Loud ICE even with a full battery going downhill.

[bagels64]

So I’m getting frustrated with the clarity that I thought I loved. It is amazing in all electric, as we all know. Absolutely a pleasure to drive to and from work.

However, on longer trips it’s just been terrible. The ice is noticeable at all times. I can feel the vibration in the peddle and can certainly hear it in the cabin. It’s a constant groan. For example, tonight I was driving near Baltimore going between 55-75mph depending on speed limit and traffic. The battery was over 90% and I tried Econ, sport, and regular hv. In each condition the ice was noticeable and annoying. Groaning in and out as it switched between ice and electric. No angry bees or anything like that, but certainly one could tell the engine was there and wow did it sound bad.

This happens frequently that the engine revs high and loud. On the highway, in parking lots, even at stop lights. Regardless of the battery.

I don’t know what to do. Is this normal? Maybe unrelated, but maybe important, I’ve experience the angry bees noise a few times while driving through maryland’s Mountains (they’re not huge, 1700 ft or so). Frustrating even with a battery over 75%. I’ve learned to just use ev to climb steep grades.

No angry bees during normal conditions, but rarely does the engine run quietly. Nearly always in the middle range and very rarely in the low and not very notiable range.

Anyone else experience this? Gone to a dealership? Found a better way to drive the car? I’m at a loss as I feel I’m doing what I should to avoid the issue by not draining the battery and expecting good performance from only the ICE.

 

[Robert_Alabama]

I'm not sure how to advise you as I have not experienced anything like this. The ICE is usually quiet, have to really listen to tell it is on. Occasionally when driving slow in city with the battery depleted, I've noticed it a little louder than I would like, but that's not often or that bad. I've driven it very little at above 75MPH, but on relatively flat terrain the ICE is pretty well behaved with or without the battery depleted (or at least that's been my experience so far). Albeit, I do have the radio on generally and have a propensity to listen to it a little louder than most. You can always take it to the dealer to see if you can get any help there. Maybe test drive another Clarity for comparison....

 

[jdonalds]

It doesn't sound like our Clarity. Even when we do (rarely) have the engine running it is nearly imperceptible. There is no sensation when the ICE switches on or off. When in HV mode on the freeway the car switches between EV and ICE and about the only way we can tell is the EV icon turns off.

We've heard angry bees exactly once in 19,427 miles. It lasted for a few minutes only.

If we are ever driving slower on city streets with the ICE running we can hear it but it's pretty quiet.

 

[jdonalds]

On the thread title "Loud ICE even with a full battery going downhill" some have run into the issue that when the battery is fully charged and the car is going downhill the regen power has no where to go. Honda uses the ICE to absorb the unneeded power.

We have a 1/2 mile long 14% downgrade one mile from our house. Apparently that one mile sucks enough power off the battery so the regen does have somewhere to go as our ICE never comes on in that situation. I mention it just so you're aware, if you weren't already, that this can happen.

 

[PHEV Newbie]

So I’m getting frustrated with the clarity that I thought I loved. It is amazing in all electric, as we all know. Absolutely a pleasure to drive to and from work.

However, on longer trips it’s just been terrible. The ice is noticeable at all times. I can feel the vibration in the peddle and can certainly hear it in the cabin. It’s a constant groan. For example, tonight I was driving near Baltimore going between 55-75mph depending on speed limit and traffic. The battery was over 90% and I tried Econ, sport, and regular hv. In each condition the ice was noticeable and annoying. Groaning in and out as it switched between ice and electric. No angry bees or anything like that, but certainly one could tell the engine was there and wow did it sound bad.

This happens frequently that the engine revs high and loud. On the highway, in parking lots, even at stop lights. Regardless of the battery.

I don’t know what to do. Is this normal? Maybe unrelated, but maybe important, I’ve experience the angry bees noise a few times while driving through maryland’s Mountains (they’re not huge, 1700 ft or so). Frustrating even with a battery over 75%. I’ve learned to just use ev to climb steep grades.

No angry bees during normal conditions, but rarely does the engine run quietly. Nearly always in the middle range and very rarely in the low and not very notiable range.

Anyone else experience this? Gone to a dealership? Found a better way to drive the car? I’m at a loss as I feel I’m doing what I should to avoid the issue by not draining the battery and expecting good performance from only the ICE.

That is not my experience at all. With a good battery charge, my Clarity purrs in HV mode. It was just awful when I once took a nearby mountain grade with less than 50% on the battery (I think it was about 2-3 bars below half). Then, the engine just whined loudly and seemed strained even though I was in the slow lane. It seemed to try to preserve the remaining charge even though it was not depleted. Once I neared the top, I just switched to EV and I flew up the rest of the way with ample power. When I take the same grade with at least 60-70% on the battery, I can fly up the grade in the fast lane and the ICE purrs quietly (flow meter showing energy from both ICE and battery). Might be worthwhile to take it back to the dealer so they can have a look.

 

[Nemesis]

Just to add, before all of the campaign service bulletins were performed on my car, my ice wasn't that noticeable even at lower battery charge, even down to zero %. However, since I've had all of the service bulletins installed, my ice has been much busier and noisier than ever. I'm not 100% sure the more frequent ice and loudness is do to the service bulletins but I find it may be related to a combination of all of the software updating now installed in my car. To the OP, have all of your service bulletins been installed? Just wondering......

 

[bagels64]

Just to add, before all of the campaign service bulletins were performed on my car, my ice wasn't that noticeable even at lower battery charge, even down to zero %. However, since I've had all of the service bulletins installed, my ice has been much busier and noisier than ever. I'm not 100% sure the more frequent ice and loudness is do to the service bulletins but I find it may be related to a combination of all of the software updating now installed in my car. To the OP, have all of your service bulletins been installed? Just wondering......

Interesting thought here. I’m up to date as of 9/10. I had the dealership check for any and all updates (including range fix) before I took delivery of the car. (Ourisman Honda in laurel, md — good dealership for anyone interested. They actually fully followed the delivery requirements set by Honda).

So, there may be something there

 

[Sandroad]

As I've noted on other threads, the ICE in my Clarity is remarkably quiet, even on 100 mile trips in HV. I can only just barely tell it's on most of the time and only rarely does it get noisy enough to notice. I'm still (after 4000 miles!) adjusting to having a car where the engine rpm is not directly related to vehicle speed, but eventually I'll catch on! For those few with a noisy ICE running at odd times, I wonder about the condition of the high voltage battery. It might be worth having the dealer perform the HV battery test to make sure all is well.