Honda Service Express Bulletins for 2018 Clarity PHEV

I got my first service done at 6519 miles. It was only warranty work. I asked them to do -18-69,18-79,
(18-91,18-90,18-89,18-96),18-97
They only did (18-91,18-90,18-89,18-96)

When I got the car back it still showed 1000 on HV range. So went back and showed it to them. The mechanic initially argues .. oh we did everything. I insisted that is not correct. Finally had another mechanic who work on it look at it. Took the car again and fixed it. Apparently he had not completed the complete step on software update.
The HV range immediately showed 357 on full tank.
These folks are not used to servicing Clarity and dont even know what the displays show. That was the reason I waited for so long going to dealer even though I bought the car last Feb.

The SB numbers are all jumbled up. 89 says climate control unit on dealer invoice whereas honda published that to be 90.

Hope that was all I needed to do.

 

Yes, the SBs are a jumbled mess. They look like they were titled by a crazy person on a weeklong coffee binge.

 

I had asked about this in another thread and didn't get an answer--when I took mine in for the HV range fix it didn't actually start showing accurate numbers until after a ~2000 mile mostly-gas road trip, and I wasn't sure whether that was normal or because they didn't do the range fix correctly.

Looks like the latter. The question I guess is whether that final step is just resetting the calculation, so it will naturally fix itself eventually given enough time, or if that step is required to fix the calculation. I guess I'll find out the next time I put gas in my car if it jumps back to 1000.

 

Those are great reads, worth reading (and re-reading). Thanks for digging those up. Looks like the car can heat the battery with engine coolant even in US model without battery heater. Good to know.

 

@AnthonyW, you have truly earned Clarity Demi-god status. When is your super hero movie coming out?
Only thing left for you to conquer is a bobble head and action figure. I’m calling Mattel. However, I’m still waiting for the royalty checks for being the inspiration for Barbie’s beau, so don’t hold your breath for financial remuneration. You’ll have to settle for all our heart felt thanks.

 

Really? It seems odd that no one has posted any evidence of this actually happening.

Looks like this article focuses on cooling, not heating. The lowest temperature I see is 0°C.

 

This may answer a recent phenomenon that I found strange. I went to a meeting the other day about 7 miles away. I drove in ECON/EV w with a full battery. I took the hilly route. The temperature was in the 20sF. The car ran on electric only all the way and I heated with the seat heater.

About 3 hours later I came home. There was more than 1/2 Doc still in the battery. The temperature had dropped to 11F. I took the flat road home. Everything else was the same, but despite the fact that there was plenty of battery and it was in ECON the ICE ran so constantly that i had to check to maken sure I had no put HV on by mistake. The instrument panel should that only ECON was on.

I can only conclude that the ICE was running to heat the battery. Finally I turnerdnthe car heater on since I decided that if the battery was going to be coddled with heat from the engine, I might as well too.

This was the way my Plugin Prius would behave on a cold morning even when the battery was full y and we were running down hill--battery coddling only, not driving the wheels. None of the gauges ever showed that the ICE was running, you could just hear it.

 

It really explains the behavior I see, and how they protect the battery from cold damage. The docs definitely focus on cooling, but the table in the 2nd PDF clearly shows warming at 0 C as well. This is a battery temp of 0 C, which is hard to reach unless car is cold soaked.

Parking in my attached, but unheated garage the temp generally stays in the -5 to +5 C range unless it is sub -15 or -20 C outside, and driving and charging the car will warm battery too. That large mass doesn't change temp quickly.

I still prefer to also have electric battery heater as it will improve your range significantly due to warmer battery. Cold batteries can't put out much power anyway, might as well warm it with coolant.

 

See table, if coolant is warmer than a cold battery it is used to heat the battery

 

I should have read intro first, right there it says engine waste heat can heat the battery.

 

Several have posted that their ICE came on in extreme cold (11 F and below) in EV when there was no obvious need for it (cabin heat but no high fan). Could this explain that behavior, as in it called on to heat up the battery? Or does this only happen in HV for us Americans?

 

I suspect so, cold batteries don't produce much power either, so heat the battery and provide power until the battery is warm enough. Explains why it runs for a while too, probably takes a while to heat battery significantly.

 

I am pretty sure that any possible battery heating comes from valving charger or powertrain controller coolant to the battery first and then on to the radiator.
In other words, while you are cooling the electronics and the battery is cold, then route this warmed coolant to battery first then to radiator.
If the battery is too hot, send coolant to radiator first, then on to the battery.
ICE coolant is on a separate circuit as far as I know, due to pressure and temp requirements not shared by other systems.
Keeping the hot (ICE) and cold (electronics) circuits completely isolated (even by heat exchanger) reduces some temp control risk.
case in point, I have noticed on cold days during a long road trip (over an hour) using HV, that 4 bar regen is not available when hot coolant could have warmed the battery up.
If there was a heat exchanger between ICE and electronics for this scenario that would be really interesting and advantageous.
However, this would also introduce the risk of heating the battery and electronics to 175 degrees if a sensor failed.

 

Read the first highlight above, it sounds like engine coolant shares the same circuit due to the comment about bypass valve to avoid high temps caused by low speed engine operation.

 

The EV mode button is right next to the NORMAL mode button.

 

Did Honda add a NORMAL button to the 2019 Claritys? That mode doesn't get a button in the 2018s. I don't believe either year has an EV button. The Accord Hybrid and the new Insight have EV buttons.

 

It is standard on the all button no dial luxury version.