Honda Civic won’t start – intermittently

[Al]

My daughter’s 2001 Civic, automatic trans. She’s away at college about an hour away. She calls me to say the car won’t start so her boyfriend jump starts it and she goes to AutoZone. They test the “charging system” – belts good, alternator good, battery a little low on charge (no surprise). They drive the car around and weeks go by before the next call – same issue. Jump starts it and drives home – I test the battery (voltmeter and resistance tester that puts it under load) – no problems. I clean all ground contacts and swap out 40A battery fuse under the hood. (Read on-line about a guy whose fuse was bad but only in cold weather when the filament contracted in the cold). Weeks go by before the next call – always the same – she goes out to her car and gets no repsonse from the remote so she knows it won’t start. Gets a jump start and is good for a few days. That weekend I pick up the car, pull out the alternator and have Autozone bench test it. It’s fine. I buy a new battery and I pull every fuse (under the hood and under the dash) they all look good). Can’t find any wiring harnesses with damage and she hasn’t run over any objects or been in any accident. Goes back to school, weeks go by…..calls again, today – car won’t start. I bought her a jump start battery and reminded her a week ago and just last night that she needs to re-charge it. She and he boyfriend report not noticing any indication of battery starting to show weakness in the day or days before the failure. Any ideas?
Thanks.

Topic

[Charles]

I suspect she is leaving a load on the battery or there is a parasitic drain on the system. My Grandbabies do it to my wife’s van all the time by leaving a reading lamp on. Have her do the following when it occurs again:

1. Turn on the head lights. Observe whether they are bright, dim or completely out.
2. Try the starter. Observe the head lights for same attributes as 1.

If the head lights are bright and stay bright on start attempt there is an open in the starting circuit. If they go dim there is a drain on the battery. If they go completely out when attempting to start then there is an open connection in the battery circuit.

I suspect you will see dim. If so, watch Eric’s video on parasitic drains.

[Mathieu]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF1gijj03_0[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mKrx-fMi_8[/video]

[Al]

Thanks for the reply. (When I referred to “won’t start” I should have noted “won’t crank”) What confuses me is that it is completely dead – no cranking, no lights, remote won’t even open the door. I’ve asked my daughter if she’s noticed the car cranking slower in the days leading up to the failure – nothing. I really want to swap cars with her just so I can measure the battery voltage on the day it is dead.

What could lead to no absolutely no current but be overcome by a jump start?

[college man]

If the battery is confirmed dead.check the voltage with
a meter. also check the battery cables.need to be clean
and tight.either the charging system is not working.which
include the battery and alternator. The car may have something
on that she does not know about causing the parasitic draw. I
would as you suggested switch cars to do some trouble shooting.

[EricTheCarGuy]

It sounds like a parasitic draw as suggested. It’s an easy enough thing to test for, use the info in the posted video. BTW if you have an aftermarket stereo this is a prime suspect and one of the first things I would unplug to see if the draw goes away. Also, you really can’t tell much by checking the batteries voltage other than it’s surface charge. You really need to load test it for an accurate test. That said, you’ve already replaced it so it’s not high on the list of possible causes at this time. Use the info in the parasitic draw video to see if you have a draw and if you do use the rest of the info in the video to nail it down. Keep us posted on what you find.

[Author]

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