[alan3885]

Hello CR-Z owners this is my first post and wanted to say hi and I live in the DFW metro area and am a proud Honda owner with Two Honda Accords, 2011 Premium White Pearl CR-Z with CVT, and also have a 2010 Honda Fit Sport 5AT with Storm Silver Metallic. So the latest update is I brought in my CR-Z EX with CVT yesterday on 06/12/2012 to the dealer for a carwash and regular follow up check and my service advisor checked and said my CR-Z had four updates 1) PCM 2) IMA Motor 3) IMA Battery 4) CVT transmission so anyways I was just wondering did anyone else know about a PCM Update and if so is there a TSB or any release notes please? It seems like Honda did a very quiet update to the CR-Z CVT models and I know earlier there was recall for a update for the CR-Z 6MT Models and thats also on the JDM Honda site as well too but I will report if I notice any improvements or changes as of right now It seems like it Sport Mode when using the Manual Mode the shifts seem more refined in speed and shift quality because sometimes you'd feel a slight surge on both up and down shifts I would also be interested in meeting or getting to know other local CR-Z owners so feel free to message me with some information so we can remain in contact

 

[luddite]

Local to where?

 

[namtaB]

Interesting, thanks for the info on this. I'm at 30% oil life so I should be due for first service relatively soon. I will ask my dealer about these updates.

 

[alan3885]

Sorry I'm located in the DFW area :vtec:

 

[corbygray528]

I've been having issues with my battery recalibrating very often, went to the dealer and they did a software update. Not sure if that helps you out, as I'm not entirely sure I understand what you're asking (I'm limited in technical knowledge), but mine is a CVT.

 

[_JB_]

I remember reading on here Honda sent some papers out or something for people to drive test CR-Zs or something. It was a few months back.

 

[alan3885]

Interesting well anyone please let us know if you have some more information and if anyone has any letters or papers about the update would gladly like to see since I have yet to really notice any changes unless it’s just a bunch of refinement and bug fixes to the IMA battery. One improvement I'd like to see is the car remember which mode it was in like on the Civic and CR-V because everytime I have to select which mode everytime I start the car if I want to change it.

 

[_JB_]

Interesting well anyone please let us know if you have some more information and if anyone has any letters or papers about the update would gladly like to see since I have yet to really notice any changes unless it’s just a bunch of refinement and bug fixes to the IMA battery. One improvement I'd like to see is the car remember which mode it was in like on the Civic and CR-V because everytime I have to select which mode everytime I start the car if I want to change it.

Sport is the only mode you can't hold.

 

[corbygray528]

Interesting well anyone please let us know if you have some more information and if anyone has any letters or papers about the update would gladly like to see since I have yet to really notice any changes unless it’s just a bunch of refinement and bug fixes to the IMA battery. One improvement I'd like to see is the car remember which mode it was in like on the Civic and CR-V because everytime I have to select which mode everytime I start the car if I want to change it.

If you go to the setting options on the multi-informational display while in park there is a setting for holding eco. If you turn that on then the car will start in eco if it was turned off while in eco. No way to do it for sport though.

 

[alan3885]

Cool thanks for the info since I didn't know that Any other cool tricks?

 

[corbygray528]

Cool thanks for the info since I didn't know that Any other cool tricks?

In that same menu you can set all your doors to unlock with one click of the unlock button. I found that convenient because my hatch would only unlock after two clicks.

 

[artkozak1]

don't forget about the vent in the glove compartment. open it and it will keep your beer, errrrr, i mean, drink cold. yeah, your drink cold.

 

[gozoner]

Cool thanks for the info since I didn't know that Any other cool tricks?

Cool tricks => favorite-surprising-cr-z-feature

 

[cyeung]

Let's get fftopic: here...

My car's IMA had been doing recalibrations frequently, so I scheduled some time with the dealer (1) and got them to have a look at it. It turns out that there were indeed firmware updates. Attached is the invoice... For those with difficulty reading the description, it says,

CUST STATES..WHEN AT A STANDSTILL-GAUGE WILL SHOW 7 BARS-
WHEN ACCELERATING-ELECTRIC ASSIST WILL CUT OUT AND
GAUGE WILL GO TO 4 BARS. WORSE WHEN GOING UPHILL.
HAS TO DOWNSHIFT TO CORRECT.
USING HDS CHECKED FOR IMA CODES OR ANY SYSTEM DTCS,NONE
FOUND,CHECKED FOR AVAILABLE UPDATES,3 FOUND.
COMPLETED PGM-FI,IMA MOTOR,AND AT-CVT UPDATES.TEST DROVE
VEHICLE MONITORED IMA CAPACITY, BATTERY AT NORMAL RANGE.

(1) http://www.crzforum.com/forum/engine-battery-discussion/10279-strangeness-battery-6.html#post158544

 

[alan3885]

Nice anyone get the update and notice any improvements or changes?

 

[cyeung]

From what I can tell, this update makes the engine and IMA coordinate their power output better. That is, instead of the IMA suddenly cutting out and getting a loss in acceleration, it would ramp down as the engine revs up to pick up the slack.

 

[alan3885]

Cyeung,

Do you think the PCM and IMA update resolved your "strangeness with battery" issues you experienced earlier since I would like to know because I live in DFW metroplex so its flat my battery rarely shows its fully charge like one bar (like 4 out of 5 bars) so one day when I went out for dinner I remember I drove my CR-Z into a multilevel three story parking structure garage and parked it and when I cam back and started my car all the battery bars on the indicator were gone and were down to one bar and I was like WTF I never seen my battery almost drained out to empty so I drove it home however it seemed so okward but my CR-Z to recovered and recharged its battery back up quickly and off course this was before all of the pcm and ima updates were perfomed so anyone please let us know what else you found out aout your CR-Z interesting after the update or if you still experience strange issues after the updates

 

[cyeung]

I would be hesitant to say that the PCM and IMA updates made the problem go away entirely. It is, however, a very solid patch, and I would recommend it to anybody with a CVT CR-Z. It is possible to make the IMA battery gauge go down to zero bars for a few minutes by disconnecting the battery -- I have done so myself.

So, your prime suspect is the 12-volt battery being unable to hold a charge. Please do a few things:
1. Monitor your car and see whether you get this issue every time you leave the car for a few hours.
2. (optional) Go to an AutoZone and ask for a battery test.
3. If you are consistently seeing your issue pop up every time you leave your car parked or the battery test yields a failing result, take the car in to the dealer and see about having the 12-volt battery removed and replaced.

 

[alan3885]

If anyone notices any more updates please keep this forum topic/thread update would greatly appreciate it

 

[alan3885]

I am still kind of wondering why my CR-Z rarely seems to show full bars on my battery because it seems like they disappear quickly after the IMA electic motor is done assisting the gasoline engine and the battery charge indicator normally shows one bar below from being fully charged and I hope honda is still working on trying to find more room for improvements in the hybrid software so they can enhance and tweak the PCM and IMA software on the CR-Z and continue to make more refinements and updates to the CR-Z hybrid system ECU so it recharges rather wickly and keep its battery charge and hold longer because the battery sure seems like it drains pretty quick and I hope someone from Honda is reading the forums and concerns and hope this is just not a major drawback due to the battery being a Ni-Mh type or simply its needs more improvements. Another interesting question I am wondering is why didn't Honda use the latest and more powerful IMA electric motor from the 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid (LEA2) engine because it makes more hp/torque engine and I believe it uses less magnets like 6 vs 8 an why not use the Fit Cams/i-VTEC system and maintain the 6,800RPM redline instead of just modifying it to maintain the high fuel economy?