Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

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PiMan
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Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by PiMan »

My 2011 iMiEV has been a bit temperamental lately and a figure a full service will probably help with some of the issues (some listed below), with a hint of preventative measures for future possible issues. Does anyone here know a good place to get it professionally done, where they have experience servicing iMiEVs, won't rip me off, and preferably are on the western side of Melbourne?
  • Reported range on a full charge is around 10km less than it used to be, even a couple of months ago.
  • The button on the driver door to un/lock the car doesn't always respond
  • It feels like the regen braking doesn't have quite the oomph it used to; might be my imagination
  • Reported range while driving seems a little less consistent too. It'll sometimes show one or two more bars of battery than it had when I last left the car.
  • Rear window wiper sounds like it needs replacing
And of course the usual suspects, like making sure my wheels are aligned, that what fluids it has are in the right quantities and conditions, that the normal brakes are working to spec, etc.

For anyone curious, the car has done around 40 000km, and in the ~15 000km of that that I've owned it, it has never had a service but it has been to Mitsubishi a couple times for recall notices.
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Johny
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by Johny »

You are entering winter weather temperatures here in Melbourne which probably accounts for the range reduction.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by PiMan »

Johny wrote: Wed, 23 May 2018, 10:29 You are entering winter weather temperatures here in Melbourne which probably accounts for the range reduction.
I don't remember it doing this last year.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by mikedufty »

This link gives the authorised imiev service places.
https://www.mitsubishi-motors.com.au/cu ... 9oQAvD_BwE

The SA and Darwin ones are both West of Melbourne, but I suspect that is not what you meant. They are the closest ones to Perth.

Ours dropped 10km RR recently. Coincided with a tyre change, wheel alignment, and airbag recall.
The charger died a few weeks later, hopefully not the problem with yours.
I don't know about the rear wiper, but the front wiper rubber is an odd size that is hard to find, but you can easily replace the whole carrier with a more standard one from a car accessory shop.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by g4qber »

I found my front wiper at supercheap auto. Rear wiper harder to find. Not yet replaced.

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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by chris »

Just get the next size up rubber refill and cut to size.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by mikedufty »

It is the width that is the problem, not the length.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

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mikedufty wrote: Wed, 23 May 2018, 14:57 This link gives the authorised imiev service places.
https://www.mitsubishi-motors.com.au/cu ... 9oQAvD_BwE

The SA and Darwin ones are both West of Melbourne, but I suspect that is not what you meant. They are the closest ones to Perth.

Ours dropped 10km RR recently. Coincided with a tyre change, wheel alignment, and airbag recall.
The charger died a few weeks later, hopefully not the problem with yours.
I don't know about the rear wiper, but the front wiper rubber is an odd size that is hard to find, but you can easily replace the whole carrier with a more standard one from a car accessory shop.
Thanks for the link. Looks like Heidelberg in the north eastern suburbs is the way to go, unless someone here knows of a 3rd party in the western suburbs who can do the job just as well. Thankfully it is within one charge for me to get there and back, with range to spare.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by mikedufty »

Any car service place can probably do the basic checks and wheel alignment. Electric diagnostics needs a specialised setup, and even the non i-MiEV accredited Mitsubishi dealers don't seem to know what to do with the output. Not sure if the accreddited dealers are better, but you'd like to think so.
Mitsubishi just agreed to replace our $4,000 on board charger as a "good will" claim out of the original warranty. They said one of the factors in deciding whether to provide that was whether you have been getting it serviced with Mitsubishi. Not sure how much difference it makes, but its possibly a point in favour of going to Mitsubishi.
We have had a couple of services done at Mitsubishi dealers, but not at the official 6 month interval. Do get a quote up front as we had a nasty surprise ($600) after getting the major interval service done.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by zzcoopej »

PiMan wrote: Wed, 23 May 2018, 10:25
[*]The button on the driver door to un/lock the car doesn't always respond
I found this when the key battery was close to flat. Do you get the key icon on the dash flashing for a minute or so after the iMiEV is started, which indicates the key battery is getting low?

I recently ordered 5 of the cr2032 replacements from China for $1 posted, ie 20c each. They took about 3 weeks to get here so not an option if you're in a hurry. Not sure if they will last as long as reputable brands (spec is 180mAh vs 220mAh for many other brands), however I can confirm they work in the iMiEV key, so here is the link if anyone else is brave - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5Pcs-Lot-Wh ... 1782032623

BEWARE, if your key's battery totally dies, while you can use the physical key to open the door and even turn on the ignition by removing the key-cap, it won't start the iMiEV so you can't drive. From now on I will keep a spare cr2032 battery in the glovebox.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by PiMan »

zzcoopej wrote: Thu, 24 May 2018, 09:30
PiMan wrote: Wed, 23 May 2018, 10:25
[*]The button on the driver door to un/lock the car doesn't always respond
I found this when the key battery was close to flat. Do you get the key icon on the dash flashing for a minute or so after the iMiEV is started, which indicates the key battery is getting low?

I recently ordered 5 of the cr2032 replacements from China for $1 posted, ie 20c each. They took about 3 weeks to get here so not an option if you're in a hurry. Not sure if they will last as long as reputable brands (spec is 180mAh vs 220mAh for many other brands), however I can confirm they work in the iMiEV key, so here is the link if anyone else is brave - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5Pcs-Lot-Wh ... 1782032623

BEWARE, if your key's battery totally dies, while you can use the physical key to open the door and even turn on the ignition by removing the key-cap, it won't start the iMiEV so you can't drive. From now on I will keep a spare cr2032 battery in the glovebox.
That's a good point. In the short term, I'll see if swapping to my spare key helps things.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by mikedufty »

I have had some really cheap batteries not last long, a few months.
You should be able to start the car even with a completely flat key battery, reverse the key and put it back into the fob and it should work as a transponder. I think the 2010s do have an additional immobiliser fitted as well though, which needs some code sequence to disable without the remote. Ours had instructions with the handbook.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by zzcoopej »

mikedufty wrote: Thu, 24 May 2018, 11:08 You should be able to start the car even with a completely flat key battery, reverse the key and put it back into the fob and it should work as a transponder.
Fortunately after playing around for about 5 mins with no success, I decided to slam the key on my knee, as sometimes moving battery terminals allows a better contact and more electrons to flow. It did the trick.
Also worth noting is that there is a tiny red LED on the key fob, which you don't normally notice as the key never comes out of your pocket. If that LED does not light when you press Lock or Unlock, you've got a dead key battery.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by bmscott »

zzcoopej wrote: Thu, 24 May 2018, 09:30 if your key's battery totally dies, while you can use the physical key to open the door and even turn on the ignition by removing the key-cap, it won't start the iMiEV so you can't drive.
That sounds crazy! My 2010 starts and drives just fine with only a copy of the original key. I have only one key fob remote but my wife is able to use my car any time with her plain metal key.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by zzcoopej »

bmscott wrote: Thu, 07 Jun 2018, 07:59That sounds crazy! My 2010 starts and drives just fine with only a copy of the original key. I have only one key fob remote but my wife is able to use my car any time with her plain metal key.
Ok, maybe there is something else going on in my iMiEV. Do you have the blue light down near the gearshift which flashes when the car is locked? I gather that is an immobiliser which is not on all iMiEV, maybe that is what was preventing me from starting ours without the FOB chip powered up?
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by bmscott »

zzcoopej wrote: Thu, 07 Jun 2018, 10:53Do you have the blue light down near the gearshift which flashes when the car is locked? I gather that is an immobiliser which is not on all iMiEV, maybe that is what was preventing me from starting ours without the FOB chip powered up?
Yep, I have the immobilizer - the blue light stops blinking as soon as I unlock the car door with the key. The only difference when driving without the fob is that little yellow light on the dash blinking for the first half-minute or so.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by Ultralights »

i noticed a steady drop of about 10km of range over a few weeks, was thinking we had a dead or dying cell, nope, just tyres losing air pressure.
pumped back to recommended pressures, back to 100Km range every morning again..

as for the bars randomly dropping off or coming back during the day, our did that a week before the DC converter died. have no idea if its connected or not.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by PiMan »

Ultralights wrote: Thu, 14 Jun 2018, 15:13 i noticed a steady drop of about 10km of range over a few weeks, was thinking we had a dead or dying cell, nope, just tyres losing air pressure.
pumped back to recommended pressures, back to 100Km range every morning again..

as for the bars randomly dropping off or coming back during the day, our did that a week before the DC converter died. have no idea if its connected or not.
That's what I usually do when the range drops, but it didn't work this time. Recently the reported range at full charge was as low as 83km, and I fixed that by pumping the tyres.
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Re: Wanting to get my iMiEV serviced. Advice?

Post by mikedufty »

Tyre pressures didn't help with ours. Looking forward to finding out if the charger/DC converter replacement fixes it.
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