I have been unable to start my '03 twice in the past two weeks, and had to call AAA for a jump start. Their diagnostics did not show any problem with battery or starter. The battery is less than a year old; parking in our condo HEATED garage, so that should not be a question. This time of year in the Northeast, I only drive it once or twice a week....pretty short trips. I have owned the S since 2005 and never had this issue before.

I am taking the car into the local Honda dealer this morning, but I'm not hopeful that they will find anything that is amiss. Any thoughts from you?

Jerry K.

 

what were the syptoms? rapid clicking when starter pressed, turned over normal but didnt fire? turned over very slow?

batterys can break internally (plates crack / snap, connections broken ect) at any age.

 

Thanks for your reply. Turned over very slowly....no clicking....would not fire. Tech at Honda Dealer thinks I'm just not driving it enough over the winter. Have never had this problem in 15+ years owning this '03 AP1.

 

That jump start worked this is Classic symptoms of a bad battery. Remote locking and radio memory are parasitic battery draws compounded by being in a heated garage as normal self discharge is larger due to higher temperature. Parasitic discharge can severely damage a battery. I keep my '06 on a battery maintainer in my warm garage this time of year.

-- Chuck

 

yep, sounds like you have a small draw on the battery. do you have an aftermarket alarm with active sensors maybe? a sub / amp that is'nt turning off? if you've the know-how it might be worth checking the parasitic draw current with a multimeter.

or, if you think there's no problem but you're just leaving it longer than previous years between drives you could hook one of these up and probably have nothing to worry about.


you don't need a "charger" as such, so this 1A maintainer will do great

 

Sounds like a bad battery and these testers do not sometimes pick up on that, or like ever.

 

Thanks for suggestion on parasitic draw and the link for a tender.. My '03 is STOCK except for some body mods....no alarm or sound upgrades. What drives me nuts is that the S has been in a heated condo garage for almost 6 years....and this problem only in that past month or so.

I HAVE a battery charger for my '68 Dodge Dart (also GPW ), but there is a reason for a car that's 50 years old.

 

hmm, thats definately too short a period for it to be natural self discharge, thats for sure!

perhaps an easy (and free!) next step would be, next time you drive the car, when you get back, immidiately disconnect the negative lead and leave it off, then, when you next drive, hook it back up just before start. if it works fine, its a draw from the car. if its dead, its the battery.

edit: oh, and check that you're actually getting a decent 14.-- volts at the battery when the car is running too! could be as simple as an alternator. check with all your lights, full beam, blower, ect all on for max load.

 

Thanks to you, Chuck S and others for the tips..."no start" happened again to day. Thanks for a more thorough TEST by the AAA battery tech, the battery was defective. I now have a new battery with 3 year free replacement c/o good old AAA.

Fingers crossed that the problem is fixed, and I'm back to a bullte-proof S2k