::Vehicle Care Inquiries::

pliang

Now that my schedule's free now, I was going to start up my vehicle for the last little while since I haven't been driving it as much. The vehicle had what I believe was the 'Check Engine Light' on as well as the car battery light which lingered on a little while longer after I stopped turning the engine over...only did it once.

* 2003 Honda CR-V
* I haven't been driving this car very often since getting it brand new in 2003
* Always took it to scheduled maintenance (Alignment, wiper, brakes and fluids, tire pressure and oil change) at Vancouver Honda.
* It is parked in a parking complex...which means I clean it and wash it once every month.
* Happened on a Sunday, have to wait till Monday to call Service Dept.
* I know to own a car means more than just putting gas in there and expect it to be OK.





Love to hear from a few of you car owners.

Mark Dygert

really low miles for its age. I'm guessing when you do drive, its not very far? The drain on the battery might be pretty high and you're not going far enough to charge it back up. If you let it sit for a while it might charge up a tiny bit.

When your washing it do you leave it off but have the stereo going? Or the doors open with the dome light on? Might want to take it for a 15-20 mile drive afterward to make sure whatever juice you are bleeding off is charged.

Careful if you decide to jump it, sometimes with newer cars you can fry some of the electronics when you give or receive a jump.

Have the battery tested if you can, most part stores do it for free. They might even charge it for you and tell you the chances of it keeping the charge. That would let you know if its the alternator or not, depending if it goes dead again in a few weeks/months.

ElysiumGX

I'm not sure what the problem is.

You put the key in. Some lights came on. You started the engine. The lights went off.

Sounds normal to me.

edit: If there's a problem, the lights will stay on while you're driving. It's normal for lights (brake, oil, engine, etc.) to be on before the engine starts.

DerekB525

Check your manual. When I see a light like that on my Jeep I put the key in and turn it to the run position. That is the first "click" before you turn the key all the way to start the engine. Leave it there for a few minutes. All the panel lights will come on including the check engine light. It should be solid, then it will blink if everything is normal. If it stays solid there might be a problem. I don't know if you have an Autozone in Canada but they do a free diagnostics. All you do is bring the car down and walk in ask them for a diagnostics and they come out and plug a little computer underneath your steering wheel. It should tell you what is wrong with the engine.

sir-knight

hey plaing, canadian tire will test the battery for you for free I think. Have the battery checked for sure if you don't drive much. Also if you need an OBD2 reader, canadian tire might have these for rent as well. You will need to look up how to plug and read the diagnostic tool plus look up the code to identify any specific check engine light problems. Sites like http://www.honda-tech.com/ should be really helpful for you, should you want to be hands on DIY.

If your fluids are done at the proper mileage or time intervals, there shouldn't be any reason it won't run strong.

Also if it's been sitting for a while, the gas might have gone off, if you know the vehicle will sit for a few months at a time, you might want to consider putting fuel stabilizer into the tank. People who store their cars for the winter will do this to ensure the fuel doesn't degrade over time.

I'm sure if you get the battery checked out and drive it around a bit, it'll be fine.

scotths

Having owned Hondas for 20 years, I have learned they are notorious for three things.

1. The fuel pump can suddenly give out.
2. If the car still does this after getting the battery charged, it might be the ignitor. This is especially common in areas that get very wet in the winter and the vehicle sits for long periods.
3. The timing belt invariably gives out at 90k miles (but that's a ways off for you).

Do you have something similar to AAA in Canada? Here, they have a special truck just for battery/starting issues and the guy can tell you pretty quick what the problem is.

Rwolf

could away pull some "codes" off it. Depending on the manufacture some owners can check fault code. ie if I turn on and off the ignition switch 3 time in a row? for my Chrysler, a light will start a sequence of blinks which relates to a code in reference to whats at fault.

possibly could be a battery going bad or the charging system.

Mark Dygert

scotths wrote: »

Having owned Hondas for 20 years, I have learned they are notorious for three things.

1. The fuel pump can suddenly give out.

It's normally because one of the fuel filters (that sits in the tank) getting clogged. You'll notice reduced power on demand and poor gas mileage, but because it builds up over time you might not notice until the pump dies.

I remember two filters one in the engine compartment which normally gets changed and the one that sits in the tank. In all the Honda's I've owned Civic's & Accords you have to remove the back seat or a rear tire to get to the one in that sits at the top of the tank.

But with so few miles I doubt its the fuel filters causing the pump to go bad. Any half decent manual will tell you if you have 1 or 2 fuel filters.

notman

How long does the indicator 'linger'? Each indicator goes away as the control modules check vehicle conditions. It may be that it just took a little longer for the engine control module to check that status of everything. Which means, things are probably fine... it may take a longer diagnostic because it sat for so long.
Vig's suggestion may have something too. If it stayed on waiting to see the battery come up to the correct level, it may take a bit as everything charges up.

pliang

DerekB525 wrote: »

Check your manual. When I see a light like that on my Jeep I put the key in and turn it to the run position. That is the first "click" before you turn the key all the way to start the engine. Leave it there for a few minutes. All the panel lights will come on including the check engine light. It should be solid, then it will blink if everything is normal. If it stays solid there might be a problem. I don't know if you have an Autozone in Canada but they do a free diagnostics. All you do is bring the car down and walk in ask them for a diagnostics and they come out and plug a little computer underneath your steering wheel. It should tell you what is wrong with the engine.

Thanks guys, as for this...I put the key in and had it in 'run', which is just before turning all the way to normally start the engine and the panel lights came on and after 'Maintenance Req'd' disappeared shortly, the 'check engine light' blinked a couple of times and then it disappeared. The battery and fuel lights remained solid though however.



I'll check around for diagnosis sometime today and then prolly check with the service dept...

stimpack

thats alot of warning lights for very low mileage. Id be hitting up that warranty. If you look to switch vehicles....ive had a subaru sti for 4 years now, not even a hiccup outa it. If I buy another vehicle it will probly be another subaru.

Jonathan

If you have a local AutoZone, they'll do a free scan and get the numbers and tell you what the warnings mean.

Often they mean nothing, but not all the time.