they will not function as intended or corrode in the long run. At worst, you may have to replace critical components such as the alternator, sensors etc.

Use engine degreaser and a rag or use a water hose with low pressure. Make sure the engine is cold, as spraying cool water on a hot engine will cause things to cool down too fast which will stress the metal and eventually cause cracks. Cover the alternator, relays and other electrical components with plastic bags. Allow the engine bay to dry up or wipe it with a rag before you attempt to start the car.

@OP - Sorry, but it looks like you've already done the mistakes. As others have suggested, please take the car to the agents to avoid worsening the problem or get a Honda hybrid expert to help you, I'm sure someone here can suggest such a person. Don't allow a random garage to meddle with your car unless they have proper reputation in dealing with hybrids.

Expand

On 8/23/2016 at 8:03 AM, Crishan said:

IMA Guru has spoken. ;-)

I too sensed Honda Upul when he mentioned Malabe but his name did not even cross my mind while I had my Insight cos I know he cannot handle IMA related matters.

Expand

Thank you all the gentlemen supported me in various advices. People over there fixed the problem.They say its a problem due to a electrical spark.

The best part is that these kind of mistakes can be happened by enyone.But the people at service center gave me another car during this period and paid all expenses at garage.I must appriciate these type of gentlemen.Thank you all

Cheers!!!

Rumesh88 · August 24, 2016

On 8/23/2016 at 2:11 PM, darshana ilangakoon said:

Thank you all the gentlemen supported me in various advices. People over there fixed the problem.They say its a problem due to a electrical spark.

The best part is that these kind of mistakes can be happened by enyone.But the people at service center gave me another car during this period and paid all expenses at garage.I must appriciate these type of gentlemen.Thank you all

Cheers!!!

Expand

Due to "an electrical spark"? As you say it can happen to anyone but what is more important in that case to everyone is how they reversed the "spark".

hrm · August 24, 2016

On 8/23/2016 at 2:11 PM, darshana ilangakoon said:

Thank you all the gentlemen supported me in various advices. People over there fixed the problem.They say its a problem due to a electrical spark.

The best part is that these kind of mistakes can be happened by enyone.But the people at service center gave me another car during this period and paid all expenses at garage.I must appriciate these type of gentlemen.Thank you all

Cheers!!!

Expand

Was the service place Dr*ve and Sh*ne by any chance?

darshana ilangakoon · August 25, 2016

On 8/24/2016 at 2:54 AM, Rumesh88 said:

Due to "an electrical spark"? As you say it can happen to anyone but what is more important in that case to everyone is how they reversed the "spark".

Expand

On 8/24/2016 at 4:03 AM, hrm said:

Was the service place Dr*ve and Sh*ne by any chance?

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Hello guys

As i understand and the way garage person said a relay has burnt due to a electrical spark after the service.Initially they checked all fuses and relays.they have observed relay broblem initially.Then they have replaced it.But as i understand they have not fit the relay correctly there was a loose connection.Due to that after some time again the dash board lights came on.Then without checking the relay again they replaced parts in the hybrid battery and the rotor motor censor even.after doing all this bullshit also they could not fix the error.Then again they have checked the relay thing and they found it was loosely connected.Then they fixed it and problem solved.

Luckily nothing has happened to the car.but i think this s a good lesson for others also.I already arranged to take the car to the agent.but by that time they have fixed it.thanks god.nothing has happened to the car.I learnt a good lesson to never visit these local garage people in future even people say they are experts on honda cars.

And personally i beleive its not nice to publish the service center name here.I was my hard luck that happened to me.Other than that still i beleive its a good service station.

please excuse how i used these technical words here.im not a expert on these areas.But thanks everybody helped me when i was in the trouble.

Rumesh88 · August 25, 2016

On 8/25/2016 at 3:20 AM, darshana ilangakoon said:

And personally i beleive its not nice to publish the service center name here.I was my hard luck that happened to me.Other than that still i beleive its a good service station.

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Hmm.. That's typical. We never call spade a spade, do we? However good to hear that your problem was resolved but still I can't help feeling that the issue was due to water ingress somewhere and disappeared on its own after sometime. Well I could be wrong though.

darshana ilangakoon · August 25, 2016

On 8/24/2016 at 4:03 AM, hrm said:

Was the service place Dr*ve and Sh*ne by any chance?

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On 8/25/2016 at 3:59 AM, Rumesh88 said:

Hmm.. That's typical. We never call spade a spade, do we? However good to hear that your problem was resolved but still I can't help feeling that the issue was due to water ingress somewhere and disappeared on its own after sometime. Well I could be wrong though.

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Rumesh88 please refer to the first one i have quoted.For that only i said its not good to publish the name of service station here.

Other than that, I also feel the same thing that you feel about water thing.But what could i do.I was helpless.Had to beleive what they said.Thats what next time only to the agent.

Thanks

gayanath · August 25, 2016

On 8/25/2016 at 4:26 AM, darshana ilangakoon said:

Thats what next time only to the agent.

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Its true that we have no other option finally, but don't believe agents as well since they are better to replace parts but I have doubt whether there are people for properly investigate a matter and do some repair at acceptable cost.

hrm · August 25, 2016

On 8/25/2016 at 4:26 AM, darshana ilangakoon said:

Rumesh88 please refer to the first one i have quoted.For that only i said its not good to publish the name of service station here.

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You said it can happen anywhere and obvious that they didn't do it willingly. I don't see anything wrong mentioning it as they did some good deed afterwards. It's up to you anyways ....