Clarity System Check

I've had two episodes recently where my Clarity was in Eco mode, with a full or mostly full battery and the ICE came on inexplicably. The first time was several weeks ago. I was stopped at a light and all of a sudden the engine came on and stayed on for a mile or two after I pulled away from the light, before switching off and back into EV mode. As it should have never come out of EV mode while stopped, much less on a full charge I thought, I had the dealer look at it and they ran a diagnostic and checked Honda's internal forums and found nothing. This seems to be the case of full battery, then regen with no room to do so that is described by a few of you. The next episode was very different, though!

Yesterday afternoon, I floored it up a small hill in Eco mode kind of just playing around and the ICE kicked in, as expected. But then it wouldn't go off. For the next 15 minutes, the car would not flip back into EV mode, even though I was driving 35 mph in Eco mode with 75% battery charge and using the regen paddles. Finally, when I thought I was going to have to pull over and turn the car off and then on again, it suddenly switched back to EV mode and then worked fine for the rest of the drive home (15 miles).

I typically use the ICE about once a week for about 40 miles, so it's definitely not that it needs to come on to run for any specific reason.

As an aside, I've never gotten my car to charge to > 47 miles EV, even after almost 3 months. It's definitely better now that it's warm (I live in Mass) but still only just getting in the 40s, never over. In the winter I was averaging 37-38 (yes, I actually have a spreadsheet of how much it charged EVERY time I've charged it for more than the last month...)

Cay

 

If it starts due to flooring the vehicle, it heats the engine up fully (about 10 or 15 min).

My wife finally had the random engine start today. Full charge, leaving the house, slight downhill. Showed 61 mile range on EV guessometer. Stopped at school (2 miles later) and restarted and stayed in EV.

 

I sent an email to David Pogue asking if he has had the same behavior.

 

Just to throw a wrench in the works...

Our engine rarely comes on when driving around town on EV. The very few times it has come on it only stays on for about 2 minutes. One time when it came on because I pushed past the accelerator pedal detent I switched to HV and back to EV and the engine stopped.

Obviously all of us desire driving on EV unless we demand the engine. I hope Honda and other manufacturers get the message and quit designing so the engine comes on based on a loose algorithm.

 

I just forced the ICE to come in. As I approached a stop sign I used the regen paddle. Battery full.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs

 

I have to echo what jdonalds reports. My ICE has only come on 3 times. All 3 were immediately after leaving home with a full charge. 2 within in a block of home and 1 about 2 miles away when I had to stomp on the brakes to avoid a redlight runner. There were no non-motive draws on the battery. All 3 times engine ran very quietly at a kind of fast idle (never got angry bees), shut off in a couple of minutes, and returned to EV mode. Ran such a short time that manifold was hot but top and sides of engine were not (70F day). And I notice that I have extremely limited regen when this happens. Power mark barely goes into green and brake pedal will not call for more regen like normal. Takes about 5 miles or so for full regen to come back. I assume this is due to fully charged battery not being allowed to take any regen charge and ICE is somehow being used to aid braking?????

Jdonalds, our cars act so similarly that they must have been quantum entangled at the factory! I think my car sighs every time you plug yours into your solar panels.

 

now that I drove long enough >1300 miles I understand that the car delivers on what it is designed for: maintain best fuel efficiency while keep all drive sources reliably available at any given time.
The owners manual page 15 says :

"System Check When the engine initially starts (between the time the POWER button is turned on and turned off), the vehicle conducts a system check. ● While the check is being conducted, the engine may periodically turn on and off. This, however, is normal. ● The curved blue line in the POWER/CHARGE Gauge will not appear during the system check (EV indicator may still turn on). ● Once the engine starts, it will continue to run until the system reaches operating temperature. The curved blue line in the POWER/CHARGE Gauge will reappear once the system check is completed."

I can imagine the frustration that this is unpredictable: the car won't give a report of when it happened, when it is scheduled to happen, or what can I do to shorten this period. You feel like the car has a mind of its own.

I am an engineer and I want to be in control of my vehicle all the time. But this car makes me rethink the idea of control; with many modes of operations and drive combinations. I think it is best that this "over-engineered" car takes care of that as long as it delivers on its promise: 1- power is available from the engine instantaneously. 2- Overall efficiency is as promised.

It took me almost three months to let go and not being surprised, but I admit I am still annoyed from time to time as part of my human nature. This car is paving the road to a next generation of complex vehicles that includes way many factors in its calculation than our human judgment and years of experience as credible drivers.

 

Yes, this is essentially a computer on wheels managing 2 power systems. The computer has become primary vs. auxilliary like we're used to in older gas cars.

 

As an engineer you must be wondering about the seemingly inconsistent behavior as am I.

 

Bob, we realize that your Clarity has a problem with way too frequent ICE start ups, but you have to realize that yours seems to be the only one doing this and the rest of us are experiencing normal behavior.
That is only very infrequent ICE starts that are expected according to the manual as long as we don’t let battery depletion or manual choice activate HV mode, and don’t go past the click on the go pedal. (And the sometimes ICE after full charge/downhill/reduced regen scenario.)

 

Yesterday I had weird behavior in HV mode. Engine usually goes on and off when going up and down gentle hills on the interstate but yesterday I was doing a 200 mile drive and about in the middle it went about 30 miles without ever turning the engine off, even on some fairly long downgrades. Eventually I came down a mountain pass that has my exit near the bottom, which also continues the down slope. So I'm coasting/regen for a few minutes. The engine still didn't turn off. It kept running until I came to a full stop at the light at the end of the ramp. THEN it turned off and after that, it started doing normal HV behavior.

Just weird. It sometimes has a mind of its own. Of course I'm sure most owners don't even pay attention to what the engine is doing or not.

 

Similar behavior today. Drove round trip to Santa Barbara. 81 miles each way. Started out in HV Charge mode. Of course, the ICE was on all the time. When I got within about 15 miles, I switched to HV mode, not HV Charging mode. ICE came on and off. Paid no attention. On the drive back, I decided to use HV mode. Not HV Charging mode. ICE came on and off. Gentle acceleration triggered it. At about 10 mph, ICE came on. It cycled in and out. I could see what it was doing on the screen. Sometimes ICE went to wheels. Sometimes to the battery. Just odd behavior.

 

Bob, that’s completely, absolutely, 100% normal behavior. Not odd in any way. You finally got your Clarity to act correctly. Congratulations!

 

Best guess using data from app: Total trip was 162 miles. HV was 132. So EV was 30?????? Seems wrong. Charge was 57 miles before starting.

 

The i-MMD transitions chart indicates that during low-speed cruising in HV Mode,

This chart from a paper by Honda engineers shows how the i-MMD system intermittently switches between different power sources while cruising.

 

Thanks. That helps clear things up.

 

The only times I got ICE going for the over 900 miles I have, have been:

1st weekend when I tried HV, HV Charge and Sport modes
It was used when I had the tired replaced at the dealer
A few days after when I pressed the gas pedal at a yellow light - dealer had turned off ECON mode

HV range is now at 296

 

Hey just wondering if you've had any luck figuring out what was causing this. I'm a new (month old) owner and started having this same problem randomly. I made a thread here:

https://www.insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/questions-issues-on-new-plugin-hybrid.3552/#post-34712

Been driving me crazy and I also start on a fully charged hill that I head down each day, most of my trips are under 10 miles each way so when ICE kicks in its for the rest of the drive... and driving me crazy

Have you had this happen anymore?

 

Yes, it happens. Completely unpredictable. The speculation by some that it has to do with a full battery cannot be true because if that were the case it should happen every time along the same route. It does not.

 

This is going to be a bit long. Two U.S. Presidents were impeached or were about to be. Nixon and Clinton. Whether they actually did something wrong was not really the issue. Lying was the issue. I have told many younger relatives always to tell the truth. Then you don't have to remember what you said to whom. The issue of the ICE coming on happened again this morning. Not at the first or second stop signs, but at the third one. Then at least twice more over a drive of 7 miles. Full battery? Hardly. Engine check? Maybe, but 3 times? So, to sum it up, I will use the "N" word. Not the one you are thinking. Unless Honda stops lying about what is going on, I will NEVER get another Honda.